Editor’s Note: Kate Barron is Oxfam America’s Louisiana Community Development Specialist. She has spent the past 2+ years working with residents of and groups assisting Terrebonne Parish, and also Plaquemines, Lafourche and Vermillion parishes, in its recovery from hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Hurricane Gustav has exacerbated an already bad situation for this area. Kate briefly evacuated to family in Baton Rouge, but is driving back into the affected parishes. She shares her experience in the storm here… both before, and after:

Kate Barron
Oxfam America Louisiana Community Development Specialist

BEFORE:

Last Friday night, August 29th, 2008 was three years to the day of Hurricane Katrina. And there I was, packing up my house, scrambling to whip up an evacuation plan to family in Baton Rouge: Gustav loomed on the horizon.

I work as the Louisiana field representative for Oxfam America, the international humanitarian aid agency, and have spent the past two and a half years in the rural coastal communities south and west of New Orleans as part of the long and heartbreakingly inconsistent recovery from Katrina and Rita. My role in Oxfam’s work is to link small, local non-profits who are renewing these very communities to resources and opportunities that sustain their good work and amplify their voice.

Prior to Hurricane Gustav making landfall in Cocodrie this weekend, one of the community groups that Oxfam’s Gulf Coast Recovery Program supported was Bayou Grace Community Services. As I headed back to Gustav’s ground zero, Terrebonne parish, the day after the storm I spoke with Courtney Howell, Bayou Grace’s now evacuated Executive Director who formed her organization when Hurricane Rita brought over 6 feet of water into her community, Chauvin. She has spent the past three years helping her area recover holistically, as well as to get more informed and involved in its own sustainability and wellness. Courtney is a Gulf Coast leader in the call for citizens to realize one very important thing: Those levees that the media couldn’t take its eyes off this week are a third line of defense.

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Kay Jones
AC360° Editorial Producer

A lot of you have been asking how Mr. Herbert Gettridge is.

I stopped by his house on Monday afternoon, and nobody was home, understandably. But the house was there with no water around it.

Also, cell phone service was down most of the day, and my calls to him still aren’t getting through.
Our entire staff is wondering how he is, so I have made it my mission to find out. Will let you know when I do.

Drew Griffin
CNN Investigative Correspondent

It has been dumping rain for three live shots now. My professional earpiece is no longer functioning. And during my last shot I used iPod plugs which caused water to get in my ear. Anderson sounded like he was underwater.

Between shots we try to dry out in the car. This is me and my producer Marcus Hooper (producers are always on phones).

Anyway, this is the glamorous world we live in, currently at the end of St. Bernard Parish and the Mississippi river.

Stay dry ya’ll.

Northern Chandeleur Islands, 60 miles east of New Orleans: before and after Hurricane Katrina. Storm surge and large waves from Hurricane Katrina submerged the islands, stripped sand from the beaches, and eroded large sections of the marsh. Today, few recognizable landforms are left on the Chandeleur Island chain

Ivor van Heerden
Ph.D., Author “The Storm - What Went Wrong and Why during Hurricane Katrina 
the Inside Story from One Louisiana Scientist”

The Mississippi River, for the 7,000 years before Europeans settled in North America, built most of what is now coastal Louisiana.

The Mississippi river sediment load was deposited at the coast as the river went from a deep confined channel to the shallow continental shelf building over time a series of deltas. Approximately every 1,000 years it would switch it course because a shorter course existed to the Gulf of Mexico, the active delta having expanded many miles over its lifespan.

This switching of the loci of deposition was the basic geological framework. Every year the river flooded, every year it spread its life giving sediment and nutrient goodness over 100’s of square miles, maintaining the existing wetlands such that while they did subside, sediment additions and accumulation of organic matter from roots and leaf litter, maintained the wetland surface. In fresh water areas, cypress swamps abounded, as impenetrable walls to hurricane storm surges.

Based on old Indian mounds these surges never seem to have exceeded 6-8 feet.

However, along comes man; he must tame this Mississippi river ‘beast’; put it in strait jackets called navigation or flood control levees. By 1930 we had cut off the wetland’s ‘blood’ supply, no more flooding, no more wetland maintenance and growth.

Nature did try to flex its muscle; the Mississippi river tried one of its 1000 year switches, to the Atchafalaya River, a course to the Gulf some 100 miles shorter. Again, man stepped in and locked in the distribution of Mississippi flow down the Atchafalaya to about 30%. So instead of the Atchafalaya having the potential to build a new parish (county) it barely manages to maintain the two deltas at its seaward end.

The nation, however, has and continues to benefit enormously from the numerous ports that line the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to the sea.

Now, to add insult to injury, man ‘cut up’ these starving wetlands with thousands and thousands of miles of canals and channels in support of mining very easily accessible and rich oil and gas fields.

Again the nation benefited, from very cheap domestic energy. Unfortunately, in the process the wetlands were devastated such that since the 1930’s more than a million acres have been lost, and storm surges are now Louisiana’s worst enemy.

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Ismael Estrada
AC360 Producer

This morning while getting ready to head out and look for our story, CNN photojournalist Ric Blackburn stopped us to tell us of a guy he met passing out water and food to people in the French market.

His name is Russell Gore, and after hearing his story, we went to his home for an interview. Gore is not leaving his home when Hurricane Gustav hits New Orleans early tomorrow.

He lives in New Orleans east, what he calls the “bottom of the bowl” where flooding ravaged his neighborhood during Hurricane Katrina. It was here where his wife died in his arms 3 years ago yesterday after flooding from Hurricane Katrina forced Gore and his wife into their attic.

Gore says she died while waiting for helicopters to take them from their home.

He is struggling with the loss of his wife and can’t imagine leaving his home. He has rebuilt his home the way he says his wife would have wanted it. He tells us we could never understand how he feels and why he has decided to stay unless we walked a mile in his shoes.

Gary Tuchman will have his story tonight.

Waveland Mayor Tommy Longo

Mayor Tommy Longo
Waveland, Mississippi

August 28, 2005, Waveland was the fastest growing community in Mississippi.

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina chose Waveland as ground zero, slamming her with 40 plus feet of tidal surge and battering us with hurricane force winds for more than 12 hours. The result changed lives forever. Ninety-five percent of residential structures were destroyed. One hundred percent of water sewer, gas… destroyed. All 13 City buildings were destroyed. Our three story Historic City Hall, built in 1850, was reduced to a slab.

In essence life ceased to exist as we knew it and our beautiful town was covered in a 15-foot debris field.

Yet during the height of the hurricane, leaders rose to the occasion. Heroes were born and miracles experienced. Twenty Police Officers lashed themselves on top of a tree, taking care of the exhausted and those who couldn’t swim.

We housed seniors and patients with heart conditions on the top of the wastewater plant… We rescued two seniors trapped in an elevator by chopping through a brick wall, saving them before floodwaters could claim them as victims.

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Editor’s Note: Dr. Gregory Henderson was in New Orleans 3 years ago today to start a new job. When the storm his, Dr. Henderson immediately went out to help the people left in the city. AC360 met Dr. Henderson at the New Orleans Convention Center, as one of the only doctors that stayed to help. He shares his experiences here:

Dr. Gregory Henderson, MD, PhD

Saturday, August 27, 2005
Preparing for the storm

The ship struck the iceberg on Saturday morning. My wife and I blearily awoke and flipped on the TV to see the first news that the massive Hurricane Katrina had quickly matured from a name on the map to a full blown catastrophe and she was coming right for us. I had one of my intrusive thoughts that if, for any reason, my family and I had to ride this storm out, the Ritz-Carlton building, being an old, large, predominately concrete structure on Canal Street would be as safe as any. I made a reservation at the hotel for the next day.

We listened to the radio reports for about half an hour before we decided that we needed to get everyone out quickly. I told them that I needed to stay behind to, at the very least, take some protective measures for the home, and I knew that I had a relatively safe place to check in, ride out the storm, and then join the medical team that I figured would be in place if it turned out to be a bad storm.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005
At the Ritz-Carlton

There was an overhead announcement that anyone who needed medical care should report to the French Quarter bar. I supposed this meant that there were other doctors in the hotel ready to help out, so I went down to let them know that, even though I was a pathologist, I was willing to help in any way. I was extremely happy to discover that there had been an HIV conference at the hotel, and, as such, there were several infectious disease specialists present, a family practitioner, a pharmacist, a PA, and an Ob/Gyn.

The team had already been organizing a list of possible drugs and supplies that we would need. The problem was, that I had already looked outside and talked to the police and realized that looting had begun, and many people were armed. I knew we were not going to have the chance to selectively look through the pharmacy and get what we thought we needed. We needed to get in there quickly, get as much as we could, and get out quickly.

The police agreed. So with Ritz-Carlton security at the watch, the young pharmacist, the family practice doc, the police and I waded across Canal Street in thigh deep water to the Walgreen’s.
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Editor’s Note: CNN’s Jerry Simonson is a photojournalist based in Miami. He was in New Orleans when Katrina hit and was the one photographer who stayed for a two days and nights when CNN pulled everyone else out of the city. In that time he was able to capture the iconic images from the convention center we all remember. He shares his story with the blog:

Jerry Simonson
CNN Photojournalist

The smell of burning buildings lofted down the street. The noise of helicopters roared overhead. Mothers, holding small children wandered by me. They had no where to go and nothing but the clothes on their backs. We would give them whatever water we had. They didn’t have to ask, their faces spoke for them, Groups of young men continued to roam the district, breaking glass, pushing in doors and looting. The threat of police stopping them didn’t exist and the glare of the world press did nothing to deter their criminal behavior. It was the typical scene you would expect in a third world country after a major natural disaster, the only difference was this was America, this was New Orleans.

Only four days earlier as I jumped a plane from Miami to New Orleans, my main thought was how quickly could I get into the Quarter. I had covered hurricanes for years and I knew that the window of opportunity to get some good Big Easy Cooking was closing as the storm moved close. I could taste the red beans and rice, jambalaya, and gumbo all covered with Tabasco. With a Category five coming I wanted one last meal.

I had already met Katrina once as she came ashore in South Florida. The eye came right over my home in Miami, leaving me with no power, and a mess of a yard. I didn’t even have time to throw the food out of my refrigerator before I was schedule for another meeting with this storm.

There was a whole slew of CNNer’s heading to all parts of the Gulf Region to cover the event. If you have to go somewhere to cover a hurricane New Orleans is a great city to get assigned too. Saturday night was going to be a gathering and I was looking forward to seeing my old friends.

Before the Party could get started there was business to take care of. I was traveling with producers Kim Segal and Rich Phillips. Being from the Miami Bureau we had covered many storms together. I had come to the conclusions they all pretty much were the same. You start them all by going to Home Depot and Wal-Mart to get supplies. We loaded up on flashlights, batteries, gas cans, Twinkies, and Dinty Moore Beef Stew, and all the things we thought we would need. Now that we had our provisions we went to check into the Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel located right outside the French Quarter.

As the many photographers, producers, reporters, engineers and bookers arrived in the city a crowd grew at an establishment on Bourbon Street. The hurricanes were poured; I bought Mardi Gra beads, a good Cajun cowboy hat and listened as the talk of the storm dominated the conversations. I had heard the doomsday scenarios and talks about the “big one “ for years. It was a bit of Déjà vu for me. Just a year earlier I had been in New Orleans for hurricane Ivan. The city had braced for a major storm, but in the end it didn’t even rain. It always seemed that the storm to missed me, so I figured this time would be like the rest.

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Anderson Cooper on patrol with the New Orleans Police Department and Chief Anthony Cannatella during Hurricane Katrina.

Anthony W. Cannatella, Sr.
Deputy Chief of Operations (ret)
New Orleans Police Department

As I sit here reflecting back on a 41 year career as a New Orleans police officer and the many experiences I have had, my heart always stops on Katrina. Although I have been involved in every type of law enforcement experience imaginable, from shootouts to delivering babies, they all pale in comparison to Hurricane Katrina. On the night of August 28, 2005 as the commander of the Sixth Police District of the NOPD, I realized that my life as well as the 132 officers I commanded was about to change irrevocably.

I held a roll call for all of the officers that night and assigned half of the officers to patrol the roughly 5 square miles of the city until I ordered them off of the streets due to deteriorating conditions. As I stood before the officers I realized that the average age was 25 and that none of these officers were even born when the last major hurricane struck New Orleans, Betsy in 1965!

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CNN's Ted Rolands on assignment in New Orleans

Ted Rowlands
CNN Correspondent

About a week after the hurricane, we did a story on 911 operators in Biloxi, Mississippi, who had to tell people calling for help there was nothing that could be done.

Listening to a recording of some of those conversations is something I’ll never forget; one call in particular.

The calls had been recorded on an old reel to reel machine, Cheri Hovecamp the 911 supervisor went through some of the tapes with us. The operators were getting flooded with desperate callers asking to be saved.

“Go to the roof” they’d say, “give me your address and we’ll come get you as soon as the storm dies down”

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