Hurricane Katrina

It has been a few days since my last post. The impending end of summer is ushering in the often chaotic beginning of the new school year. I've seen a number of my cousins, friends, and others begin the new school year at their new schools. The beginning of the school year is also an important time for my mother who is a teacher's aid. She said of her assignment this year, "It's dangerous minds live." More on that in a later post.

Since last week I too have been preparing for the start of school. In a few days I'll make the less than twenty minute trek to campus and begin my sophomore year in college. Part of me thinks I should be excited, but for some reason I'm not, maybe that will change before Sunday.

The craziness of the last few days has been tempered by the presence of Hurricane Katrina in the southeastern portion of this country. As the storm moved in we didn't know what exactly to expect, but we all knew that it would be bad. The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina has helped put things into perspective for me. Hurricane Katrina has managed to turn the lives of hundreds of thousands upside down. The storm has destroyed homes and businesses in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The simple things that we take for granted are not being provided to many of those living in those areas. While we often feel entitled to such things as safe shelter, food, and water, many people are wondering how they will survive without the very comforts afforded many of us. Many are also wondering how they will survive the next few weeks and months. Others are wondering how they can even begin to rebuild their lives. As a person my heart goes out to those who are suffering and are victims of the utter despair.

As I watch the coverage my heart breaks. I don't even think the pictures being beamed to us via the TV, the sounds coming from the radio, or the words read in newspapers and on webpages are giving us an accurate depiction of the impact of this storm. I witnessed three reports today, which definitely impacted my understanding of what is happening beyond where my eyes can see:

A replay of an intense interview with CNN correspondent Jeanne Meserve from last evening I think opened my eyes to the fact that the worst of the storm may be yet to come. As I type this there are reports that officials are trying to find a safe way to evacuate thousands from the Super Dome in New Orleans. Jeanne Meserve's reporting from last evening began to shine the light on what is a very dangerous situation.


NewsNight with Aaron Brown 8-29-05 Transcript Portion
AARON BROWN: We've mentioned several times today that rescue operations have been going on in the area east of New Orleans, suburban, exurban areas east of New Orleans. This is where a lot of people have been trapped on rooftops, trapped in attics. Authorities trying to get to them. Jeanne Meserve, who works out of our Washington bureau, has been down in that part of Louisiana this evening. And Jeanne joins us, I'm certain, by telephone, right?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Aaron.
BROWN: It's been quite a -- we don't use this word lightly, but quite a dramatic and difficult night down there, hadn't it?
MESERVE: It's been horrible. As I left tonight, darkness, of course, had fallen. And you can hear people yelling for help. You can hear the dogs yelping, all of them stranded, all of them hoping someone will come. But for tonight, they've had to suspend the rescue efforts. It's just too hazardous for them to be out on the boats. There are electrical lines that are still alive. There are gas lines that are still spewing gas. There are cars that are submerged. There are other large objects. The boats can't operate. So they had to suspend operations and leave those people in the homes. As we were driving back, we passed scores of boats, Fish and Wildlife boats that they brought in. They're flat bottomed. They've obviously going to put them in the water just as soon as they possibly can and go out and reach the people who are out there who desperately need help. We watched them, some of them, come in. They were in horrible shape, some of them. We watched one woman whose leg had been severed. Mark Biello, one of our cameramen, went out in one of the boats to help shoot. He ended up being out for hours and told horrific tales. He saw bodies. He saw where -- he saw other, just unfathomable things. Dogs wrapped in electrical -- electrical lines who were still alive that were being electrocuted. The police are having radio problems. At least they were earlier this evening. They didn't have enough boats. They put out an appeal to various police who had personal boats to bring them to the scene. But the problem was the people who had the boats couldn't get to the boats to bring them to the scene to go out and rescue the people. People are out there tonight. One of the EMS workers told us that the water is driving, and I can tell you that when we came back into the city tonight, it certainly was higher here. Whether it's rising in that neighborhood as much as it has here, I don't know -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jeanne, let me walk you through a couple of things. Are they able -- are authorities able to, in any way, communicate with these people who are stranded and scared and hungry and cold and desperate?
MESERVE: They aren't tonight. When the boats were in the water, as the boats went around through the neighborhood, they yelled. And people yelled back. But Mark, when he came back, told me that -- that some of the people, they just couldn't get to. They just couldn't get to them. They couldn't maneuver the boats in there. Because this had happened before in Hurricane Betsy, there were many people who kept axes in their homes and had them in the attic in preparation for this. Some people were able to use those axes and make holes in their roof and stick their head out or their body out or climb up completely. But many others clearly didn't have that. Most of the rescuers appeared to be carrying axes, and they were trying to hack them out as best they could to provide access and haul them out.
BROWN: I'm sorry. What...
MESERVE: There were also Coast Guard helicopters involved in it, Aaron, with the seat up (ph), flying overhead. It appears that when they saw someone on a rooftop, they were dropping flares, to try to signal the boats to get there.
BROWN: Is there any sense of -- that there's triage, that they're looking to see who needs help the worst? Or they're just -- they were just getting to whomever they could get to and get them out of there?
MESERVE: I had the distinct impression they were just getting to whoever they could get to. I talked to one fire captain who'd been out in his personal boat. He said he worked an area probably 10 square blocks. He'd rescued 75 people. He said in one instance there were something like 18 people in one house, some of them young. One, he said, appeared to be a newborn. And he said other boats were working the same area at the same time, also picking up large numbers of people. And he doesn't believe they got all of them. And that's just one 10-block area. I don't know how big the area is. I haven't been able to see any footage from the air, but it appears to go on forever. It's hard for me to comprehend how many people might be out there and how many people's lives are in jeopardy or how many people may already be dead. BROWN: It's -- it's -- just stay with me for a bit, OK? It's what is -- for everybody now, what's very difficult is there isn't what we refer to in the business as a wide shot. We can't get -- authorities can't get, we can't get, we can't give to those of you who are watching tonight that wide picture of what these scenes are like. Can you -- what kind of neighborhoods are we talking about? Are these middle class neighborhoods? Are they -- the homes structurally sound? What are we talking about?
MESERVE: Well, the area where I was, and I don't know what the other neighborhoods are like, but this was a poor neighborhood. These were very humble homes. Most of them appeared to be only one story high with, then, some small attic space above them. These people are people of not much means. Some of them, I would guess, do not have cars and didn't have the option of driving away from here. Some of them, I would guess, did not have the money that would have bought them a hotel room.
BROWN: Yes.
MESERVE: Clearly, there were many warnings to evacuate, and people were told there was shelter downtown. And I can tell you that the rescuers tell me that everybody they picked up regretted their decision to stay where they were. But clearly, getting out of their homes would not have been easy for these people.
BROWN: How far from downtown or the center of New Orleans were you working?
MESERVE: It's a little hard for me to judge, because we were traveling in such peculiar circumstances and very low rate of speed, having to maneuver around the boats that are on the -- that are on the highway. And I might mention that the -- the exit ramps and the entrance ramps to the highway are now going to be used as boat ramps to get those boats into the water to get out and rescue people. It's a little difficult for me to judge. I would guess, you know, somewhere between maybe five miles, I would say, to the east of the city.
BROWN: The -- you talked about all the water there and the boats there. Do you have any sense of how deep that water is?
MESERVE: Well, I can tell you that in the vicinity where I was, the water came up to the eaves of the house. And I was told by several rescue workers that we were not seeing the worst of it, that we were at one end of the Ward 9 part of the city and that there's another part, inaccessible by road at this point, where the road -- where the houses were covered to their rooftops. And they were having a great deal of problem gaining access down there. The rescue workers also told me that they saw bodies in that part.
BROWN: Any -- you mentioned earlier that the water seemed to get progressively deeper. The walkway from this, if you don't know, is just a question of tide moving in and tide moving out? MESERVE: Well, I can tell you that the people who were rescued with whom I had a chance to speak told me that the water came up very suddenly on them. They said most of the storm had passed and what apparently was the storm surge came. Some of them talked about seeing a little water on their floor, going to the front door, seeing a lot of water, going to the back door, seeing more bodies of water, and then barely having time to get up the stairs. One man I talked to was barefoot. He hadn't had time to put on shoes. Another woman was in her housedress and flip-flops. As for the water tonight and how fast it may be going up and down, and you know, I may not have the most current information about the tides, but I can tell you that downtown here the water seemed to be, I'd say, six inches or so deeper than it was when I left earlier this afternoon. It may be a totally situation -- different situation...
BROWN: Sure.
MESERVE: ... out where those houses are. But I can tell you, the water certainly did not appear to be going down. And one thing we saw that -- that was, oh, I just couldn't imagine being in this situation, one of the boats had managed to pick up a fairly large group of people. And it brought them in, and the only -- the only land that was above ground were some railroad tracks. And they put them there and then they had to sit there for what seemed to me to be a couple of hours before another boat could pick them up and bring them in to the highway. And then when they got to the highway, there was no truck to bring them in to the city, and they set off on foot into the city, Aaron.
BROWN: If you mentioned this, I apologize. Do you have -- and when I say you, I think people understand -- I hope people understand that it's not just you. You're working with a crew of people, a photographer and others. Do you have a sense of how many people may be stranded tonight?
MESERVE: Yes. Nobody has a sense of that. And may I say that the crew was extraordinary. We've had very difficult situations. Our cameraman is working with a broken foot since 9 a.m. this morning to try and get this story to you. Big words of praise for them and for Mark Biello, who went out and ended up in that water, trying to get the rescue boats over partially submerged railroad tracks. It was a heroic piece of work by CNN employees.
BROWN: Our thanks to you for your efforts. It -- you don't need to hear this from me, but you know, people sometimes think that we're a bunch of kind of wacky thrill seekers doing this work, sometimes, and no one who has listened to the words you've spoken or the tone of your voice could possibly think that now. We appreciate your work.
MESERVE: Aaron, thank you. We are sometimes wacky thrill seekers. But when you stand in the dark, and you hear people yelling for help and no one can get to them, it's a totally different experience.
BROWN: Jeanne, thank you. We'll talk later tonight. Thank you. Jeanne Meserve, been on the team for almost 15 years, I think. She is a very tough, capable, strong reporter, and she met her match on a story tonight.

Then there was Good Morning American anchor Robin Roberts, who is a native of the Mississippi Gulf Coast region. Roberts was dispatched to the region last night without even knowing whether her family had weathered such a powerful and brutal hurricane.

Her mother still lives in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region as does her sister Dorothy, and her sister Sally Ann is an anchor at WWL in New Orleans.

Today on Good Morning America Roberts wept after showing an interview of a Biloxi man who lost his wife in the storm.

JENNIFER MAYERLE, CORRESPONDENT, WKRG-TV: How are you doing, sir?
JACKSON: I'm not doing good.
MAYERLE: What happened?
JACKSON: The house just split in half.
MAYERLE: Your house split it half?
JACKSON: We got up in the roof, all the way to the roof, and water came. And the house just opened up and divided.
MAYERLE: Who was at your house with you?
JACKSON: My wife.
MAYERLE: Where is she now?
JACKSON: Can't find her body. She's gone.
MAYERLE: You can't find your wife?
JACKSON: No, she told -- I tried. I hold her hand tight as I could. And she told me, "You can't hold me." She said, "Take care of the kids and the grandkids."
MAYERLE: What's your wife's name, in case we can put this out there?
JACKSON: Tonelle (ph) Jackson.
MAYERLE: And, OK, and what's your name?
JACKSON: Harvey Jackson.
MAYERLE: Where are you guys going?
JACKSON: We ain't got nowhere to go. I'm lost. That's all I had. That's all I had. This is all a horrible joke.

Though Roberts said her family is okay, one can only imagine the thoughts racing through her head at that moment.

And then there was reporting by CNN's Adaora Udoji which included reports of rescues underway early in the day, and those reports had turned to reports of shootings and looting by late tonight.

With all that is happening all one can do is hope and pray for those affected, and utter a phrase which has gotten me and my family through tough times, "Peace be still."

Peace be still.