Godless Mom in the Bible Belt

Eric bought a new house two weeks ago. A beautiful thing, almost 160 years old. The quality of the construction was remarkable, it was framed out of hardwoods which were salvaged from old ships. Eric and his wife Lynn were out shopping for a new stove for their new home when he received a call on his cell from his mom. She was wondering if they were going to evacuate the city. Eric's new home sat on some high ground at the edge of New Orleans, it was Saturday morning.

By Sunday morning it was evident that Katrina (which had become a category 5) was going to hit New Orleans. Anyone with half a brain knows that a category 5 hitting New Orleans IS the worse case scenario and by mid day Sunday Eric had packed up his pickup and sent Lynn, their son and their dogs to Houston. Eric chose to stay in their new home and try to protect their investment.

The storm hit Monday morning and the old house weathered it beautifully. By Monday evening Eric's power was still out but his water and gas still worked without problem, he even took a bath and cooked some dinner. Tuesday morning came and he went out into his neighborhood to help begin clearing some of the fallen trees and talk to the neighbors, they were able to listen to the news on a battery powered radio and it was evident that the nightmare scenario had taken place overnight. Unable to contain the water from the hurricane the levees had broken and New Orleans had flooded.

Tuesday night the looting started, Eric slept in front of the main door into the house and watched all night as people came onto his porch and shined flashlights into his house, looking for houses that were unoccupied. Once they realized that there was someone on the premises they would quickly move on to the next house. By Wednesday their good manners had passed. People were hungry and thirsty and were looking for shelter and things were getting very ugly. Gangs roamed the streets carrying guns and shots rang out all over the city. Erik hooked up with two of his neighbors, two strong and healthy men, and ventured out of the neighborhood for supplies. They heard rumors that Walmart was being looted so they walked over to take a look. There were police there but they weren't acting like police, they were beating the crap out of everyone who ventured into Walmart, including little kids.

They made their way to the Convention Center because they heard it was being used as a shelter. They took turns guarding their shopping cart full of possessions and looking for water. Erik helped an old man who was sitting on the sidewalk in a folding chair, after he returned from a water finding trip he went to give the man some water and found that he had died. Someone had put a blanket over him and left him there. The bathrooms were unbelievable, the water had quit working on Monday night yet people continued to try and use the facilities, there was a dead body sitting in the corner of the room.

After a few hours at the Convention Center it became obvious that no help was coming. Erik and his two neighbors decided that if they were going to survive they had better start walking. They had heard of a way out of the city, toward Hammond, Louisiana around the western edge of Lake Ponchartrain. They managed to find fresh water in an office building water cooler and managed to disguise it by filling up several coffee cans. Chances were good at this point that if you had water you would be killed for it. The three men walked from New Orleans to Hammond, hundreds of people passed them by in vehicles fleeing the city and the forest pressed right up against the edge of the road, leaving them very little room to walk. There were several close calls where they were almost hit by the traffic but by the early morning hours on Thursday they had managed to make it to I-12. They bribed a man with 200 dollars and a tank full of gas to bring them into Houston in the back of his pickup. Eric was reunited with his family on Thursday.

Eric broke down several times while relaying this story to my husband, Scott. He said he saw things that were too horrible to speak of but the images run through his head at night in his dreams. Eric's son has been sent to New Mexico to live with his grandparents and go to school for the time being but Erik and Lynn are determined to return home to New Orleans when circumstances allow.

He fully acknowledges that he was stupid to stay in the city when he had the opportunity to leave, good ol' 20/20 hindsight. Eric isn't a rich man but he had the financial resources to buy a house out of the flood zone and to bribe his way out of Louisiana. He had the health and stamina to find supplies and walk out of harms way and he didn't have to worry about caring for sick, old or young family members. Many were not so lucky.