story"No Going Home"
Reliving it all is still very painful. If I ramble please be patient. We don't talk about it very much--we're living among folks who are tired of listening to old news.
Object Type: Online Text
We Knew It was coming. Hoped it would do as it had previously done and veer at the 11th hour. BUT IT DIDN'T. Spent all night watching the news and weather channels. My husband,Sam and I had decided that since we were unable to find handicapped facilities within 50 mile radius north of N.O. that we would check into a hi-rise hotel and weather out the storm and return home ia a day or two. We were able to get a room in downtown N.O.
BUT after hearing N.O. mayor plead that we leave, I persuaded Sam(81) to leave with me(75) and heeded the pressure of our 2 sons that we GET OUT-we got up Sunday 7 a.m. packed 3 days clothing ,some nosherai, $400 (all we kept on hand)and 2 credit cards. I had been asking Sam (a retired banker)to carry 2 blank checks with him at all times, cause as I saidbut it fell on deaf(not quite)ears.,and got in the van, all the while talking to our sons on the cell phone. You couldn't hang up or you'd never reconnect. We had made reservations at a hi-rise hotel in downtown N.O.
, but when I called them they told me that the only generator they had would not work the elevators
. I am wheel chair dependant and cannot take stairs so we knew we had to leave. Yes we had done this 4 times previously and knew how bad traffic would be.
Luckily Civil Defense had put in Contraflow,wherby all interstate roads were open OUT of the city-both sides- so traffic moved smoothly. During a previous scare it took us 10 hours to go 90 miles. So the memory was still there. All this trip our older son, Tom who is computor proficient stayed on the phone and finally got us handicappaccessible rooms outside Memphis. This is 550 miles from N.O. We were ecstatic, we would have a place to sleep and not have to sleep in our van as Sam feared. Due to the Contraflow we made it there by 6p.m..last time without contraflow it took us til midnite. But it was still only Sunday nite.Katrina was scheduled to hit landfall on Monday.
Spent another nite glued to the news and realized that we had made the right choices!
The roads up were filled-everyone in a semi-unsure mindset-hoping against hope that this too would be for naught. We did not plan to go to Atlanta where our younger son Scott lives. Scott lived in a 3-story house with a basement. No way could I stay there-so we
called a friend of 60 years who had been in-viting us to come back to visit for years. She had hip replacement and had a 1 story home with a ramp for a wheelchair in her storeroom. And that's where we went after 3 days in Tunica,Miss. Scott flew into Memphis
(outside Tunica)and drove us to Dallas. Sam and I were in a state of shock and disbelief as by now we knew that not only had Katrina hit, but that the levees had collapsed. If I seem to ramble, even today a year and a half later it is still like a bad dream.
Scott took us to get some clothing and toiletries and gave his Father 2 checks for $500 each to use as needed. We had no checks of our own ,the banks were shut back home and we had no idea when if they would reopen. It was a very scary time. We could not reach anyone back home. Had no idea for 2 weeks that our home had 5 inches of flood water, plus quite a bit of roof damage which added to the flooding. No entry to the greater N,O, area was allowed so we were totally un-prepared for what Scott found when he was finally allowed to enter the area with the identfication he had thought to take from us.
Just watching the devestation on T.V. sent us
reeling.
We stayed in Dallas with our dear friend Gilda Gardsbane who had another guest(?) refugee also staying there. After 5 weeks and knowing that N.O. was no longer for us, we heeded the advice of Dallas Jewish Family Service and moved to Atlanta. We had no close family in N.O. Our sons lived in Atlanta and D.C.-since I can't tolerate cold well-we chose Atlanta--little knowing that our Ga. son was being wooed by companies outside Atlanta. Found that out the nite we arrived in Atlanta. Tom our older son flew into Dallas and drove us to Atlanta. We lived at a Marriot Suites while we searched for housing, which we found and moved to 11/15/06. By now we felt like Moses and his wanderings. We moved into a hi-rise senior condo. And settled down waiting for the next shoe to drop. Would Scott move or not? Would we move or not? But that was really not a choice--I could not live on my own and Katrina took its tole on Sam. He was vital and healthy before we left N.O. Did not look or act his age. But even that has changed.
So now we are residents of The Atrium Village in Owings Mills,Md. Both sons live 30-45 minutes away. We are in the process of
smiling and greeting and meeting a whole new set of neighbors. WE miss the friends we made in our year in Atlanta. We dreadfully miss our lifelong friends who went back and lived in their wet homes ,some are still not finished with repairs. We miss our synagogue and members and will not get to see the newly
renovated handicapped rest room for which I
lobbied and heavily contributed..but all my friends tell me how beautiful it is.
In the process of trying to sell our cemetary plots--cause as I began "NO GOING HOME".
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Citation Information:
gert levitan, "story"No Going Home"." Katrina's Jewish Voices, Object #726 (September 02 2010, 11:52 am)