My Katrina Story

By: Sonnie Bell

We always heard that one day a hurricane was going to really knock us off our feet, I never thought that it would be in my lifetime though. Nothing could prepare us for what happened that day, and sometimes, I still have trouble believing that it happened.

It was the night before the hurricane when my family and I decided that it may be a good idea to go to Chalmette High. A good friend of mine informed me that it was opening up as a shelter. We didn't really have the money or the way to evacuate any where else.Dad decided to stay home with the dog and watch the house. He said he would see us soon and that there wasn't anything to worry about. I remember driving through Chalmette and just noticing how eerie everything looked. All of the businesses were boarded up and the streets were so empty. The sky was already looking ominous, but I figured it'll just be some wind and rain. My brother, sister and I were already making plan for the next weekend. We were a little worried about our other brother that wasn't with us, but we thought that he would be fine where he was. We got settled in at Chalmette High, and my sister and I decided to wander around and waste some time.

We weren't there long when the rain began to fall. At first, it wasn't very hard, just a light drizzle. We decided that we might as well get some sleep in, we were a little worried, but we figured we were safe in the school. We made some pallets in a classroom and all of us went to sleep. I don't remember the time exactly, but some firemen started running down the halls banging on the classroom doors. They told us to get out of the classrooms and get into the hallways. They were afraid the windows were going to bust. We hastily grabbed our things and went into the hallway. The weather had definately got worse in the night. The winds were so strong you could feel the building shudder at times. The windows at the end of the hallway were flexing in and out. I looked at my mom and she looked really worried. My brother and sister and I had to get up and move around. We had so much nervous energy. We walked around the school and saw that more people were showing up.

It seemed like it came out of nowhere, first it was just a lot of wind and rain, then all of a sudden people were yelling and screaming. I heard someone yell that the water was coming, and people started dashing upstairs. We heard the doors buckle downstairs as the water began to rise. We felt the building groan with the impact of the water. It still scares me thinking about how fast it came. We watched out the windows in disbelief as our cars began to sink under the murky water. My thoughts went to my dad and my youngest brother, hoping that they were ok. People were crying, and there was this feeling of fear going through everyone. Even the firemen that were at the school seemed like that were at a loss. No one was prepared for this. We watched at the water came up the stairs, luckily it didn't reach all the way to the top floor.

The rain dulled down, but the wind contiuned to blow. My sister and I looked out of the side window and watched as people in boats started bringing in survivors. My brother was trying to be useful and help some of the older people that were already upstairs. It was in the early evening that our dad showed up. He was drenched, but thankfully safe. He said that when the wind started he had to board up the front door, but when the water came up he had to kick open the back door. He had left our dog at our aunts house on higher ground. I still had no idea if my youngest sibling was ok. We kept hearing that Slidel and the other lower parishes were under water as well. No one knew what to think or do. I continued to watch the boats coming in and out bringing in people who had their own stories to tell. Some where trapped in their attics and were rescued, others stuck on top of their homes. I was proud of the regular people out there doing what they could to help.

A few days had passed when we were told that we would have to make our way to the levee where the fairy usually was. The water had gone down enough for us to be able to walk through. Dad went back to my aunts and got our dog, and we gathered our few possessions. Walking through our ruined parish was heartbreaking. It looked like someone had dropped a bomb on it. It was hard to see all the places that we knew and loved so much, destroyed. The water was still about knee high on me. It was so thick with wreckage, oil, and gas. We ended up getting chemical burns from it. We made it to the levee, and caught a coast guard boat to Algiers. A army truck picked us up from there and drove us over the Huey Long bridge in New Orleans. We were horrified to see the city so destroyed. The Superdome had a giant hole in the roof, and the parts of the city were still under deep water. The army truck dropped us under a overpass in Metairie. We stayed under the bridge with a lot of other people from St. Bernard for a night. This was where they were also unloading a lot of the people from the Superdome. People were all confused and frightened. We still had no clue where our other brother was, but we prayed that he was safe.

We left our dog with the SPCA people that were stationed under the over pass, and got in line for a bus. We didn't know where we were going, but at the time we were just ready to be somewhere safe, and get our hands on some water. We ended up in the Astro Dome in Texas. We stayed there for almost two weeks. The people were very kind to us and really tried to help. We finally got in touch with some old friends of ours that had moved to a little town in north Louisiana. They said if we could find a way there, then they could take care of the rest. A very good man and his family gave us a ride. I nearly cried when I saw our old church friends waiting for us as we pulled up to the church. It took us a month to find my other brother after we finally got to the church. We all were so happy that we cried. He was afaird that we didn't make it out. Our dog was all the way in Arizona. The shelter flew him back down to Lafayette for us. Our family was coming back together.

I'll never forget what happend that day. So many good people were lost, and we could have easily been among them. To this day I count myself lucky. My family is together and safe. We lost so much that can never be replaced, but we made it out with our lives. I remember those brave people out on their boats in the wind and rain rescuing survivors, and Mr. Warner for opening up the school for those of us who had no place else to go. I'll never forget that fear I had seeing all of that water coming up so fast, and knowing that everything can change in a instant.