I am a Katrina survivor and ready to talk. Ask me anything.

Six feet of water in Evangeline. Louisiana, Louisiana. They're trying to wash us away.

how did you manage all the stress?

My friends and family there are fighting the good fight. I am a deserter.

:hug:

What a great place. The most diverse and accepting place I've ever known. I hope it will, like Phoenix, rise from the ashes.

:hug:

you have all my respect.

I do also hope that NO will rise and shine more than ever. I have good memories of visiting the city. The diversity in that city was just breathtaking.

When I was 14 I lost my home, school, family pretty much in one swoop when my dad was hospitalized for a suicide attempt and I was farmed off with relatives back in the states, thousands of miles away - it took a long, long time to get - well, wait, I'm not sure I ever got over the feeling of extreme instability it caused. The kids - they need counseling, they do. Probably the adults too.

They feel mightily displaced. They were born and raised there. They resent my abandoning the city.

Katrina survivors that I know don't want to talk about it. I have been silent for the most part. My kids are strong and making their way. However, they all want to go back.

I share your past. I also was displaced due to my parents decisions and instability. I thought that was bad. But New Orleans after Katrina.....unspeakable.

problem is, I'm not sure counselors can even begin to possibly understand - it's so unprecedented....I feel for you and your children, cbayer, I really do. I had nightmares after Katrina just from watching it on TV - there's no way to know what it was really like for you. :(

After four days of silence, Anderson Cooper and his ilk descended for the story. No one other than the ones there saw the story for the first four days. It won't be told.

We don't talk. Well, we don't talk to anyone other than ourselves.

it has to be told

albeit a cyberhug...or an ear to bend.

:loveya: :hug:

How are you doing?

I get so sad about it sometimes. I have not really talked to anyone honestly about what really happened. I know you saw it too. My son was in school in Bay St. Louis. Never thought I would see what I saw, unless i was watching a PBS show on some country I had never heard of.

Thanks for your kindness. :hug:

and I lost my chickens, quail, ducks, and guineas.

NOTHING like what you went through. Any time you want to PM me and chat about it, I'll be glad to listen.

You are one tough cookie. I can't imagine going through what you went though and still moving forward through every day.

:hug:

Glad your frog survived.

I may take you up on your offer. After two and 1/2 years, i probably need to just unload it.

While I have your attention, I just want to say that I truly admire your ovaries. You are one of my DU heroines.

Keep it up please. Girls kick ass.

:pals:

Thanks. :D

Any time you want to PM me, please do. :hug:

Are you acclimating to wherever you settled? Kids starting to feel at home?

Are you still in the general area?

I've had to move a bunch of times. I hate it. I can't imagine moving because of sudden devastation like that. Way to survive!

:thumbsup:

I guess I'm less ready than I thought.

Thank you for asking. I am doing fine. I am living on a boat - deciding to take the water on after it defeated me so badly! Kids (youngest 20) all out on their own and they would all like to go back.

In the end, I have been liberated to some extent by the "event". I consider myself very fortunate.

Moving is a nightmare. I left the city with the clothes on my back. I even forgot my purse!

So let me ask you my question: "What should we know that we are not being told?"

If I may, a second question: "Why aren't there more individual stories still being told?" (Seems to me like these stories are intensely more worth hearing than anything coming out of MSM regarding the Katrina/bush victims)

At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, I am waaaay past bedtime. I'll check back in the morning. Thank you again for whatever you may offer us cbayer.
:grouphug:
c

No one came. No one. We had no contact with the outside world - no TV, no radio, no phones, no internet, no news, no way to move from one location to another. No one came for days. We had no idea what the hell was going on. Lots of rumors. People were desperate and terrified.

You see the superdome and people on their roofs, but there were so many others. In their homes, in the streets, in hospitals.

The first people to get there were the media, and frankly, they were not of much help. Then the military.

That's enough for me to say. I also got overwhelmed and sleepy last night and went to bed. Sorry for the late reply.

:hug:

I knew that bush's response was less than it should have been and I assume that it still is but I did not know that the first respondents were the media. It makes sense though as many of them were in place prior to the disaster, there to record a hurricane! They would have been ill-equipped to do much more than get the word out of the distress and urgent need of the populace.

HOW long were folks stranded like that with no aid from the rest of our nation?
I seem to recall a Navy ship showing up with aid and some early supplies. I also recall hearing of a paramilitary, (blackwater????) showing up shortly after the Navy ship and exacting a brutal form of martial law.

Unrelated but I further heard that Halliburton got the rebuild contract and they subcontracted this out to someone who hired non-Americans at less than minimum wage to do much of the work. They refused to hire any American sub-contractors and when those sub-contractors complained, the bfee got laws passed that allowed for the payment of less than minimum wage. I have also heard that there has been some incredible profiteering, in one case neighborhoods have been condemned in order to move the folks out and replace their homes with big money casino's!

No need to apologize for the late reply, I felt bad for posting then slipping off to bed myself. For me it was near 3AM when I posted that. I almost didn't post the question at all but then I said to myself "This tale needs to get out!" so I came back and asked.

We The people are so sick of spin, of lies, of deception. I think we know that our media is to some extent enabling the deceivers. The internet, blogs message boards and forums are the way for the stories to get exchanged. If I may get a little political: Democracy requires an ENLIGHTENED electorate. A spun electorate is unhealthy for America's democracy. Your tales (collectively) are critical for that enlightenment! I am arguing this very concept in another thread regarding Iran and Iraq. (Same principle, different culture.) We The People NEED to know what the hell is really going on! Sadly, the VICTIMS are our best resource...we ignore them at our peril. Please, do not stop talking about this.

and because of the lack of communication in or out or even between the people that were there, there is no coherent story.

I was in a hospital and for about three days we worked without any communication from outside. We just kept thinking someone would come. We were overwhelmed by the needs of our patients and staff. Then we were overwhelmed by people from the community. We saw the media first but everyone was too traumatized to talk with them. To us, they were just more bodies looking for shelter, food, water, safety.

The next people we saw in my location were DEA officers. DEA officers!! Now, I'm not a gun advocate, but the fact that these guys were locked and loaded was a tremendous relief to us.

Shortly after that, the military set up a working battle station at the AAA ballfield and an emergency medical center at the airport. The station was mostly reservist. We thought that perhaps the military response was slow because most of our troops were "otherwise occupied". The medica center was run as a military operation. There were people who could be salvaged and those who probably could not or who would require too many resources. They were triaged using battlefield criteria. That means that many were left to die. Oh, and those of us in the medical field who could have helped were turned away. We were turned away because we didn't have appropriate military or government clearance. That's the truth.

Moving those poor souls from the superdome is an entirely different story. These are people without voices. You will most likely never hear from them.

I honestly do not know much about the fiasco of the re-build, but it has been a political feeding frenzy. I have been back again within the past year and stay in touch with many friends. It is still a nightmare.

I've heard very little about how we would prevent this from happening again in the future. Very little.

You were in the medical field and turned away???? By who? I understand this concept of triage: 'save those whom you have the resources to save'. Sounds to me like you were a resource! Why were you turned away? Not being accusatory here but were you unqualified for what was needed???? I simply can not fathom turning away ANYONE with medical experience...it makes no sense! Where others treated as you were?

As to the DEA, now that you mention it I had heard that they were among the first to arrive. That baffles me too. Do you suppose it is another form of triage: "We've not enough doctors, they are off to war but we've an ample supply of vetrenarians..." Did someone high up figure to pull these particular "law enforcers" off their regular duties and send them in as a substitute police force?
I recall that John Kerry told us back when he was stumping that bush had emptied out our fire-halls and police stations... perhaps the DEA was all they had to draw on for a rapid response. Someone came up with that notion, the fact that it got so little notice is of course suspect.

It is almost 11:00. I will be catching the rebroadcast of Kieth Olberman on my bedroom TV as I turn in at a more reasonable time tonight. I mean it when I say your story is important...if nothing else you educate me and whoever else reads this a bit. We may not get the facts EXACTLY right but some of what you say will be repeated when the topic comes up. In a small yet important way your stories and the stories from the tens of thousands like you is what can bring about change. Americans are not heartless cretins, we NEED to hear these stories, so do our representatives.

You do not know how things could be prevented? Well neither do I but we are learning how NOT to handle those things when they happen!

I am still blown away that those who took charge turned away medical help! Something sounds fishy if not downright criminal. Did you see others like yourself turned away???? Who did that and what was their reason?

I'll be back tomorrow, I hope to learn more if you would be so kind. Thanks for this and for any further you may provide.
:toast: to you for helping where you could while you were there.

and we won't have one for many moons.

SOME of us know that media is enabling deceivers, but in no way enough.

Thanks for this, cbayer.

The ill-informed and consistently mis-informed electorate is what is destroying our democracy. The internet may be critical in reversing this in many ways, especially through the first hand stories from the victims.
:thumbsup:

I had no idea you were a Katrina survivor...

When you and I meet, the first thing I will do is give you a big hug....:hug:

I am here for you, in any capacity that I can be...

We just sailed by Redondo and are now nestled in a slip at MDR. Beautiful sail today. As we passed Redondo, I was telling the mr. that there was someone there that I wanted to meet soon. I look forward to it!

:hug:

Oh, cool!

That's not far for me, either...

Yeah, today was gorgeous...

I too look forward to meeting you!

:hug:

but I'm not so sure it's one of those "ask me anything" threads.

So my real question, what do you miss the most? I can't begin to think what it would be for me.

My sense of humor has only grown as a result of what I have been through.

I miss my friends the most. Some stayed, some left, but I haven't found it all that easy to re-create that circle. That is probably why I am spending so much time on DU.

The second thing I miss the most is the food. The food in California (and pretty much everywhere else in this country) can't hold a candle to the food in New Orleans.

Thanks for asking.

so I will not ask it. I think that I would miss my friends the most too.

what is the most annoying hippy behavior you have experienced and how does a Creole/Cajun/Saint deal with that problem?

but I have NEVER met more self-absorbed individuals in my life. No one ever asks you anything about yourself.... unless they think you might be able to do something to further their pathetic careers in the industry.

Oops, was that too much? Hope you are not in "the industry".

I deal with it by never going out anymore.

Where was everyone? Why didn't they come?

The city and parish governments, including police/fire, were not able to function. I will give them a pass. The rest of the state? The country? Where the hell was everyone? Were they just sitting around talking about which route to take into town?

I later find out that people are watching this on TV. I still do not understand why it took them so long to get to us.

The conspiracy theories were everywhere. I am not a conspiracy theorists, but something was really wrong with this.

and nobody hurrying whatsoever to rescue people who may have fled to their attics only to drown. I did hear some stories about the few survivors of that situation. I used to have a thought that going to New Orleans was the only place in the USA that might interest me to go perchance to move. And then this. The weird thing is I am normally not near a TV but a family situation put me there on just that date so for the next four days or so I was saturated with the horror of it.

I can not imagine the shell-shock you had to go through actually living through it.

To me, it was the most special city in this country. The upturn from this is that the ugly underbelly of the city was exposed - the poverty and lack of resources of a huge segment of the population. I can only hope that many have found a new, and better, opportunity.

New Orleans needs people to move there. I often feel guilty for abandoning it. Had I been able to evacuate, I would have most likely gone back for the re-build. But after 2 1/2 years, I have not recovered sufficiently from my 8 days to even consider it.

There are so many in Louisiana who were reported missing prior to Katrina. It is so sad not to know what happened to your loved ones.

Stay strong. Maybe the next president will give a damn.

It was the man-made horror that caused the nightmare after the fact or at least that's what I have heard. Is that true?

We thought we had dodged a bullet. The storm was spectacular to watch and we rejoiced in having had so little damage, all things considered.
The next day, the levees broke and all hell broke loose.

...that New Orleanians "can't even wipe themselves"? (This actually happened a few weeks ago. Now you know why the 'tz' in his name is silent.)

routine for you all.

If it's any help for you. I was following up links, which led to more links. From what I was reading, a LOT of potential rescuers DID come running to assist immediately - just as soon as they were aware the levies failed. Convoys of pickup trucks, hauling their boats behind, from neighboring states. Regular people & all their buddies with a lot of boating/hunting/woodsman type experience, traveling on their own dime and their own time, dropping everything and driving all night. The traffic, for the most part, was heading the opposite direction so they were able get most of the way and feeling upbeat that they could help.

When they got to many of the borders they were turned away (can't remember which govt agency or FEMA or Red Cross Agency they said it was, it was just so shocking that ANY help would be discarded). Those boating people were comparing notes on those blogs, and routes/highways/towns as to when/where they were turned away. Mad as HECK, but they just had to turn around and go home!

The reason most of them said they were turned back? Their boats weren't over 25-feet long! Many were something like 24 or 15 feet long, IIRC. But, even if they couldn't carry as many people they STILL could have been rescuing SOMEBODY. Just turned away, when they could have produced some serious support. Apparently, the Canadians came in via the water - didn't ask anyone's permission - and just got to work. But traveling via highway, it was much easier for the powers that be to block the roads.

This was a totally BOTCHED situation. But there were people wanting to help their neighbors, it's the normal American way. Yes, after reading those blogs, I firmly believe what you said about Medical Personnel who also wanted to help - being turned away for ridiculous reasons.

ETA: I know nothing about boats, so I could be wrong re: 25ft vs 24ft vs 15ft. But, what did stand out in my mind was their boats were ONE foot shy of being accepted. Part of why those boaters were so angry!

You were in NO? I wish you peace and healing, and I hope that soon there will be more focused attention paid to pre and post disaster stuff. Thank you for asking and talking here. More personal stories need to be told, and the stories need to keep on coming. Thank you.

FWIW, the non-response to Katrina's aftermath changed a lot of people all over the country and world.

How do you do with wind and water now? Looks/sounds like you are sailing around, is it ok for you?