The Katrina Files

EPILOGUE

"So, that's it?! That's how you're going to end your story?!", asked the young Times Picayune reporter. I had been momentarily overwhelmed by the memories of those fateful days all those years ago. I had paused in telling the story in order to gather myself together. The brain can be an amazing machine. My memories are fuzzy, but at times, it can act like a time machine and take me back to past events. As I told the story, it was as if I was there, reliving it all over again. "Are you gonna let me finish? Or do you want to tell it?", I asked sarcastically. "Sorry. Please go on."

Things began to improve after about five days of chaos and anarchy. Order was restored and people were finally beginning to be evacuated out of town. After a long week which seemed like it would never end, there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. After a lengthy investigation, it was determined that my partner, Nick Duronslett, acted appropriately in firing his weapon at the suspect on the bridge. Everyone that was on the scene testified that it looked as if the suspect was raising his arms in order to shoot a weapon at us. It was even recorded on a camera that happened to be set up at that location. He was reinstated back to his regular duties as a homicide detective. A separate investigation resulted in the firings of many police officers for abandoning their posts during the hurricane.

After being rescued, Bill Clark was evacuated to Houston, Texas. He stayed there for a while until he could get back on his feet and then decided to finally go to his brother's house in Jackson, Mississippi. He lived in Jackson with his brother and traveled back and forth to New Orleans until he finished rebuilding his house. The day came when he could finally move back home. Mabel's body was found inside the house after the flood waters completely receded. Bill had her buried in a plot that they had bought for the both of them when they first got married. Bill and Chief the dog, became attached to one another and he bought Chief from a reluctant NOPD. Chief was an excellent police dog and the department did not want to part with him. It took much convincing from me, and the department finally gave in to the request.

The Haneys were evacuated from the Convention Center and bused to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They stayed with family until they were able to rebuild their house. In the chaotic evacuation, they got separated from Santa Clause and lost track of his whereabouts. They missed him, but were relieved to finally get out of that situation.

Joey was frantic in his search for his family. He narrowly missed them as they were evacuated by helicopter. He remained at the hospital for one more day. He finally evacuated via helicopter and was dropped off at a staging area on Interstate 10. He got on a bus headed to Houston, Texas and decided at the last minute to get off of the bus and to go out on his own. He ran into a friend who gave him a ride to Baton Rouge. After a few worry filled days of being away from his family, he was finally reunited with them in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

As for me, I tried to move on as best as I could. Oh, I moved on physically. I went through the motions and did the things I was supposed to do, but inside I was dying. Something inside of me died with hurricane Katrina. The city of New Orleans was forever changed and I suppose its people were too. I went on to have a successful career with the NOPD. I reached the rank of captain and retired with 35 years of service. As I said at the beginning of my story, I still have nightmares about those days.

I thanked the reporter for listening to my story. Most people aren't interested anymore. I guess it was a slow news day. I walked him out of my house and then walked over to one of the walls with pictures hanging on it. In the center was a group picture, featuring our little group of Katrina survivors. Me (Jack Whitman), Nick Duronslett, Bill Clark, Chief the dog, The Haneys  (Ron Sr., Pam, Ron Jr., Steven), Dana, Joey, and Katrina St. Germain. We took that picture about one year after the storm and we decided to reunite every year on the anniversary of Katrina. As I stood staring at the picture, thinking back to those events, I realized that it wasn't just fate that determined who survived and who didn't. It was also the sheer determination, and the will to survive. There was also hope. Hope that, if we somehow got through this, better days would be ahead. Days filled with people that we love and events that make life worth living. We will always face storms in life, that's not a question. The question is, Are we going to let tragedies stop us from really living and enjoying life? Our group has been a living testimony to both.