It was about this time one year ago today that my brother called me saying, “Dave, I’ve got bad news. There’s water coming into the house” (meaning our parents’ house in New Orleans). I said, “What? The storm is near Hattiesburg, Mississippi right now!” Thinking that this was rain water, I was baffled because the heavy rain(and winds) had subsided a couple of hours ago. When my brother called back a little while later and said that the water was approaching waist deep, I knew something was terribly wrong, and that this wasn’t rain water.
As we all know now, there was a huge breach in the 17th Street Canal floodwall that sent water all the way to the Superdome downtown.
Luckily for my parents, they were rescued by a boat. Although they spent a terrible two days in 95 degree heat trying to find out how to get out, they were eventually evacuated to Baton Rouge. From there, my brother (retired Delta pilot and former Navy pilot) heard from one of his “fly boy” friends who owned a charter plane dropping off supplies in Baton Rouge. It was returning to Pensacola empty and could take my parents. Meanwhile, Neil Orne, Todd Dunn and I were sent to New Orleans to cover the storm and possibly find my parents. I was not upset in the least that we had just missed them at the Baton Rouge airport!
They were the lucky ones.
It was four to five days before many people made it out. Many are still scattered all over the country, without the means to return home and rebuild.
Meanwhile, my beloved Mississippi Gulf coast, where I had spent summers as a child before Hurricane Camille destroyed the house in 1969, was ravaged by a 28-30 foot storm surge.
On this anniversary of Katrina, please stop and say a prayer for all of the people who lost their lives, and for those whose lives have been changed forever.
Done and done…amen…
We’ve watched you for a lot of years & am so glad your parents were alright.
Davis,
Where are your parents now?
Have they returned to New Orleans?
Hi Chris,
My parents were lucky to find an apartment in a part of Metarie that did not flood about 3 weeks after the city re opened. There is a 300 person waiting list for those apartments now. They are in process of putting the house back together. It was gutted, de molded, and they just put up dry wall. They are lucky to have the means to do this, although there is a federal loan involved.
Davis..
Hope your parents are doing better.
I, too, lived in Mississippi in the early and middle 70’s as a kid and remember vividly the concrete steps that led to nothing (another home washed away by Camille)…never did I think it would ever happen again.
The thing that amazes me is there are 4 times as many building permits taken out in the MS Gulf Coast than in the incompetent-riddled city of New Orleans.
First I will say that I am glad your parents made it outside of New Orleans safely. Next though, I must admit, I don’t think I will ever watch News 2 weather again. I check out this site only because I like the radar display from your station. I am sure you feel really red in the face to admit that you are a meteorologist, and knew what could have happened, and you had to go to New Orleans after the storm to rescue your parents. No one, especially you, thought that they should have evacuated the city when there was an emergency evacuation order? Then you return to Nashville and we are expected to take your forecasts seriously? I know you are not a New Orleans meterorologists, but I think everyone knew that a Category 5 storm heading toward the city was not going to have a pleasant outcome. I can’t even take you seriously any longer. If Davis is giving the forecast, I change the channel.
Dea Anonymous,
For your information, my parents did try to evacuate on Sunday, the day before the storm when it was a Cat 5. Unforturnately, after 4 hours of sitting still on the interstate, they were forced to turn around. If because they couldn’t get out, you choose to never watch News 2 when I am on, that is your choice.
By the way, did you know that the water never topped the levee in Lakeview. The design was bad and it failed because the water went underneath it, causing it to fail. Go to
http://www.news2wkrn.com/weather/neworleans.doc
then scroll down to “The Cause”
Anonymous 6:13 AM. Shame, shame, spouting off about something before knowing facts. Turn the channel and delete the blog. Who needs that black heart.