Frontpage Features

By JAMES HARRIS

In 2005, I traveled South to report on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and I can say one thing for certain: Sunday night’s victory celebration at the Louisiana Superdome was a far cry from the atmosphere inside the Dome just five years ago.

While at the Houston Astrodome in September 2005—where Katrina evacuees had been transported (more than 750,000 people were moved from Louisiana to Texas amid the tragedies), I remember having coffee with FEMA workers who had just returned from the Superdome.  They told us tragic stories of robbery and rape, starvation and suffering; all happening inside the Saints stadium.  The Superdome had become the worst place to be as floods and harsh winds of Katrina took their toll.

I recalled the hundreds of families that we encountered during the aftermath.  I remembered what it was like to hear hundreds of people cry together and the cold silence created by mass suffering.   “I can’t find him,” one sister told me of her brother.  “I just want to make sure he’s safe.” 

I remember the story of the t-shirt maker Ray, who told me how he swam for his life as the waters began to rise in New Orleans.  “There were about ten people with me and nobody knew what to do,” he explained.  “So I just had every body hold hands… and we swam across the flooded road and waited for help to come.” 

They beat Hurricane Katrina.  They beat the odds.  But how many didn’t make it? 

On the football side, the Saints didn’t look dominant and they face a sizable challenge in trying to beat the well-oiled Colts.  But as most of New Orleans still struggles to recover from Hurricane Katrina and while its residents are still parked in temporary trailers across the South, I’ll be hoping for another miracle for The Big Easy to shed some light on a city in desperate need.