Profnohair's Home on the Web!

Saturday 8-27-2015

Here it is ten years after the event that changed our lives forever, Hurricane Katrina. On Sunday, the 28th of August, the Men’s Club of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Arabi, LA had a horseshoe tournament at the school. Everyone was discussing whether they were going to leave town or not for the approaching Hurricane Katrina. Most said they were staying put and riding it out. I later found out that a lot of them did indeed change their minds which was a very smart move. I on the other hand, made up my mind that I was staying, much to the dismay of my wife Cheryl. She pretty much begged me to go with the family to Florida, but I insisted that I would be fine. I had a boat, scuba gear and a neighbor, Mark Grelle Sr. that was going to stay with me in the house. Off they went to Florida.

Fast forward to Monday morning. August 29th, 2005. It was raining cats and dogs outside, but it was not flooding yet. As there was not much to do since we had no electricity, I filmed a squirrel being blown out of the huge oak tree in front of the house, shingles on a house on the opposite side of the street starting to blow off, etc. We then heard a loud noise and went to investigate. Upon opening the attic door I saw sunlight where the whirlybird vent used to be along with the board next to it completely gone. This was over Jennifer’s bedroom. I went in there and water was pouring in. We went to the den door and looked out and saw that the metal carport was completely gone and that is what probably took out the vent. I sat at the kitchen table and called my insurance company since I had nothing else to do. I figured that I would get a jump on the other claimants. I used the house phone which was the best decision that I ever made.

I went in the den and laid down on the sofa to take a nap. A while later Mark came in to wake me up and said we have to get out, the water was coming up fast. I put my feet on the floor and it was several inches deep already. I tried putting on my socks but that was a lost cause since they were wet, so I put on my tennis shoes only. I went out through the kitchen and just as I turned the corner the refrigerator fell over and blocked my way. I had to climb over it to get out. We already had our bags in the truck so we got in and drove toward higher ground (ha ha). We got to the canal that runs behind Schwegmann’s and the water was getting too high to keep going. We turned around and abandoned the truck in a driveway on Claiborne Square and walked back to the house not thinking of taking our bags with us and leaving them in the truck. Our neighbors saw us and told us to meet them at a two-story building on Lafitte Court that they had keys to. We got back to the house and tried to get the boat going but it was caught in the trailer, so we had to wait until the water got high enough for the trailer to fall out from under the trapped lower unit.

After finally getting the lower unit freed we proceeded to the designated rendezvous point on Lafitte Court only to find no one there. We decided to go to the river since that would be the highest point available but the boat would not start (which was never a problem in the past) and the wind was getting stronger so we decided to tie up to the side of the building and stay in the boat. The wind was coming from the west so we were protected behind the two story building. So much so that I slept under a tarp for a good while.

While waiting for the wind to die down, we saw a lot of things float past us. Some of them include brand new car tires, an architect's desk with plans laid out and the light fixture still attached to it.

When the wind did die down the boat started right up and we started hearing cries for help. The first people we saw were in a building that was missing part of it's side wall, they did not want to be rescued.

We proceeded to Packenham Dr and came across several people on the roof of a home. Their boat had capsized, and they got on the roof.

Eventually, we borrowed another boat and the neighbor and I separated. I rescued several other people from houses along and off of Congressman Hebert hr. I would load them up to capacity and bring them to Andrew Jackson High School. Andrew Jackson is a "C" shaped building with a catwalk between the back side of the building. This is where I was dropping of the rescued people. After it got dark, I went inside the school for the night. Being hungry from not eating since the night before, we went looking for food in the classrooms. I found nothing to eat and was getting ready to go to sleep hungry when one of the people that I rescued brought me a bag of M&M's. It was like a steak dinner to me. I was freezing the entire night from being in shock from the entire situation. Remember, this was August in Southeast Louisiana!

The next morning, I got in the boat and went to St, Bernard Highway and abandoned the boat since I did not have much more gas, or a way to get any. I left the boat in front of Rocky and Carlo's Restaurant and went to the jail to register as a refugee with the Red Cross. The jail area was the only thing that did not flood in the parish as far as I know. They told me to go in the cell block and make myself comfortable until we are able to get taken out.

I've never been in jail in my life and I was not going to sit in a jail cell. I went back outside and was standing around when I heard Yogi, one of the higher ups in the Sheriff's Department, tell a subordinate to go in the jail and get some other deputies to go to Walgreens in a dump truck to get everything that was above the water line and not flooded. I asked if I could volunteer. He looked at me and said, "raise your right hand", I did and he said, I solemnly swear". I repeated it and he said "you're a deputy, get in the truck". We got diapers and any other supplies that we could and brought them back to the jail.

Then we formed a landing zone for the incoming helicopters. The first one was a military copter and when the person got out I told him that the injured was in the jail. He said, "I am not here for that, I am here for the request for help from the parish president". They got that and flew off. About a half hour later, a State Police helicopter landed with a supply of bottled water.

Boats were starting to arrive from the nursing homes from "down the road" and we helped unload the patients from the boats. One officer came to me and told me he had a deceased patient, I told him "I am sorry, but I only deal with live ones" I was not in the frame of mind to deal with a deceased person.

A while later, two ferries arrived on the river and we started loading refugees on them. The loading ramp for the car ferry was damaged and hanging down onto the barge at the bottom of it. So, it was about a five-foot drop to get on the ferries from the landing. They gave the two of us that were helping the people down the ramp, a life jacket and they tied a rope around our waist so we couldn't fall in the river. We helped 700 people down the ramp onto the two ferries when the captain of the ferry said," that's it, 350 people per ferry", I said "no, 701" and jumped on the ferry. The blisters on my feet were causing excruciating pain and I had to get out. They brought us to what I believe was the ferry landing by the Courthouse on the Westbank of Jefferson Parish. From there, we were bussed to the River Walk in Baton Rouge. When we got there, we registered again and they were giving out clothing. I was still in the filthy clothes that I had on for several days at this point. I asked for a shirt because I was freezing again. The young volunteer said that they didn't have any my size, so I went outside and slept on the concrete because it was warm out there.

The next morning, I woke up and went to a hotel across the street to use the phone to call my wife who was in Florida. I asked the security guard for some change to use the pay phone and he said the only one that may have any change was a few blocks away in the parking garage. So, with my blistered feet, I walked to go get change. When I got back to the pay phone, I called the hotel in Florida and asked for my wife. When I called, and someone in the room answered, they started screaming "he's alive, Stephens's alive, go find Cheryl". After a while she got to the phone and told me that the place where she worked had an office in Baton Rouge and to go there and she would meet me on Thursday there. I hung up and started walking the neighborhood thinking I could find some clothes in one of the local stores. I did not. But what I did find was one of the people that I rescued and asked him what he was going to do. He said he had to get to the company that he worked for to get a truck to drive to Ocean Springs, Mississippi. We took a cab together and when we got to Airline Highway, we discovered that is company was two doors down from my wife's company.

I stayed there until the wife came in from Florida. The company set us up with water and sewer for the travel trailer that my wife purchased in Florida for us to live in. After a month of staying there and the wife working out of the Baton Rouge office, we moved to another property of the wife's company in Loranger, LA. We stayed there until November of 2006 when we purchased a house in Slidell, LA. Which is where we still reside today.

There are some aspects of this story that I am sure I am forgetting and some that I am leaving out on purpose as it is too personal to share on the internet.

Overall, I do not regret staying to try to protect our property, but in the end, what did I protect? I did rescue several people and I am glad to have had that experience.

Would I stay again? Probably not, because what did I gain? I put my wife through hell thinking that I was dead. So, no, I will not stay again for a major hurricane.

Thanks for listening.