Editor's note: Curtis S.D. Massey traveled to New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck a year ago. Here is a brief excerpt from his report. The complete account is posted HERE
The city sinks into disorder and utter confusion. Rampant looting, police officers walking away from their jobs, rescue helicopters being shot at, a police precinct under siege, people at the Louisiana Superdome, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and on highway overpasses marooned, begging for help with little to no food or water available. The sight of bodies floating in the streets and on abandoned cars, as well as frightened, shivering pets trying to fend for themselves continue to assault the senses. A city disintegrating, spiraling into mass chaos.
You wonder how this can happen in this day and age, here within the mightiest and most technologically advanced country on the planet. You wonder how we can dispatch food, water and medicine inside of 48 hours to small, remote villages on the other side of the world after the tsunamis, yet people would go five days without help from the government at two primary evacuation sites in the middle of a major metropolitan area here on our home turf. Unbelievable ...
I make my way through the empty city streets toward the business district. Then I begin to notice the troops. Everywhere. About every other street, there's a platoon marching down the road with M-16s in hand. They have their "game-faces" on. Then come the armored vehicles, Humvees with 50-caliber machine guns, rocket launchers, small cannon, you name it, loaded up with more troops whizzing by in every direction. It is obvious that "the cavalry" is here and they are very much in charge …
Here I am now on Bourbon Street. Since I've never visited New Orleans, it is the first time I have laid eyes on the main attraction spot for tourists. The street is empty, devoid of any sign of human life, as far as I can see. I wonder, after taking my next photo, how many people have a shot of a completely deserted Bourbon Street. It has to be a one-in-a-million photograph ...
I scour several neighborhoods to capture the worst of what the storm dished out. Driving down one four-lane boulevard, I come across large boats lying in the street, several hearses abandoned in the road or up on the median. Looking to my right at one intersection and seeing every tree on the entire block (large and small) blown over into the roadway, completely blocking it, then turning my head to the left and seeing no signs of damage whatsoever all the way into the distance. I take one shot of a funeral home with a sign reading "Prearranged Funeral Plans — Funeral Services/Cremation/Limousines." I think I know where their limos are...
The high-water mark from the flood is quite evident, up at about the four-foot level. I think about the murder and mayhem that took place on these very streets only days earlier and then I just happen to look up at a billboard right in front of me, with the phrase in bold, black letters — "Thou Shalt Not Kill."
Credit to author Erik Larson, for excerpts and quotations from "Isaac's Storm," and to District Chief Chris E. Mickal of the New Orleans Fire Department. Thank you to the Canadian USAR Teams who unselfishly assisted their brothers and neighbors in need of their skills. Thanks and praise to all the members of the NOFD for hanging in there through the most trying of times in unbearable conditions — and getting the job done!
CURTIS S.D. MASSEY is president of Massey Enterprises Inc., the world's leading disaster planning firm. Massey Disaster/Pre-Fire Plans protect the vast majority of the tallest and highest-profile buildings in North America. He also teaches an advanced course on High-Rise Fire Department Emergency Operations to major city fire departments throughout the U.S. and Canada. Massey also regularly writes articles regarding "new age" technology that impacts firefighter safety.
