It’s 5K Time! Peltier Park race gives proceeds to Brain Aneurysm Foundation
August 26, 2015
OUTDOOR MEMORIES
August 29, 2015
Where were you when John F. Kennedy was assassinated? Martin Luther King Jr.? Bobby Kennedy?
What were you doing when news of the space shuttle explosion was released? When the Columbine shooting began? When the planes hit the Twin Towers?
This week, the world is asking us, “Where were you when Hurricane Katrina hit?” “Did you leave?” “Have you recovered?”
Katrina was a near breaking point in the Armstrong household. It tested and strengthened us. And it taught us total humility in the face of Mother Nature.
The storm turned on a dime. She crossed the southern tip of Florida, hit the Gulf of Mexico and gained steam in record time. A Category 5 at one point, spaghetti models indicated the Florida panhandle was her next target. Friday night, everyone was giddy with high school back in session and the football season kicking off in high fashion.
By Saturday morning, the scramble was on for wood, water and sandbags. Katrina was doing the unthinkable: changing course for Louisiana.
Mandatory evacuations were soon announced. Those who fled and those who stayed braced for the worst. None of us adequately imagined what was headed our way.
Slidell was my home when Katrina roared ashore. The eye crossed overhead, right at the Louisiana/Mississippi line. A Category 5 storm as she approached shore, Katrina was pushing water and wind across the Gulf. Near landfall, she was downgraded to a Category 3.
To this day, hearing then Police Chief Freddy Drennan describe the wall of water traveling down Pontchartrain Boulevard as he raced to safety back at the police station causes chills. Homes closest to Lake Pontchartrain were leveled. What Katrina and tornados spared, water damaged. It would be months before the city began to look like its old self.
It was so odd to see banks record transactions in stenographer’s pads. And how unusual to see long lines at Cane’s – the only eatery open for business for weeks.
Trips across town required hours. We were buying repair supplies right out of the back of trucks at Lowes and other hardware stores. In fact, for months, we shopped out of state and hauled back what we needed because everyone needed everything. Need outpaced supply for what seemed like forever.
When I reflect now upon Hurricane Katrina, I remember the people we encountered far more than the damage. Everyone who walked away from the storm will likely tell you the same thing – stuff is replaceable, people are not.
As we drove to relatives’ homes in Oklahoma, our Louisiana plate and loaded down vehicle told of our plight. At restaurants, gas stations and stops along the way, we’d walk to the register only to learn someone had paid our tab. Or people would pass and whisper they were praying for us. And when I returned to pick up the pieces, the support was overwhelming.
South Louisiana learned a great deal from Katrina. It’s the oft-repeated storyline each hurricane season. For all the things that went wrong prior to and in the aftermath of the storm, I believe she made us more aware of our neighbors. She showed us Mother Nature’s wrath, God’s grace and what is possible when neighbors watch out for neighbors.
