Remembering Katrina: Day K-1

The day before Katrina made landfall, a Sunday in ’05. I was worried and excited, reminiscing about the good ole days where I got out of school for flooding every now and then. But from my remote location in New Jersey I was unable to go check that the doors and windows were securely shut on my French Quarter courtyard condo in the “slaves quarters”. I wondered if I had left any potential projectiles on my balcony and hoped the neighbors would confiscate them as they have once or twice before in similar circumstances. I think I may have sent an email asking someone to check, and telling the neighbors to be careful if they were not evacuating. As I suspected they would not. At this point the mandatory evacuation was in full swing and had been all weekend.

Due to contraflow traffic patterns my dad in Baton Rouge was unable to come loosen the ropes on his small sailboat docked in New Orleans East, as he usually does. He also was unable to drive over to Biloxi to attempt to secure his half-a-block-from the beach house, although there wasn’t much to be done there unless you wanted to actually board up the windows. Generally he doesn’t bother although there is always some debate about whether or not that was foolish.

My mother in Baton Rouge was occupied with trying to cajole a handful of relatives and friends in New Orleans area to evacuate to her place. There were not too many people to worry about as most relatives have left the city or passed away. The remaining ones were reluctant but in the end my uncle and a childhood friend of my mom’s did arrive as the storm approached.

I didn’t want to have to go to work the next day but there was no real reason not to. I watched CNN with great anticipation and finally went to sleep that evening as usual. It’s strange to be having a normal day when a hurricane is about to blow through your and your family’s property. Katrina worry level: high. Total actual useful preparations for Katrina: none.

Katrina Blog Project