Jump to Navigation
Home ›

Survival

Signs of recovery? Six years after surviving the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans

Submitted by Mat on Thu, 08/25/2011 - 18:18

Before August 29th, 2005, if someone asked me what I immediately thought of when I heard the name Katrina, I would reference the Walt Disney animated short film, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and say that the name always made me think of Katrina Van Tassel, daughter of the wealthy Baltus Van Tassel.  Following the hurricane, for the next five years I would immediately reference Hurricane Katrina upon hearing that name.

I've noticed lately that I've started thinking about Katrina Van Tassel again.  I think that's a good sign.

In four days it will be the 6th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and we presently have Hurricane Irene bearing down on the eastern coast of the United States, expected to make landfall in North Carolina.  I sincerely hope no serious damage results and nobody is harmed by the hurricane or its aftermath, in North Carolina or anywhere in range of Irene.  To those of you in this region, my heart goes out to you and I hope you and your loved ones remain safe.

I still get depressed.  I used to tell ghost stories for a living, and I did it well.  Well enough to support a family, and live in the old French Quarter of New Orleans (albeit sans automobile).  Well enough to live where walking out the front gate would lead to Royal Street, where a jazz parade might be passing by.  Where down the street one could find an old French patisserie, a cafe or a famous bar.  Where further down musicians might be performing on the corner, where people dressed up like statues would be posing, and nobody worried too much about how you looked or the way you chose to dress as you wandered through the streets.

Where I used to be easily recognized by a fairly significant number of locals.  Would they still easily recognize me today?  I'm not so sure.

But overall...life is good.  I can easily acknowledge that now, and feel it.  I used to talk about how lucky we all were to have survived the entire ordeal.

 

An apology and condolences to anyone with friends or family who were or are still in New Orleans

September 2nd, 2005 9:45AM

I am drafting this while waiting for my family's flight to our new home in Ohio tomorrow. We've just come through hell and high water (literally) just to reach a point where I might fire up this notebook and draft anything. I've already been composing an outline and notes. Enough has happened to us since last Saturday that I can probably write an entire book. We are extremely lucky to even be alive. Watching the news makes it clearer how unbelieveable it is that we are safe and sound. I know I said I don't watch the news. Currently the news is my only source of information, and after seeing everything for myself firsthand, I know this time they aren't exaggerating. If anything, there are a few officials and media representatives who seem to be trying to paint a prettier picture than the truth. Make no mistake, these liars are condemning survivors by giving them the false hope that if they hold out long enough New Orleans will somehow be fixed. Trust me, from first hand experience, based on what I saw New Orleans will not be an operating city any sooner than six months from now, and that is an extremely optimistic appraisal. I'm not sure if New Orleans will ever recover.

The primary purpose of this post is to apologize for my previous post that I have since removed even though it was written before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. It was written with a cocky, "you don't know what you're talking about" kind of attitude, and I have since been forced to eat those words, almost died multiple times, and put my family at the same risk because of them. I am not the only one who believed that if New Orleans survived Camille it would also survive Katrina. But we were wrong. Whoever left the comment telling me we needed to get out was right. By staying I put my family through much greater danger than was necessary.

I was correct in my assumption that Katrina would not hit New Orleans directly. In fact, as of Monday night, once the storm had passed, it appeared the worst damage that was suffered were trees being uprooted and power being unavailable for at least a week. We had running water, telephone, enough food to survive at least a week, longer if properly rationed, a gas stove, and the basic necessities for survival. What I was not expecting was to get woken by Brigitte because she could hear someone get shot, and several other gunshots throughout the night. I wanted to stay awake with her, but could not - I had stayed awake the night before through the entire storm.

The next morning I saw a flooded front lawn that had previously been dry after Katrina had passed. We learned a levee had broken and Lake Pontchartrain was emptying into the city - as predicted in the links provided by the anonymous comment on the pre-hurricane assumptions post. Nobody expected it. We had thought Katrina had passed, we were safe, power would be restored in about a week, and we would be able to get back to our French Quarter apartment, live poorly until the tourism kicked back in just in time for the Halloween season, and everything would be hunky dorey.

With the breaking of the levee, it slowly became clear that the city was doomed. Plumbing had been torn up throughout the city by the roots of trees knocked over by Katrina - we had running water for a few days but it was compromised - the sewer system of New Orleans had also been torn up by the same trees. The levee could not and still has not been properly sealed, the last I checked. Because we were on high ground we understood that if we were seeing flooding, the water was already too deep to wade through in some places. We were trapped in my employer's home by the rising waters.

By nightfall the first floor of Sidney's home was beginning to fill up with water. We noticed gas was leaking and were forced to shut off the gas lines, taking away our ability to boil the tap-water to make it safer to drink, and taking our ability to prepare much of the food we had stockpiled. The phone - our only communication to the outside world - went dead sometime after midnight thanks to the rising water short-circuiting the phone jacks on the first floor. The water had oil in it, and sewage. I had to wash my feet in the bathtub each time after I went downstairs to retrieve something and bring it upstairs. The only benefit of the flooding was that it made it harder for the looters to come out again, although we periodically heard gunshots in the distance after the sun set.

The only beauty in all of this was being able to see a clear starlit sky and the Milky Way for the first time in the entire seven and a half years I've lived in New Orleans. This was only possible because there were no city lights drowning out the stars by reflecting off the layer of haze constantly over New Orleans.

We escaped only because someone or several someones were watching over us, making sure we were in the right place at the right time to receive help from complete strangers to make it to the next step.

But I'll save that horror story for later.

For now, please accept my apologies. I have been deeply humbled by my experiences, and am incredibly lucky to be alive and well, with my pregnant wife and daughters. At this time I still have no idea whether the others we stayed with have survived and/or escaped since we were rescued by two men in their canoe (we were with Sidney Smith, owner of Haunted History Tours, Inc, Adele, her mother, and our pets). I can only hope that somehow they managed to escape and survived the process, just as I hope that all who were not as fortunate as us managed or will manage to survive and escape New Orleans, and find their loved ones if they were separated in the process. Our prayers go out to you all.

 

Earthquake + tsunami in Japan - thoughts on our changing mother Earth

Submitted by Mat on Fri, 03/11/2011 - 15:51

Looking for answers in the wake of today's tragedy prompted me to make some realizations on the way to work this morning.  There are a lot of shocked and upset people, and an outpouring of sympathy and support for Japan in the wake of the 8.9 Richter scale earthquake which spawned a devastating tsunami that struck the island nation, sweeping away houses, cars and more in its wake.

There's more than enough media coverage on this at the moment, and as someone I follow on Twitter pointed out, watching some of these videos is akin to watching a snuff film.  While I would hope the majority of humanity is not taking pleasure in watching the tsunami footage, the point is still important - help is more important for Japan right now.

Japan, as a nation, is filled with strong people who are survivors.  Any country that could overcome two nuclear bombs detonated on major cities (courtesy of the United States at the end of World War II) can survive almost anything.  But this tsunami is just the start.  A nuclear facility no longer has functioning cooling as a result of the earthquake, and has had to evacuate the immediate area.  They have no immediate solution to address this problem.  There are going to be infrastructure problems leading to loss of communication, transportation and therefore food and supply shortages, especially in heavily populated areas that were affected.  Many people are lost or otherwise unaccounted for.  This tragedy will continue for months to come, and will be a part of Japan's memory for generations.  They need help from the rest of the world.

I know this, because I experienced the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.  I was trapped in a flooded building with my family and very limited supplies.  We had to take significant risks in order to escape the city.  The danger was not just the flooding, but also other people who were desperate enough to do whatever they thought was necessary to survive, regardless of the cost to those with whom they came in contact.  And we were the lucky ones - there were many who lost their loved ones, were brutally attacked, raped, or murdered, or simply couldn't survive the lack of supplies combined with temperatures above 100 degrees F and insufficient shelter.

I don't expect that sort of behavior from the people Japan, but rest assured there will be a period of chaos and danger.  There will be some who will take advantage of the current situation.

The biggest factor in all of this, however, is that this is just the warmup.  You may be sitting in the US right now, not at all worried because you are nowhere near Japan.  But that doesn't mean that we will never see similar activity, in our country.  I predict we will notice an increase in seismic activity in the US over the next several months.  There are two major fault lines that run through the US, one along the west coast and one from the south through the mid-west.  There are volcanoes in Washington, and there are already earthquakes being reported in Arkansas - not just in California.

If you follow the news you already know that New Zealand has suddenly had significant increases in their earthquake activity as well.

There are no 100% safe places, but that doesn't mean you cannot be prepared.  Stay informed, keep supplies handy and have an escape route planned in advance.  Keep the gas tank full if you know something might be coming.  Make sure you have enough cash for when the power goes out, the phones don't work and the banks are all closed.  Above all else, don't panic.

Moebanshee's Lair - Hurricane Katrina

Submitted by Mat on Thu, 04/08/2010 - 23:10

At the end of last year I received an interesting e-mail message from the host of the Moebanshee's Lair internet radio show.  She had found me in this video when researching the LaLaurie mansion and invited me to be a guest on her show.  

During the broadcast we discussed my experiences during and following Hurricane Katrina while Brigitte listened to the show while chatting on the radio website with other listeners. We were invited back to the show to discuss our experiences in greater detail on April 6th, and the above link is a podcast of the show itself.  It's roughly two hours in duration, with music breaks every thirty minutes.

You can listen to Moebanshee's Lair every Tuesday evening from 10pm-Midnight EST at http://www.gameconradio.com, and you can also listen to podcasts of her shows here. Below is the podcast from this same internet radio show about the LaLaurie Mansion, otherwise known as the most haunted building in the city of New Orleans. We were invited to participate in the Hurricane Katrina show immediately following this one:

The Earthquake

Submitted by Brighid on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 20:29

For my sanity, I tend now a days to stay away from the news. However something in my g-mail in box alerted me to the quake in China.  I do recall Matty posting a video of it a while back. I know this is all old news to you, however if you have not looked through some of the photos you might want to.

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Powerful-quake-rocks-China-Mother-Teresa-r...

Earthquake in Western China measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale

Submitted by Mat on Tue, 05/13/2008 - 15:03

I don't like writing about these events because it's bad enough that my family and I survived a horrific natural disaster in 2005.   Every time I learn about this sort of thing it drives home that our mother Earth is reacting violently to the activities of humans on her surface.  Strip mining, oil drilling, pollution, deforestation - all of this and more helps to accelerate massive Earth changes which are sudden and catastrophic to life.

At least, unlike Myanmar, the Chinese government is willing to accept foreign aid.  At least there's a fair chance that there will be a swift government response to this tragedy, and they are already trying to locate and retrieve survivors from collapsed buildings.

I'm emotionally attached to these events and I don't want to be, which is probably the main reason that I avoid writing about them.  But at the same time I don't want to be a cold heartless bastard either.  I wish that it was a simple thing for me to jump on a plane and help out with the rescue and relief efforts, but my wife and children depend on me and need me to be there for them every day, and obviously bringing children into that environment would be a really bad idea.  I don't trust charities, nor do I have the funds available to me to make a significant financial contribution.  So overall I'm frustrated and I'm sure I'll be in a bad mood for the rest of the day as a result, especially when having to deal with petty customers who are grumpy over something as insignificant as a computer system that doesn't have all the bells and whistles they want by default.

My prayers go out to the families and children in these disasters.

food shortage

Submitted by fil on Mon, 05/05/2008 - 08:26

_____

 

 

I know I haven't finished the blog post I started Friday night over at Phil's Mythos, about cellphones (ugh), but this food shortage issue has had me thinking.

What to do about it? Okay, let me tell you...

 

If there's any reason for the shortage, beyond ever-increasing population and our specie's failure to plan, it might be the increase of severe and unpredictable weather. Whether this weather is the result of a rogue planet, captured by our Sun many millenia ago on a highly elliptical orbit nearly perpendicular to the 'solar plane' and currently on the approach again after a few thousand years, thus agitating Sol himself -- or is a result of (secret) applied engineering -- it has no doubt had an effect on food production.

If even part of this particular problem is a result of engineered weather, shame on those who engineer it.

 

Of course, these days, as we approach 'The End of the World As We Know It', we should be expecting freak weather -- along with famine, increased seismic activity, and what-have-you. All I'm saying is, if there are people engineering the weather, they ought to be making it less severe, instead of the opposite.

Yeah, so there's this planet the Sumerians knew about, because it was (and may still be) inhabited -- by the race of beings who genetically engineered us 'Humans' by combining their DNA with that of 'protohumans' (missing link mystery solved). It was in the sky. They saw it. We will too, but it's approaching from our southern hemisphere... Call it Nibiru, or Wormwood, or Planet X -- for some reason the overlords don't want us to know it exists.

It caused the Biblical Flood, once upon a time, a couple of passes ago. Oh, it's real...

 

Anyway, back to the weather. Katrina was just one example of what weather engineering is capable of (not to mention how unfeeling those who call the shots can be). If you doubt engineered weather as a reality, look up 'Project Stormfury'. The initial purpose was to defeat hurricanes, turning them into mere tropical storms at worst -- and they were successful. Why was the program cancelled?

It wasn't, really. What happened, near as I can tell, is that those in power recognized the potential of engineered weather as a weapon. Overnight, the focus was shifted from the potential to alleviate harm to the potential to cause it.

 

Over decades, the technology was developed -- some might say, perfected...

 

So. Here we are, facing extreme and unpredictable weather. How much of it is engineered, we may never know -- but the fact that weather enginering is a reality OUGHT to mean that we never ever see hurricanes, tornadoes, or cyclones ANYWHERE ON EARTH. Further, it ought to mean that we see rain where it is needed -- and not where it will cause flooding.

 

It's up to those who control the weather engineers to decide. If those who actually have their hands on the equipment decide to revolt, well, the entire system might shut down for a while, and we'd see only the weather Nature intended -- which would be preferable.

 

Now. If some secret portion of Humanity holds the key to lessening the effects of weather, they should be on it.

If they're not, it's just because they are taking orders -- or so I would like to think. Go ahead and ask the people who have their hands on the equipment -- if you can find them. Are they capable of thinking for themselves?

 

Simply put, we have the technology. How it's used, well...

 

 

Phil Smith

Cinco de Mayo, 2008

 

 

_____

Katrina letter

Submitted by Brighid on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 19:03

 

  

 

VENT!! ..........email us to have your VENT Published
Hi Jean,

Thank you for all your hard work over the years in caring
for puppies and now demonstrating your unique compassion by
starting and operating this web site.

I am not in a position to write about some of the things I
saw since I am uncertain whether they were entirely legal.
(Much of what went on was not from what I could tell but
then I am from Canada and nor all that familiar with the
laws of La).

I came to Baton Rouge - a city that was bursting at the
seems with more people than it could help - as a result of
my work with Doctors without Borders. Our group was not
officially involved but many of us have worked in horrific
conditions across the globe so my belief was the least I
could do was take some time from work and help my American
neighbours who badly needed help!!
I am a pediatric oncologist so the center I worked at
treated children with serious illnesses. I was shocked to
discover the place I was at actually did research on animals
but that was just the beginning. In and of itself, it was a
good hospital - one of the better ones in fact. We faced
many issues - children whose doctors had to flee the area
and were God knows where and even when the doctors were able
to stay somewhere in close proximity, their own offices were
gone and with them, the Health records of their young and
tiny patients. So we had to essentially start from the
beginning in some cases and rely on the guesses of already
traumatized medical personnel in others. I heard the stories
of the Charity Hospital situation and while there have been
many expressing outrage, they also tend to be the same
people who are not thrilled that more tax money is going to
the Fla Panhandle. There were instances where my colleagues
- doctors - who do take an oath to do no harm - had to
decide what was best - try to save an already critically ill
and even dying patient and get them on a helicopter that was
being shot at and have that person face a 90% chance of
dying from that stress alone or administering some
meditation that would make death arrive faster and more
humanely. It was a no win situation and I have been in it
before, usually in what we in the west term third world
countries. No one is God and I myself am quite spiritual and
know God has saved me on occasion and have prayed for his
guidance in similar situations. Who am I to decide who dies
and who does not? And the fact is we make these decisions
almost every day in hospitals - with the help of an ethics
committee - but do we keep someone alive who has absolutely
NO quality of life (and by that I mean brain activity and no
possibility of any though I do believe in miracles and have
seen that happen!) and what do we do when patients beg us to
help them end a painful, horrible existence that they cannot
do themselves since their hands are retrained so they do not
pull out their breathing tube.

I realize I am off what I started to say but this is what
these people faced under fire. I have been there too - men
with guns shooting at me and others while we huddled with
seriously ill children and their parents, already dead from
AIDs or some other disease we in the west would not have
died from. It's left its mark on me so I know what these
people had to cope with and their first thoughts were how
could they best help their patients? If they attempted to
get them out of there - which would take more time and
likely end up in all of them dying - or did they help these
people find an easy death (the origin of the term euthanasia
comes from) so that these roving bands of domestic
terrorists did not shoot them dead in their beds and leave
them there to die, as it appears some who took an oath to
serve and protect did to some beloved pets in St. Bernard's
Parish!

We did manage to help most of our patients. I say most
because cancer protocols can be difficult to finally achieve
- if you want the right one that will work because all of us
are unique.

What I want you and your readers to know is what we saw in
New Orleans!! I felt like I was back in Africa or Bosnia -
where there is little concern for life, human, feline,
canine, any kind of life. The vulnerable- the old, the poor,
and pets left behind often because their people were
promised they'd be cared for - were left injured, dying in
their homes and on the street. I have never seen anything
like that in North America and I hope to God I never do so
again!

While we were there to try to find some sick children and
elderly people in desperate need of critical care, we did
save as many dogs and cats as we could - and many of the
formerly pampered pets had now turned almost feral as they
tried to fend for themselves with the more street wise
ferals who also needed help. Little poodles and bichons had
little to fight with when faced with larger and cagier dogs,
who in protecting themselves did not care if lunch became a
small bichon who had died of hunger and thirst - most likely
from a heart attack after their kidneys and elctrolytes
ceasing to function. I have several kitties and my heart
just ached to see beautiful cats - who had likely never been
outdoors in their entire life except on a leash or a cat run
or in a carrier in their meomy's vehicle when they went to
visit grandma or the vet. Until now, their most traumatic
episode in life has been a vet visit where someone, helping
them, poked and probed and injected them with a needle or
stitched them up. Now, they had to fend for themselves
amidst poisonous water, people who were not at all friendly
like their humans had been and other nastier predators who
wanted them for lunch!

My colleagues - not necessarily as consumed as I was with
animal rights- were not totally thrilled with me when I
actually screamed when I saw some tiny newborn Siamese
kittens whose mother lay there dead, her body still warm and
with large tooth marks in them. We may have appeared just at
the right time to have scared away whatever animal had done
this to her but I made them stop our boat and I scooped up
those babies whose eyes were open (amazing that this caring
mama had managed to keep her three (we did not find any
others and my friends refused to let me search longer) wee
ones alive. She would definitely be one of my my candidates
for Mother of the Year!

We picked up several other pets but as a meezer meomy
myself, I could not merely hand over these babies to that
large tent where some babies made it and others di not, not
for lack of caring but young kittens always need warmth, TLC
and food to eat and proper modes of elimination. So, back at
the Inn that was putting up our group, I sneaked them in -
given that the innkeeper was not as she made it very clear
"a cat person!" - but I fought back by telling her if she
did not help me, I would go to the media. She tried to be
diplomatic by informing me that there are "too many human
beings who need saving. The press don't care about animals",
she added, thinking that might sway me. I pointed out that
there had been an outpouring of support for the little white
dog named Snowball and in my very humble opinion, she was
sadly mistaken. I also quoted that famous Ghandi quote
referring to how we care for our most vulnerable but she was
the kind of person who may not have even known who he was. I
found a baby pouch at the hospital and brought it with me to
work - scared to leave them in that place. I found people
there who would feed the kittens and pet them and talk to
them when I was caring for the growing number of cancer
patients coming in.

Finally, I found a nurse at the center who offered me a
place in her own home and the five of us moved into her home
for the duration of my stay there. I had flown to
Jacksonville and drove from there and pondered how I would
return via plane with three babies. Part of the problem was
solved when the nurse adopted one blue point - we estimated
the babies to be about 4 weeks old. The remaining two were
six weeks when I convinced Delta Airlines to allow me to
take these babies in one carrier on board with me.

Thus, they are now Canadians but are alive and well and
thriving! Not to worry - I will teach them their Cajun
heritage since I speak French. <g>

I also hasten to point out that I would have been in La long
before but states grant permission to doctors to work in
various states and the grace of God and a Harvard MD allowed
me to finally cut through some of the bureaucracy. Alas, one
of my med school classmates faced exactly the same plight
and he was from Texas. So - another rant is that in North
America - if we can debate softwood lumber deals and
negotiate the Alberta Tar Sands, surely to God we can
formulate a taskforce that is ready to go at any time to
provide medical and veterinary care at a moment's notice
whether that help is needed due to a natural disaster like
Katrina or a more nefarious terrorist attack.

By all the important measures, those in charge failed - and
I do not indict another county while exonerating my own.
Canada is involved in Norad - they too must be ready for
this.

When the Halifax Explosion in 1917 blew up almost the entire
city and became - at that time - the largest human made
disaster in the world - and a blizzard the next day made
matters twice as bad as they had been, a medical team from
Boston arrived to help the wounded and care for the sick and
the dying. Each year now, the government of Nova Scotia
offers a gift of a Christmas tree to the good people of
Boston. As a native Haligonian, the least I could have done
for Katrina was to do my best but now I will work to create
some sort of permanent way it can be done do that lives are
not lost and time wasted because bureaucrats amnd political
opportunsts get in the way.

That is my rant. I am so sorry for what has happened to
everyone on the Panhandle. My grandfather retired to Fort
Walton Beach so I know the area well and it was a small way
to give back after the Halifax Explosion that many years
ago. We now need to make these methods of held and
assistance much easier!

Keep up your good work.

Sincerely,

Erin

The Creator

Submitted by Brighid on Tue, 11/13/2007 - 04:01

So the other day I was in the kitchen standing at the kitchen sink and thinking about how happy I was to be alive. Thinking about how it is truly a blessing to have children. The sounds of their laughter, their arguments even, Glory to God, to the Creator!!! I was truly happy. I was having some pains in my back and at the same time offhandedly wondered if this is the way it feels for angels to carry their wings. Do they hurt them? Then all of the sudden I lost my gimpy balance and the steak knife that I was cleaning poked right into my left wrist. In a matter of seconds I had so many thoughts. I thought that was it, the Creator/the trickster was very humorous to take my life when I was having a truly happy to be alive moment. I felt like the character in that Kevin Spacey movie, dang what was it called..beautiful something...I don't remember the title. But anyway he was truly happy and okay and loved his family and then he was shot in the head by his fucked neighbor.

So there I was having all these thoughts fly through my mind so much more quickly than they already fly through my mind and soul on a regular basis when things are just normal.

I thought about how I was going to fall to the kitchen floor and pass out and how Matty would just be in the living room with the girls playing video games and he wouldn't come in to see what the loud commotion was. It would be poor Willow who would find me dead on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding me as she came in to get some scissors for her construction paper projects that she loves to work on. I thought about how everything was going to be okay, that if this is how the Creator was teaching me a lesson then I have something to learn from it. I thought this Creator has some kind of sense of humor. I thought about how much I loved everyone and was saying goodbye.

and then as I looked at my wrist and found the actual puncture mark, it was not even a centimeter away from my artery. WOW! Thank you Creator for shaking me up! I couldn't get over it for the next few hours. Well I must still not be over it if I'm typing about it eh.

Love life and your time here. Most of all be happy!

Syndicate content