Monday Night Program: Sharing by People who experienced Hurricane Katrina

Monday night, Carl sent up a wonderful program for us.  Connie & Clint, whose house had 6 feet of water in it shared their story, but also gave a great witness as to how important how friends are to us.  They shared that their church pulled together and everyone pitched in.  Mike Ford, a firefighter shared what it was like as he worked to save people in the floods.  Mark Ford (Carl's son-in-law) who works for the Slidell township and is also a policeman also brought the reality home to us as to what it was really like during the storm and for the months following. He also told us he thinks of himself as not a Katrina survivor, but a Katrina winner. Theresa Ford (Carl's daughter) and Carl also chimed in to help give us the full picture. Mark's parents shared the horror of not knowing if their two sons were alive or not for the first few days.   They all shared about the impossibility of making contact with anyone. 

Slidell spent some time under the eye of the storm.  Mark and Mike described that as an "interesting" time.  We asked lots of questions and their stories touched all of us.  Overall, Slidell did almost all of the rescue and rebuilding work themselves.  By the time FEMA got to them 3 days after, they were already well ahead of the game.  Their governor declined aid (!!!)  and they were left to figure out how to feed and house those who didn't leave and the police and fire people who were working around the clock.

 

Today, I'll be visiting the worksites I couldn't get to yesterday and post more pictures tonight!