A Hurricane Story

Yesterday, I received this from my Aunt Pat. One of my cousins was stranded in New Orleans during Katrina: The difference between Paul and the people who live in New Orleans are

1) He & his co-workers had financial means to get out
2) He & his co-workers are educated and prepared for a worst case scenario

So... Here is Paul's story:


Dear Friends
As you may or may not know, I was in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. Below is my first hand account of what is was like, before, during and after the hurricane that has been called the worst natural disaster in US history. My heart goes out to all those people who are still there suffering, in desperate need of food and water, who are missing their loved ones, and everybody else affected by this tragedy. You can never imagine what it is like, unless actually being there.

"The Canadian Sales Team departed for our Regional Meeting down in New Orleans on Monday, August 21st. The meetings lasted from Monday to Thursday, there was 7 of us that were at this meeting, 5 DSM's, our Regional Manager, and our Marketing Manager. Four of us decided to extend our stay in New Orleans, and not to fly out until the Sunday, August 28th. A decision that was to make the next 5 days memorable for the rest of our lives. Everything was fine until Saturday, August 27th.

The People Involved:
Paul Paterson - DSM for Alberta/Sask
Ryan McElroy - DSM for Eastern Ontario
Judith Card - DSM for Western Ontario
Tom MacLean - DSM for BC

Saturday, August 27th: We woke up in the morning to find a letter under our door from the Chateau Lemoyne General Manager saying that we needed to immediately check out, and that the mayor is expected to announce a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. We were stunned by this as we never watched the news or read any newspapers the whole time. It completely blind-sided us. The weather was beautiful today, the sun was out, and not a cloud in the sky. We gathered up all our luggage, went to the lobby and arranged van transportation to the airport around 2 pm trying to find an earlier flight out. We got to the ticket counter and there was nothing available, until our scheduled flight to Toronto at 12:30 pm on Sunday. The lady at the ticket desk said there was a flight to LA at 7 am the next morning, but there was 50 people on standby. We realized there was no chance of getting out except for our scheduled flight. We called the Radisson Airport hotel and were lucky enough to get a room for the night, looking forward to getting out tomorrow morning..

Sunday, August 28th: We woke up around 7 am getting ready to pack our bags and head to the airport. Around 8 am, Ryan checked the status of our Air Canada flight online and and big bold letters "flight cancelled". This is where the nightmare began. We had a team meeting in me and Ryan's room. We made a plan, our priorities were to immediately go find food and water to last us at least 5 days, get cash, confirm extra nights at our hotel, have someone call around to every rental car, taxi, bus company around to get out of New Orleans, and also to have someone call head office to get us on any possible flight out anywhere before the hurricane hits and the airport closes. Once all duties were designated, Paul and I went out into the street in search of food and water. The temperature was in the high 90's, with about 94% humidity. We walked for miles, everywhere was closed. The anxiety was building, my heart was pumping through my chest. If we don't get food and water we are in big trouble, not only physically, but psychologically. We finally found a "Party Store" that was open, they didn't take credit cards so we had to run out onto the street again to find an ATM machine. Finally found one, took out $200 USD and ran back to the store. All they had was pop, junk food, instant noodles, muffins, and water. We stocked up on 6 empty jugs for water that we could fill up at the hotel, thereby reducing the amount that the both of us had to carry, Power-Ade, chips, noodles, chocolate bars, and whatever else we could find that would be useful. Walked back to the hotel and distributed the supplies evenly between the two rooms.
Then went downstairs to confirm extra nights at the hotel. They said we couldn't stay any longer, the hotel is overbooked and there is no more room for us. Keep in mind every other hotel at this point had no vacancy. The anxiety started to creep in again. We pleaded with the front desk lady, she said "sorry we can't". There are times when you can't take no for an answer. We spoke with the manager, told him our situation, that we already were staying at the hotel, that we have no other place to go. He checked the "true room availability", as hotels allocate room blocks in order to accomodate walk ins. He found that the hotel actually did have some space, he gave us 3 extra nights, and let us keep the two rooms.

Later that evening we tried to relax as much as possible, went for a dip in the pool. Afterwards all met up for dinner, and we all knew that this could potentially be our last supper. There was a quiet uneasiness throughout the dining room. The only consolation is that we were all in it together. We were all in the same situation, a Category 5 hurricane was going to hit tomorrow morning and nobody had any place to go. Even the folks with vehicles couldn't hope to get out in time as thousands and thousands crowded the freeways trying to get out of the city, all moving at a snails pace. All we could do is hope and pray. We went back to our rooms and watched tv, hoping for good news that a miracle would happen and New Orleans would be spared. As I prepared for bed my heart was pounding, it was real fear. A Category 5 storm had never hit New Orleans before, nobody knew what to expect, even the locals didn't know. That was the scariest part of all. Our hotel was located in between Lake Pontchartain and the Mississipi River, extremely vulnerable to flooding. As I laid my head on my pillow I thought, this could possibly be my last day on earth. I can't even begin to explain what that feels like. I set the alarm for 5 am, as the hurricane was set to make landfall around 7 am. I wanted to have a shower, before the water and lights went out.

Monday, August 29th: I wake up around 4:30 am, after 4 1/2 hours of light sleeping. I heard a noise, it was our power going out. I heard the winds gusting up outside, and the rain beating against our window. The curtains I left closed before going to bed in case the windows would get blown out, it would at least absorb the broken glass. I went to the washroom and had a shower, and told my roommate to do so quickly after me so we could fill up the tub with water for emergency use before we lost our water supply. At this point we are as prepared as we could possibly be, now it was a waiting game. Around 6:30 am the winds were in full force, the wind howling as hard as you can possibly imagine, the windows rattling. We left the curtains closed for the next 2 hours, and we just tried to sleep through it as much as possible. We lost our water supply and internet access at around 9:30 am. We now had no lights, no air conditioning, no running water, and ofcourse no television. The only thing we had was a telephone, and it only worked for international numbers. Luckily we all could still call Canada. This helped us keep our morale.
We looked outside for the first time, around 10 am and looked in horror as we saw everything around us flooded. There was at least 4 to 5 feet of water in the parking lot, and all around the hotel. Pieces of our hotel were flying around, palms trees being uprooted. Fortunately our hotel was very solid, and not made of wood. It was around this time that we realized that we were safe from the Hurricane itself. I knew what lied ahead though, the hotel was full, how long before they completely ran out of food and water, then what? Electricity would be out for at least several weeks, the heat in New Orleans in August is almost unbearable and we had no air conditioning.
Most importantly, how are we going to get out of here? How long could we last with our supplies?
The hurricane had pretty much passed around 5 pm, lasting approximately 8 hours. All that was left was massive destruction outside, the likes that I have never seen before.
The front desk called us in our rooms and advised that dinner would be served around 9 pm. We decided to not eat any of our rations until the hotel could no longer provide for us. We had to be smart about everything, as each decision we made could ultimately determine our fate. The line up for dinner was huge, it was people from all walks of life, black, white, hispanic, men, women and children, all working together and helping each other out, just as it should be in the real world. Here we had a limit of one plate, and one glass of water. The food was not gourmet, but when you're hungry you don't care. We went back to our room and went to bed. There was nothing else we could do. We weren't able to walk outside, there was water all around us. We might as well of been on a deserted island.

Tuesday, August 30th: Woke up around 8 am. Hard to sleep, the weather was beautiful outside. Bright blue skies, but the heat was getting worse. I tried laying on my back with arms and legs extended, and not moving at all. Trying to keep as cool as possible. You couldn't help but sweat. The discomfort is terrible. Your energy level is low because of the lack of food and water. This is even after only 1 day. Believe me, 1 day feels like 5. The boredom is excruciating, and the prospects of getting out seemed dim. We called our office and they said we had our flight booked for tomorrow. We realized that this wasn't going to happen. The airport was closed, and speaking with the front desk staff and the fireman at the hotel, they said no way. It would be a least a week and a half before there were any flights departing from New Orleans. I know we didn't have that amount of time. We would not have enough food and water to last us that long. No matter how much we rationed. Paul and Judy went for a walk in the morning, and showed up about 5 hours later. They apparently had walked for about an hour, finally found a store that was re-opened and stood in line for 2 1/2 hours to get inside. Everything was double the price as usual. They came back with more food and drinks. Thank God! This would help us for another couple days. We had one more scheduled lunch at the hotel. The hotel was now out of food and water. The tenseness among the people was apparent, everybody was getting weaker, the morale was low. We called our office again to check about the flights, and they said that the earliest flight out was September 5th. We were all very anxious at this point. We needed to get out any way we could. "Can we get a train? Can we get another DSM to drive and pick us up somewhere outside the city of New New Orleans?" We would of walked miles if we had to. We went through every scenario, we just had no way of getting out. We would need more food and water. It could take us weeks to get out here. Supplies were not being distributed to the hotel, we needed help, everybody did. Where are the army vans? Buses, etc? Paul, Judy and I went for a walk again afterwards, as there was about 2 1/2 feet of water right now, and if we crossed the street there was a dry area. It was like a ghost town, 2 or 3 cars going up and down the street, telephone poles laying on the road, trees uprooted, stores and buildings destroyed. The occasional Police cars going up and down the dry side of the street. We stopped one, and asked them what was going on? Was help coming? Our hotel is out of food, how can we get some? They had no idea. Nobody knew what was going on, they still don't. We walked up the street and ran into some people they said there was a grocery store up the way that the Police were allowing people to go into to get essential supplies, providing it was only food, water, diapers, etc. They would arrest you only if you took cigarettes or liquor. We spoke to some Police about this to make sure it was okay, and they gave us the green light. They realized the desperate situation everybody was in. So we went into the store and got as much water, and food supplies that we could carry. Psychologically this was very important for us. We knew that we would be fine for several weeks now for food and water, but our goal was still to get out of New Orleans and our environment at the hotel was worsening. Trash was starting to build up in the hallways, people had urinated in the hallways. Most of the people staying at our hotel were actually poor locals. Many of these people didn't have a plan, didn't fill their bathtub with water, didn't stock up on supplies, were really unprepared. We tried calling our office later today, and we couldn't get through, now all the phones were down, land lines and cel phones. People couldn't call in, and we couldn't call out. We were now totally on our own. Fear, apprehension, anxiety, were all feeling that we shared. We had to get out.
In the evening we all gathered together by candlelight and played cards, and drank some beer. The key here is take your mind off of your situation that you are in, be as relaxed as possible and have a positive outlook. Ryan and I headed back up to our room around midnight. It was horrible in our room, our window was bolted shut, so we couldn't get any air circulation, the smell was bad, a very damp musky smell. It must have been around 95 degrees in our room, we had to open our door to sleep, people were talking in the hallways. Then there was the fear of being robbed. It was a trade-off, we kept it open as long as possible, and then shut the door just before we too tired to keep our eyes open. It was a horrible night, we would get up every couple of hours and pace around the room.

Wednesday, August 31st: Woke up in the morning again, another day without a shower. Ryan and I both looked over at each other, and we both had the consensus we are getting the heck out of here. We are not staying another night here, we'll go crazy. No matter what! We had another team meeting in the morning. Judy and Paul were trying to get through to our office, we finally did by calling collect and using a calling card. We were still trying to figure a way out of here. The hotel staff were now telling everybody to leave, as it is only going to keep getting worse. The streets around our hotel were dried out now, the pumps had apparently starting working yesterday, and worked all through the night to pump all the water out. So everybody that had a vehicle left, their goal was to hopefully have enough gas to make it to the nearest operational gas station was, then carry on from there. People with a small amount of gas were taking a big risk. Nobody had room to take us, there was very little of us left now at the hotel. I went downstairs to speak to the General Manager as the plan was to take the hotels 2 shuttle buses to Baton Rouge, and drop people off. Problem was they had enough gas to get their but not to get back, and there was no phone service to find out if there actually was gasoline stations operational in Baton Rouge. Nobody knew anything. After a few hours the GM changed his mind, and the new plan was to take people in the shuttle buses to "Zeffer Field", which is the local baseball stadium, which was being used as a shelter. The though of being stuck in the middle of an open air baseball field, in the suffocating heat, with thousands of people begging for food and water was not something me or my team-mates were too excited about. We decided to stay put for the time being. Ryan and I walked up the street where there were two State Police Officers to find out what was going on, to find out more ab out Zeffer Field, they knew nothing about it. We told them our situation, we are 4 Canadians, we have no vehicle to get out, our hotel is out of food and water, they are telling everybody to leave, we have no place to go...
He told me that all he knew is that there is no food and water anywhere, that people were being taken to these shelters all over the city, and from their being transported to somewhere else, but to who knows where. You could be there for hour days, maybe a week, maybe more before you got picked up. He knew the situation that we were in, the look he gave me as we started to leave was one I willl never forget. He wished us the best of luck, and looked down in sadness and shook his head, he knew how dangerous our situation was. We walked back to the hotel in shock, I calmed Ryan down because he was starting to say negative things. I re-assured him we're going to be okay, we're gonna get out of here. Even if I wasn't sure if I believed it myself, I had to say it and make it sound like I believed it.
Paul spoke with the Assistant GM, and he tried to do what he could to help us out. There happened to be one taxi driver from New York, apparently he was the only one still taking people places, mainly back to their homes in the local area. He came over to us and said that he would take us to Baton Rouge for $170 USD for all of us, but it was only contingent that he could get back into New Orleans because the police were not allowing any non-emergency vehicles into the city, he had to get back to his family later on to get them all out. We jumped at the opportunity, money was no object at this point. We were all so happy and relieved. Thank God! He was our saviour. So we packed everything into the cab, how we fit all the luggage I will never know. Trunk completely open and tied down. Got into the vehicle, and he threw the air conditioning on, what a blessing. We started driving out of New Orleans, elated. He had one stop to make, the first police vehicle he saw on the other side of the road he had to stop. He just had to make sure they would let him back. So he pulls over to the side of the road, walks over the grass to the other side of the road and speaks to the State Officer, after a minute or two of chatting I notice him walking back toward us in the rearview mirror. He had his head down. I knew this wasn't good. He walks in and says he has some bad news, we have to turn back. Our hearts sunk. I told him I have to talk to the officer. I can't take no for an answer here, you are doing these guys a favour by helping to evacuate people. So will drive up aways and do a u-turn back onto the other side of the street to come back, we stop by the squad car. I get out, I pleaded with the guy. "You have to help us, we have no other way out of here, we have no place to stay, please". It all fell on deaf ears, he would not let us. It didn't seem like he cared. They called me to come back to the taxi. The cab driver told us that our best option was to get out onto the highway and hitch-hike. We are 3 guys and a girl and we should be safe. So he dropped us off right there at the highway, we weren't going back to our hotel. This decision might have saved our lives, we will never know. We split up in two's, Ryan and Judi, and Paul and I, we felt we had a better chance of being picked up if two of us got a lift first and then we could get the driver to pick up the other two people. We were about 200 metres apart. We were out there for about 45 minutes, car after car drove by us. We tried to get in front of as many vehicles as possible.
It was desperation! We saw a truck stop in front of Ryan and Judi, we watched for a second, then we say Ryan jump around and pick up his bags. You could see their smiles from where we were. They got in and drove up to us and picked us up as well. The gentelmens name was Phil, he was going to Baton Rouge airport and spending a month with his family in California. We had been rescued. This moment was probably the happiest in my life, the sense of relief, nothing else mattered. We were okay and we were finally getting out of here. He drove us with the air conditioning on the whole way. This guy was like an angel dropped from heaven. Without him I might not have written this. We get to the airport and the goal now is to get out of here, the airport is operational, Baton Rouge escaped damage. We find out that the earliest flight available anywhere was Sunday, September 4th, and that there are no hotel rooms available in the entire state of Louisiana, the nearest is Houston, Texas. We were able to call our office now, they said that there was a flight available out of Houston tomorrow morning that could get us home. We just had to get there. We called various bus lines, none had any space available, the same with taxis. Our only option was a limousine to Houston. We tried various companies none had any available, finally our last call, Riverside Limousines did. It is about a 5 hour drive to Houston, we would have to pay for 10 hours as they charge for the deadhead back. The cost $1140 USD. Being that we would have to stay 4 extra nights anyways, pay for food, and the flight to Houston would of been $300 each, we did the math and we were still better off taking the limo. So we did. Twenty minutes later a huge black stretch limo pulled up to the airport, this is not a joke. We could not believe it!
It was an unbelievable end to an unforgettable experience! We checked into the Marriott hotel by the airport and all caught our flights the next day. Back home, safe and sound.

You can't ask for a better team building experience. We all relied on each other and stuck together, we made decisions as a team. There were highs and lows, but we kept all our emotions in check. Accepting that we were in this situation, and if we wanted to get out we had to work together. This past week was the most difficult in each of our lives, we will never forget this experience. It taught us alot about ourselves. I pray for everybody else down there in those southern states that are affected it is a terrible tragedy. The hardships that many of these people face, I can't even begin to comprehend. In comparison, we got off easy.