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Escaping the
CHAOS OF KATRINA
by Joshua Atwell
It was a seemingly typical Sunday
in the rural community of Live
Oak, Louisiana. Residents took
little notice of television and radio
reports of an approaching hurricane;
consequently, little preparation was
made. For most people in the region,
hurricane season meant a few extra
bottles of water and some flashlight
batteries. Only a handful of residents
had seen a hurricane do major damage
in the state. None was prepared for
what lay ahead.
In New Orleans, the attitude
varied only slightly. People were
being evacuated, and, as usual, the
evacuation routes were basically
parking lots populated mostly by
middle-class people who expected to
return to their homes within a day or
two after yet another hurricane scare.
New Orleans’ “lower class,” however,
wasn’t leaving. They had nowhere to
go and no way to get there. Families
went to sleep in their homes and
apartments and awoke to utter chaos.
20 IPHC Experience | February 2007
The hurricane hit in the early
morning hours, unleashing a wall of
wind and driving rain that splintered
houses and peeled roofs off metal
buildings. When the levees were
breached, water rushed into the city,
which was like a bowl, and it was
filling fast. Residents of one apartment
complex fled to upstairs units and
then to rooftops, desperately hoping
the water wouldn’t reach them there.
They waited three days for the water
to recede or for someone to rescue
them. When they realized no one was
coming to help them, they had to help
themselves.
Several people found boats
and began their own private rescue
operations, pulling their friends and
families off rooftops and bringing them
to places where the water was shallow
enough to walk to safety. The police
tried to confiscate their boats, so
they were forced to make a nine-mile
detour to get their families around
the police lines. They waded through
the water, surrounded by the stench
and decay of debris and dead bodies.
Finally, they found a shelter where
they boarded a bus and came to Faith
Family Church in Live Oak, Louisiana.
Though no one had made any
prior plans with regard to providing
sanctuary, the church opened its
doors as a shelter on Tuesday,
August 30. Pastor Gordon Atwell
and his family left their home to
check on the church. As they walked
into the building, they discovered
that power had been restored.
Since the majority of the parish was
without power, and the temperature
was in excess of 90 degrees, Pastor
Gordon decided to open the church
as a shelter for locals.
A few families and church
members responded, as well as most
of the church youth group. The
first three days were enjoyable, not
unlike a giant church lock-in. But as
news of the disaster poured in from
all over the state, the church felt it
Photo © iStockphoto.com/Pattie Steib