Don't let me drown when the levees break
It's been nearly a year since hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and left nearly 100,000 people homeless.
Spike Lee made a film to commemorate the tragedy and tell the story of what really happened before, during and after the storm entitled When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts that debuted on HBO a few days ago. It consits of interviews with residents of New Orleans and others who were either directly affected by the storm or involved with helping people afterwards. I just finished watching the first act.
As Katrina approached New Orleans, many people had different opinions. Some residents were not terribly worried as they have seen hurricanes come through time and time again and some were witness to hurricane Betsy, one of the worst storms in New Orleans' history, that struck in 1965 and flooded the Ninth Ward, one of the lower class sectors of New Orleans. Others were more worried as they knew a category 5 storm was heading right for them and that the city had not faced a storm with that kind of strength before.
Shortly before the storm arrived, mayor Ray Nagin was recommended to give the order for a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. This was the first mandatory evacuation ever issued in the history of the city as it was difficult to do so because of legal issues involving such a situation.
People piled into the Superdome hours before Katrina hit and as the storm raged on, people prayed and worried about what they were in for.
At one point during the storm, some people thought they heard and felt explosions. Some thought it was the sound of a transformer blowing and others thought it was just the levees breaking. Some even thought that someone intentionally blew the levees like during hurricane Betsy in '65 when the levees were blown to save some of the more valuable property.
As the storm passed on, the events that followed are almost impossible to find words to describe them.
People were left on their rooftops, in the Superdome and in the water with no sign of the federal government coming to help them. Many people who were in need of medical attention were dying left and right. Helicpoters flew over houses and as people tried to flag them down, they either just dropped a bottle of water down to tide them over or just flew away. People tried to call 911 to see if help was coming and they were told to put water in their tubs and flush their toilets to drain the water......if they survived, that is.
Canadian mountee officers from Vancouver went to help people instead of our own government.
The people I would have to tip my hat to are the US Coast Guard as they worked for over 16 hours straight helping people off their roofs and out of the water (chopper pilots for the Coast Guard are usually only supposed to work 8 hours due to the possibility of physical fatigue) and people like Sean Penn who promised whoever he helped that he would get them to safety.
And what did our president do? He smiled during an interview as he said that he could only imagine the people standing on their houses, waving towels and blankets over their heads to try and flag down helicopters and how frustrating it is. Really, how frustrating can it be when you have hardly lifted a finger?
Now for a more personal experience.
Not too long after Katrina hit, I started working at Quality Suites. Every hotel in town was booked solid with evacuees. Everyday I worked, I saw people with garbage bags full of clothes and food or whatever they could fit into their cars and living out of a hotel room. I felt truly sorry for these people but at the same time, I was relieved to know that they were safe.
At one point, my parents discussed the possibility of going down to Louisiana or MIssissippi to see what they could do to help rebuild as my dad is a former construction coordinator for Habitat for Humanity and an architect. My neighbor Mrs. Miller's husband has been down there helping since last year and is still down there.
New Orleans went from being referred to as "The Big Easy" to "The City That Care Forgot".
Spike Lee made a film to commemorate the tragedy and tell the story of what really happened before, during and after the storm entitled When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts that debuted on HBO a few days ago. It consits of interviews with residents of New Orleans and others who were either directly affected by the storm or involved with helping people afterwards. I just finished watching the first act.
As Katrina approached New Orleans, many people had different opinions. Some residents were not terribly worried as they have seen hurricanes come through time and time again and some were witness to hurricane Betsy, one of the worst storms in New Orleans' history, that struck in 1965 and flooded the Ninth Ward, one of the lower class sectors of New Orleans. Others were more worried as they knew a category 5 storm was heading right for them and that the city had not faced a storm with that kind of strength before.
Shortly before the storm arrived, mayor Ray Nagin was recommended to give the order for a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. This was the first mandatory evacuation ever issued in the history of the city as it was difficult to do so because of legal issues involving such a situation.
People piled into the Superdome hours before Katrina hit and as the storm raged on, people prayed and worried about what they were in for.
At one point during the storm, some people thought they heard and felt explosions. Some thought it was the sound of a transformer blowing and others thought it was just the levees breaking. Some even thought that someone intentionally blew the levees like during hurricane Betsy in '65 when the levees were blown to save some of the more valuable property.
As the storm passed on, the events that followed are almost impossible to find words to describe them.
People were left on their rooftops, in the Superdome and in the water with no sign of the federal government coming to help them. Many people who were in need of medical attention were dying left and right. Helicpoters flew over houses and as people tried to flag them down, they either just dropped a bottle of water down to tide them over or just flew away. People tried to call 911 to see if help was coming and they were told to put water in their tubs and flush their toilets to drain the water......if they survived, that is.
Canadian mountee officers from Vancouver went to help people instead of our own government.
The people I would have to tip my hat to are the US Coast Guard as they worked for over 16 hours straight helping people off their roofs and out of the water (chopper pilots for the Coast Guard are usually only supposed to work 8 hours due to the possibility of physical fatigue) and people like Sean Penn who promised whoever he helped that he would get them to safety.
And what did our president do? He smiled during an interview as he said that he could only imagine the people standing on their houses, waving towels and blankets over their heads to try and flag down helicopters and how frustrating it is. Really, how frustrating can it be when you have hardly lifted a finger?
Now for a more personal experience.
Not too long after Katrina hit, I started working at Quality Suites. Every hotel in town was booked solid with evacuees. Everyday I worked, I saw people with garbage bags full of clothes and food or whatever they could fit into their cars and living out of a hotel room. I felt truly sorry for these people but at the same time, I was relieved to know that they were safe.
At one point, my parents discussed the possibility of going down to Louisiana or MIssissippi to see what they could do to help rebuild as my dad is a former construction coordinator for Habitat for Humanity and an architect. My neighbor Mrs. Miller's husband has been down there helping since last year and is still down there.
New Orleans went from being referred to as "The Big Easy" to "The City That Care Forgot".