An MQ-9 Reaper sits on the flight line at Hurlburt Field, Fla., May 3, 2014.The MQ-9 Reaper is an armed, multi-mission, medium-altitude, long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft that is employed primarily as an intelligence-collection asset and secondarily against dynamic execution targets. (U.S. Air Force photo illustration/Staff Sgt. John Bainter)

Commentaries

919th SOW member recalls Katrina nightmare

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Mark Chase
  • 719th Maintenance Squadron
DUKE FIELD, Fla. --  Hurricane Katrina made me realize that one can never be too careful when preparing for a hurricane. 

My home, located in Ocean Springs, Miss., is approximately one mile from the beach, far from flood zones shown on maps at city hall. Ocean Springs had never flooded since its incorporation more than 100 years ago, not even during Hurricane Camille in 1969. 

I knew, however, that Katrina was going to be an especially strong hurricane. So I took proper precautions -- or so I thought. I filled my bathtubs with water, purchased extra batteries and bottled water, stocked up on food that could be prepared without electricity, and filled my car tanks with gasoline. 

I went to sleep the night of Aug. 28 feeling confident that my house would weather the storm. Unfortunately, I didn't learn until I woke up the next morning that the eye of the hurricane had turned northward. Walking to the back of my house, I looked out my French doors and was stunned to see that a sea of water had enveloped my home. The water was just below the threshold of my doors. 

Fifteen minutes later, I was struggling to hold back these same doors, for the surface of the water was at my eye level. Water poured through every door jamb in the house and under the walls as well. Fortunately, the doors held and the water receded almost as rapidly as it had risen. 

I never realized that the majority of home appliances, computers, and televisions have motors and electrical components that are close to the floor. Everything was ruined. I realized then that people who elevated their appliances with cinder blocks and wood crates were the smart ones. 

A family whose home was completely destroyed visited me the day after this disaster. They spoke briefly to me and left their two young boys, with directions to help me carry the soggy carpet to the curb. 

When I asked the parents why they wanted to help me, even though my house had suffered less damage than theirs, they told me it was to get their sons' minds off the dead bodies they had seen floating in the street in front of their home. Only then did I realize the seriousness of what had happened. People all over my city had drowned, some in areas even further north where muddy bayou water had collapsed their homes and trapped them inside. 

I took a huge risk by staying in my home during a Category 5 hurricane. I believed that I was safe simply because a topography map at city hall showed my home was not in a flood zone. Luckily, I had made it. Others had not. I know now that one can never be too careful when preparing for a hurricane.