Katrina - Evacuation Strategies

One thing that was very interesting was how the families evacuated. We primarily worked with two large family groups, one of which was much bigger than the other. The smaller family group had around 14 family members who evacuated at once and the larger group had well over 30. The widespread understanding among everyone was that they were getting out of the city for 2-3 days and then were coming back home.

The smaller family group seemed to sense that it might be longer than that. Their evacuation plan was basically to take as many vehicles as they could and stuff them with important items before leaving town. The larger family group's plan was that the people were the most important thing and they all piled into as few vehicles as possible and got the heck out of there.

Needless to say that in the long run, the smaller family with more items, more documentation, and more vehicles ended up adjusting easier than the larger family who had fewer material possessions.

Not everyone in our group got to ride in a car out of the city. One gentleman in our group went to help some of his older family members evacuate and got stuck in the city through the storm. He woke up the next day and mistakenly thought that the worst had already passed. He remembers walking down the hall of the house and hearing what sounded like a stampede. He looked out the window and all he saw was water coming from the direction of the levy. He ran to the kitchen and grabbed a loaf of bread and a jug of water and made it into the attic while the water was rising in his house. He finally made it to the Superdome and found some other family members there.

One lady joined our group when she ended up in the same general Superdome area as other members of the large family. She was alone and trying to sleep when one of the men came over to her and told her to get into their circle. You see, the men of the family were sleeping surrounding the ladies to protect them. Truly a horrible place with rampant crime, little food and water, false rumors being spread, and sick/dying/dead people just left in place.

Let me say that we love the people so much that God put in our path! Our lives have truly been touched and we have been changed for the better by knowing and befriending such great people. We watched the news from time to time amazed at some of the horrible things that were done and horrible attitudes displayed by some of the evacuees across the country. Yes, of course, we had a few individuals who needed the occasional "attitude adjustment." Our mindset was who wouldn't need a little adjustment after all that they had gone through. What great people we were privileged to serve!