The 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina happened on August 29th. The disaster caused widespread devastation along the Gulf Coast. It severely impacted many people’s lives and is one of the costliest natural disasters in the history of the United States.
TikToker @dukeoforleans_ is sharing his story about how Hurricane Katrina affected his life. In August 2005, he was 20 years old and was still living at home in New Orleans with his parents. He had just gotten his first job at the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office as a sheriff deputy.
When it comes to hurricanes and tropical storms, his family does not mess around. They pack up and leave town for their own safety. He decided to stay and help out at work.
He didn’t really think the storm would be that intense because he hadn’t seen bad hurricanes in his lifetime. He also wanted to make some extra money because he had just bought a new car.
As the storm barreled toward the Gulf Coast, he packed a bag and grabbed a blanket. He put all his clothes from the closet in plastic bags and then headed downtown to the sheriff’s office to start his shift. His coworkers told him to park on a nearby overpass in case the streets got flooded.
The night began like any other night, except people had brought grills and snacks. They were going to camp out, wait out the storm, and go home the next day. However, it did not work out that way.
As the storm approached, the lights went out. They were in a state-of-the-art prison, which was equipped with generators, so there was no reason the lights should be going out, even with a storm.
At a certain point, the storm passed right over them. It was windy, rainy, and flooding outside, but this flooding was a little different from any flood that he had ever witnessed before. The water level was actually pretty high. An hour or two later, the water started seeping into the building.
There was a fish farm across the street, so a bunch of catfish and tilapia had gotten out during the flooding and were now swimming around the jail. The captain said they couldn’t stay there anymore.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
While they were attempting to get to higher ground, they received a call about some unruly inmates on the first floor that needed to be moved up to the second floor.
It was two or three in the morning, and the water was waist-deep. After they moved the inmates, the captain directed them to another jail across the street. The building had a veranda. As they crossed the street, the water was rising rapidly and reached their chests.
When they got to the building, he laid out his stuff on the veranda. The plan was for him and his coworkers to stay on the veranda until help came the next day. However, help didn’t come. They ended up sleeping outside for five days.
No one knew what was going on. The water continued rising. They were surrounded by 15 to 18 feet of water. The streets were unrecognizable, and helicopters were flying around. By day two, they started getting reports that the whole city of New Orleans was flooded.
Inmates in other buildings were trying to escape. There was a sniper on one of the roofs to prevent their escape. It was also super hot out, and the whole situation was utter chaos.
It took the entire night to transport the inmates by boat to another building. At the time, there were 9,000 inmates who needed to be transferred. After the inmates were taken care of, @dukeoforleans_ and his coworkers were able to get on the boat.
As they floated out, the boat started to take on water, so they had to turn around. They waited for the next boat to come. During the boat ride, he looked around and realized that the city was completely destroyed, but the highway was dry. They got on a bus, which took them to a shelter in a rural area of Louisiana.
At the shelter, he called his family in Mississippi and broke down crying. His mother, father, uncle, and cousin came to get him from the shelter.
The entire experience was a wake-up call for him. The next time a storm is coming, he will never risk riding it out again.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
