after all is said and done: katrina

today was shaping up to be the worst day of my life. i thought in one fell swoop i would lose my grandparents and uncle. i was born in new orleans louisiana on december 4th 1981. i hailed from the 7th ward: paris avenue. my grandparents live right of the chef menteur highway. yeah, new orleans east. its been hailed as unfloodable. it hasn't flooded sincle hurricane camille in 1969 when the levees broke....

fast forward august 29, 2005. new orleans is sideswiped by a major hood ass hurricane katrina. this bitch is big, bad, got a couple gold fronts and is trying to kick up some shit. she's determined to take out a couple houses and some people to boot. new orleans is put under mandatory evacuation. i-10 is only going in one direction: out. its gridlocked to the point where it takes 4 hours to get from new orleans east to slidell and over 10 hours to make the 5 hour trip to houston. my uncle stays behind, my grandmother takes her mother and her nieces and sister to hattiesburg mississippi. my grandfather is in new jersey.

uncle cyril is 11 years my senior and a mommas boy. he stays behind, he is going to be the only thing to come between my grandparent's life work and looters. they are antique collectors. no one thinks hood hop i.e. hurricane katrina is going to flood the east too much....

timeline:
7:45: i go to drop little brother sethie off to school. i ask my mom the situation. she says my uncle has lost power but they have a cell phone and are calling back and forth.
8:20: i am home, dressed chilling waiting to go to class. my mom is crying "leah the water is the ENGINE OF THE TRUCK!!". they need to get the valuables upstairs as soon aspossible.
8:35: my mother screams "OH LORD LEAH THE WATER IS TO THE ROOF. HE'S GOING TO HAVE TO CUT HIS WAY OUT". we are all in hysterics. the windows have blown out the house. three levees have faulted. the mississippi is flooding the house NOT lake pontchartrain like they though. we just know this is not going to end well. no one can get in touch with my uncle. my grandmother is sick. my grandfather is calm, being a rock all the way in new jersey. i can imagine him saying in his thick spanish accent "its okay. at least we're alive. we can rebuild"
8:45: i am calling all my friends to pray. we need prayers. my family is so dear to me. they cant die like this.
9:20: uncle cyril calls. the water is going down. they are safe... or so they think. i inform my mom that this is the eye of the storm passing.
9:45: my mom screams "leah the water is rising again.... oh lord i need to pray."
11:00: kriss has calmed me down along with a couple of other friends. my mom comes up to tell me that the water is receding. but everything is gone. new orleans east is under 6-10 feet of water. please realize that most houses there are one story. my grandparent's happens to be two. they are lucky.
10:30: i ask my dad "where's aunt black and aunt palmer?" they dont know. "mom. where's auntie linda?" they dont know. "mom did jacqueline leave?" no and she lives in a low lying area.
2:00 my uncle calls. the guest room no longer has a roof. the water is down but everything in floating around. we have lost so much. my mother's wedding pictures. my grandfather's picture of him in antartica. everything i wanted for my kids. a lifetime of memories are gone. maybe they can be salvaged. the looters are walking around too. not good at all.....
yeah the storm is now category 3 and headed right on to hattiesburg where my grandmother is staying. we still need your prayers.

superdome: