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What were you doing today 2 years ago?
I was not doing anything heroic or dealing with anything horrific. I was on a couch in Atlanta in the Burbs with the dogs while my friends went to work. We watched CNN. We made calls. We waited. We wondered. We wept.
I have friends who were here. One is a doctor who drove into the city with a small bag, his scrubs, an ID and a gun. He saved lives.
I have a friend who was one of the few support team members for 1st responders and their psychological needs.
I have a friend with a raised truck who drove people top safety.
What were you doing?
August 29, 2007 in Nola Stuff | Permalink
Comments
Two years ago today, we were in Lafayette. I had woken up early to watch CNN and the Weather Channel's coverage of the storm. I guess I saw the landfall--reporters in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Mississippi. It looked like it was going East, I felt relieved as the day went on--nothing pretty, but we'd be home in two days. By 5pm, we were ready to head out and get something to eat--I had a room full of folks--not only the family but also Miss Lee and a friend who didn't have a car to evacuate with. Marc Stone had just called me to let me know that according to a friend in the neighborhood, things looked fine. By the time we got home from dinner at 7pm, CNN was announcing that the Levees had broken. I looked at Susan and said "It's over...." By Wednesday morning, we were on our way to Susan's parents' house in Tennessee.
I've got a post up about my thoughts right now on my blog. If anyone cares to read it, you'll know how I'm feeling right now....
http://banzaibill.blogspot.com
I miss home....
Banzai
Posted by: Banzai Bill | Aug 29, 2007 10:41:26 AM
I was lucky like you. I watched from Nashville while I worried for days about the whereabouts of one friend who was a nurse at Touro and one who was NOPD. They were okay.. eventually.
Posted by: jeffrey | Aug 29, 2007 1:10:36 PM
We watched from NYC and frantically called our friends who rode it out, friends who evacuated, friends of friends who were in the middle of it all...and then we spent a lot of our free time trying to get information - the RIGHT information - to those people about what-all was going on.
Of course, the nadir was screaming at C-SPAN's filming of a Congressional tour group being led through the Ninth Ward. "Damn the health hazards of the mold! GO IN THERE! SEE IT! SEE WHAT HAPPENED!!!!"
I guess, in a way, I'm still screaming.
Posted by: liprap | Aug 29, 2007 1:43:34 PM
I was in Jackson, MS with my mom and one of her friends at my aunt and uncle's house. We lost power around 7 PM as branches and debris were flying around. We eventually lost the phone, water, and cell phones as well. We were only able to see the first fly-by of the Hyatt and the SuperDome. In the few phone calls that we were able to make, we thought that New Orleans again had dodged the bullet.
The next morning I was trying to find a signal to make a call to my wife when I heard the faintest signal on WWL. They were leaning out of the blown out windows and talking about the water rising. I didn't know anything else until we made it to Memphis on Friday.
When I got off the plane here in PA, I got in my car, merged onto the highway, and immediately pulled over to sob. I still sob once in a while because I was lucky - I had a house to come home to. And all my family was fine.
Posted by: LatinTeacher | Aug 29, 2007 8:18:42 PM
I was with my family and many friends from SYC at a friends house on Avery Island. We saw the Yacht Club we'd grown up with burn while surrounded by water. It's laughable now to think that was the worst thing about the storm for a little while.
Posted by: ClarkT | Aug 29, 2007 8:26:06 PM
I was at a friend's house in Mandeville watching pear trees get tossed around her yard.
Posted by: Kelly | Aug 29, 2007 11:07:01 PM
I was sitting catatonic on the couch of a complete stranger in the suburbs of Jackson. For the next seven days I barely budged from her couch but to eat her food. She hosted me at the drop of a hat, and when I finally found someplace else to go, she sent me off with a hug and a big bag of candy.
Posted by: Paul | Aug 30, 2007 11:24:11 AM
