Harrowing story of life in my apt building during and after Katrina...unreal.

BTW folks, this is LONG. VERY LONG. But quite amazing. I owe this band of holdout lunatics a HUGE thank you when I return to New Orleans...
--------------------------------------------------------------
To: All FFM Owners/Residents [Note: Some of the emails may not be
current or
operational because of the hurricane; the addresses were obtained from
a
front desk notebook and retyped into this email; updates may have
occurred
since the front desk notebook was prepared; FFM mangement will
hopefully
have access to the updated email list by the end of the coming week.]


Well, it's been quite a saga...

The communications were so disrupted by Katrina, that this is the first
opportunity I've had to try to communicate to everyone where we stand
at
this time. Because so much has happened since (and before) the storm
hit,
this email will be quite lengthy. I and other Board members and
management
wanted to communicate sooner to you, but it was operationally
impossible.

I'm sending this from a friend's computer --- a true friend (Mr. Les
Jensen)
who has thankfully provided the shelter of his home in Baton Rouge to
myself
and my elderly parents who have special medical needs.

I'll try to reconstruct from memory what has happened since the
beginning....

As you know, most of the FFM owners and residents evacuated prior to
Katrina's arrival. I believe about 33 of us remained in the building
to
ride out the hurricane: myself, Joan Soule' (mother), Evan Soule', Sr.
(father), Ramona Angelo (my friend), Stephen & Sue Champagne (plus
two[?]
family members), Mrs. Kruebbe, Mr. Kruebbe, Sr., Andrea Block, Edward
Pankey, Jim Maclean, Beverly Parker, Monica Ferraro, Robert Trujillo,
Esteban Marten, Tony Diers, Denise Diers, Eric, Lynn Forker, John
Forker,
Pat Fenerty, Andy Restivo (plus his daughter, son-in-law, daughter, and
baby), Nikki Reyes and mom, Barbara Normand (and two [?]
friends/relatives).
(I apologize if I left anyone out -- the above list is from
memory.)....
plus cats, dogs, and birds.

Our goal in remaining in the building was to try to keep it secure from
wind/rain damage during the storm and to try to keep essential services
going.

The full fury of the hurricane began about 11pm, Sunday night, August
28,
2005. Myself and Stephen Champagne estimate that sustained winds were
about
125mph with gusts possibly up to 140-150mph. Fortunately, the FFM
building
was on the WESTERN side of Katrina's eyewall rather than on the EASTERN
side
of the eyewall where I heard that sustained winds were c. 150mph with
gusts
possibly in the 170mph range.

However, despite those powerful winds impacting our building throughout
the
early morning hours of Monday, August 29m 2005, the building did not
finally
lose electricity until 5:30AM --- which I found amazing.

The owners/residents of the 102-year-old FFM building should be very
proud
of our structure: during the height of the storm, one could stand in
the 5th
floor atrium area holding on to the railings in the atrium. One
"survivor"
told me that he could feel the building vibrate during the storm's fury
and
even feel a slight "sway" to the building. But, as the old saying
goes, a
"tree that bends will not break" --- similarly with our building. The
building survived magnificently!

Quick summary:

We survived the hurricane's wind and rains in great shape.

We were never flooded since the lake's floodwaters did not ever reach
our
area of the Warehouse District -- I believe the nearest the flood
waters
came to the FFM was several blocks north of Lee Circle.

However, we were finally driven out by the looters. (more on that
below)

Yes, you should be very proud of our building and how well it was
originally
constructed in 1903. In fact, as one individual mentioned, "If
anything,
our building's PROVEN ability to survive such a storm should add to the
value of the building for the future."

Those who remained behind helped make many preparations around the
property
for the storm. Plants/pots were secured, loose furniture, etc. was
secured
in the Outback; Tony Diers, myself, Jim Maclean, and Edward Pankey
helped to
secure the front entrance -- installing the remaining plywood sheets
over
the main entrance, and then Tony had a great idea to cover/staple that
front
area with heavy visquine weighted down with large concrete pavers from
the
BBQ area to help keep out water from the lobby should it begin rising
in the
street. Tony's technique worked perfectly: not a single drop of water
entered through the front area into the lobby.

Damage observed around the building following the storm:

About 3-5 very small wood window glass panes were observed to be broken
--
most, if not all, on the South Peters side. There was one large window
with
a large break that was a window attached to Unit 220.

The major winds of the storm impacted the South Peters side of the
building,
the John Churchille Chase side of the building, and in SOME areas of
the
patio. The windows facing the patio did very well and the storm's
impact
was less until the storm moved north of the city and the principal
winds hit
the patio side instead of the street sides.

There were about 10 very minor leaks in the 5th floor atrium area ---
those
leaks were quickly caught in buckets & visquine. Tony Diers was very
resourceful in coming up with ways to capture the leaking water with
"visquine tenting". One problem: the metal louvers associated with the
fan
exhaust (in the event of smoke) constantly opened & closed during the
storm
and may be damaged. Also: at the height of the storm when rainwater
was
literally being driven at 125+MPH horizontally, there was some water
that
came into some units around the cracks surrounding some of the wooden
windows. Some water leaked in that manner down the bricks vertically
between units. Where we found that happening, the water would only
slowly
run down the bricks and as soon as the wind died down it would stop.

Structurally, the major damage to the building were the copper panels
comprising the roof terrace parapet. Perhaps a dozen sections on all
sides
of the building were ripped off and the copper sheets were later found
at
the bottom of the swimming pool, and on surrounding streets. The large
copper "S" on "MILLS" on the JCC streetside was ripped from the
building --
but we found that letter and placed it in the exercise building. Many
of
the metal floodlights around the street side of the building were
either
ripped off are torn and dangling against the building. When fallen,
those
were placed in the courtyard.

The large green awning came partially loose and dangled against the
building
in the wind. That awning is still in the same position as of this
writing.
Interesting, the awning itself appears to be in good condition. The
American Flag in the front is STILL attached and in good shape!

The patio awning tore off on the streetside and about a 1/3 of that
awning
ripped back from the force of the winds. The awning supports appear to
be
intact. I watched from my patio window on the 4th floor the winds grab
a
corner of that awning and over the next 6 hours gradually peel it back.
Most of the courtyard plants under that awning stayed intact and
survived
fine -- the main problem was the lack of water since that time.

The rear driveway fence and driveway gate was bent about 20 degrees
towards
the street, but still remained upright. What is amazing is that the
force
of the winds actually ripped up two of the four bolts on the metal
supports
that comprise the curved black security fencing placed last year above
the
brick wall housing the side entrance gate between the main building and
the
exercise building and the entire gate now leans about 30 degrees from
vertical into the street. That demonstrates the force of the winds
coming
through the "hollow" grills of that gate -- and bending it. But at
least it
held. It was important that that security gate remain --- especially
given
the subsequent looting (described below). Some have thought the
looters
tried to pull down that gate, but that was not actually the case. The
gate
was bent by the hurricane's winds.

At one point during the height of the storm, the JCC side of the
building
was taking ferocious hits from the winds. Tony and Stephen would
periodically make rounds of the building, especially checking in on
those
units who had residents remaining. Apparently Nikki (I apologize if
I'm not
correctly spelling your first name!) had a crisis at one point: her
terrace
door was blown open by the force of the winds and she was in danger of
having everying sucked out of her unit and/or massive amounts of water
damage from incoming wind-driven rains. She was literally holding on
to the
terrace doorknob with all of her strength to keep the door close
although it
would no longer lock! In in the midst of her crisis, she hears a knock
on
her front door from Tony and Stephen checking to see if everything was
alright. She screams "HELP, HELP!!" and soon thereafter Tony/Stephen
rigged
up an emergency rope system that stretched across the upper floor of
her
unit in order to keep the door from blowing open during the storm.

What I found an amazing credit to the strong construction of the FFM
building is that during the height of the hurricane, if one was in the
interior hallways or deep inside one's unit (towards the hallways), one
would never even know that a ferocious hurricane was waging outside ...
the
building was that well insulated.

The winds finally died down by about 10am, Monday morning, August 29,
2005.
Several of us (including Stephen & Sue Champagne) ventured out of the
building about 11am. I walked down South Peters Street all the way to
the
Harrah's garage (where my vehicle was parked) to check out its
condition.
My parent's SUV was parked on the 2nd floor of the Hilton garage. All
vehicles were in good condition. And I understand that the 15 or so
vehicles
parked in the FFM parking lot also fared fine. I then walked back up
Convention Center Blvd. to the FFM.

Damage I saw during my walk along South Peters & Convention Ctr. Blvd:
some
of the trees along the sidewalk were down. (All our pear trees in front
of
our building came through fine -- and our front park came through in
great
shape.) Some signage from area buildings was in the street along with
lots
of miscellaneous debris, including portions of what I believe were
Hyatt
sofas blown across town by the hurricane when c. 100 of that building's
windows were blown out. An old brick warehouse next to Red Dog on South
Peters collapsed and thousands of bricks were tossed into the street.
But
overall, the damage in the Warehouse District seemed minimal. And I
did not
see a SINGLE downed power line. There was extensive police/fireman
presence
in the Hilton Hotel loading area (we heard later that afternoon that a
murder had occurred near Poydras and Magazine and that a policeman had
been
shot in the head by looters in the Superdome area. Apparently he was
successful in shooting some looters before he was shot and remained in
critical condition, last I heard.

Once back at the FFM, the "survivors" began to organize and assess our
condition. Because the damage to our building was relatively small and
the
infrastructure around the Warehouse District seemed basically intact,
we
believed at that time that it would be a matter of days -- perhaps two
weeks
at most -- before the FFM could be up and running normally. Little did
we
know what awaited us in the days to come....

At 5:30am Monday morning when the building lost power from the city
grid,
our back-up large generator in the back driveway immediately came
online.
That provided essential electrical power to all hallway lights, all
hallway
plug outlets, and operated one of the front elevators. That generator
ran
continuously for 28 hours, from 5:30am Monday morning until about
9:30am
Tuesday morning. Because we could run extension cords from our
refrigerators to the hallway plugs, we had residual refrigeration as
long as
the generator stayed on. That was also useful in the morning for
making hot
coffee.

Stephen and Sue Champagne set up living conditions in the hallway
atrium on
the 5th floor in the event that the hurricane blew out their wooden
windows
facing South Peters. They also set up a much-appreciated "coffee
station"
outside their unit for other building "survivors". Edward Pankey (and
others) also provided such coffee services in the 3rd floor hallway.

An amazing sight...

When Monday nighfall arrived, I and others walked up to the 5th floor
terrace roof about 10pm. An amazing sight awaited us: for the first
time
in my 55+-years of living in New Orleans, I saw the Milky Way above our
building ... not to mention thousands of stars not usually seen. The
blackout of the city created a starry nightscape that had probably not
been
seen in the city for over a century. It was eerie to see the entire
One
Shell Square Building lightless. In fact, the entire cityscape of New
Orleans was blacked out except for sporadic emergency lighting (which
eventually gave out in most cases). I counted 3 shooting stars in 30
minutes. Some of us stayed on the terrace roof late into the night
because
in the wake of the hurricane the air was clean, dry, and there was even
a
cool evening breeze. It was great experience to lie on the paver roof
with
the breeze and watch the stars...

Communication failures...

By Monday night, we realized that most communications were down. Cell
phones with (504) prefixes were virtually useless. Other land lines
were
hampered by the absence of electricity. Curiously, my fax line still
maintained communication with the outside world, but my regular phone
line
(on a different company server) became useless. Aside from my
still-operational phone line, there were only about 4 or 5 phone lines
in
the building that worked at all, although sporadically. The front desk
line
only worked when the generator was turned on. So if someone called that
line
the phone might ring at their end, but the phone did not ring inside
the
building.

The levee break...

Sometime Monday evening we got word that the levee at the 17th street
canal
had broken. We had already known of the Industrial Canal breach and
the
subsequent massive flooding of the 9th Ward. But the break at the 17th
street canal caught the city by surprise. The big question: WOULD THE
INCOMING FLOOD WATERS FROM THE LAKE REACH THE FFM BUILDING???

Once we realized that we could be flooded, we began removing lobby
furniture
up to the lobby landings. Realizing at the time that the entire lobby
could
eventually flooded, we removed all vital records, keys, equipment, etc.
from
the front desk area and took it to higher levels in the building.
Monica
became known as the "Key Lady" since I asked her if she could control
all
lock out keys and keep them safe. As it turned out, I retained the lock
out
keys for Floor 1 and she retained lock out keys for Floors 2-5. As of
this
writing, Monica now has all keys to the building.

By Tuesday morning, Stephen Champagne and I began to be concerned about
the
generator and the possible need to conserve power. As a result, though
we
wondered if we turned the generator off we could get it on again, we
made
the decision to conserve power. So we turned it off. I'm grateful to
Stephen for providing valuable information on how to both turn off and
turn
on that massive generator --- even though he was probably not familiar
with
that particular generator's specifications. However, his information
proved
accurate and very useful.

Once Stephen and Sue left on Tuesday morning (he had to get back to
work
relating to reestablishing the offshore industry in the Houma area and
Sue
had to return to work at Ochsner hospital), the generator's management
was
left to me. From that point on until Wednesday night, we adopted a
schedule
of turning the generator on for about 2 hours in the morning and 2
hours at
night.

As Tuesday wore on, we became more and more anxious about the effect of
the
levee break upon the Warehouse District. We also realized that
security
could become an issue and that it might be far longer than a few days
before
normalcy was reestablished in the city. Little did we know...

By Tuesday, some of the original survivors had left and we were soon
down to
about 15 people. Lynn had to leave with her husband because they were
running out of critical medicines. Andy (who had provided vital
assistance
as head of the "security committee") and his family had to leave
because
they were running out of supplies for the baby.

Those who remained formed into groups/committees to help establish
normalcy
in the building. Since we began to realize that we could be in the
building
for weeks, if not months, without outside assistance, Monica and others
(Ramona, Beverly, etc.) formed the food/water committee and began a
floor-by-floor search to obtain critical food/drinkable water supplies
and
create a supply depot on the 3rd floor atrium.

Our goal was to survive in the building as long as possible to prevent
intrusion into the building from unauthorized persons, provide some
measure
of security, and try to deal with emergencies in the building if they
should
occur. By Tuesday we had no electricity (except for short periods of
time
from the generator), very limited communications, and we began slowly
losing
tap water, starting with the upper floors. Showers functioned in the
Exercise building until early Wednesday morning. By Wednesday evening,
all
tap water ceased.

I should add that the Outback Building came through the storm with
virtually
no damage. The Exercise building had many chucks of ceiling insulation
fall
throughout the interior of the building from the force of the wind upon
the
metal roof. Otherwise, that building came through fine.

The tree by the exercise building suffered the most damage, losing many
limbs, All other courtyard trees fared fine. While there was debris
scattered throughout the courtyard, Tony, Monica, and Roberto later
made a
fine effort to move most of that major debris to the rear yard area.

The security committee consisting of myself, Tony, and Andy rigged up a
very
impressive "trip-wire noise traps in the back driveway. We shoved the
two
large dumpster against the backdriveway to prevent anyone from forcing
open
that area. We tied empty coke/beer cans to wires and criss-crossed
them
across the area and even connected those wires to huge loose panels of
twisted copper sheeting fallen from the roof to act as additional
"noisemakers". Then, two survivors who lived in two units above the
driveway (Andy and Edward) volunteered to keep their windows cracked to
hear
for trespassers. By Tuesday night, they were armed and were prepared
to
shoot any looters attempting to climb into the property in the back
driveway
area.

The primary access was the side gate. We also installed a wood guard
on the
inside of the doors by the mailbox area that were locked in place each
night. All other stairwell/courtyard exits were locked in place or
wire was
bound around the handles to prevent unauthorized intrusion. [BTW, the
hinge
on the door to the Exercise Building was broken during the hurricane.]

All in all, we tried to make the building as secure as possible.

By Tuesday, with both the adjoining Hampton Inn and Hilton Garden Inn
totally shut down and devoid of people, the New Orleans Police
Department
decided to move policemen into those facilities. That was done because
as
the floodwaters moved across the city, regular police stations had to
be
evacuated. We learned that at the 6th district someone made the
unfortunate
decision to have stored considerable police weapons, ammunition, and
communication equipment in a basement storage area that subsequent
flooded.
Consequently, the police had minimal weapons and insufficient
communications.

We made contact with the police stationed at both nearby hotels. There
were
approximately a dozen police with a canine unit stationed at the Hilton
Garden Inn. The Hampton was used as a transient staging ground for over
a
hundred police and their families. Although there was no electricity in
either hotel, the Hampton had police families housed there temporarily
until
they evacuated the city. The unit at the Hilton Garden Inn remained
through
the time that we were forced out of the FFM (by looting, as described
below). It seemed that at the Hampton the police were only there at
night
and left the building deserted during the day.

Monday evening, we provided cell phone recharging services to dozens of
New
Orleans Police Dept. officers/emergency personnel who were invited to
come
from the Hampton/Hilton to our lobby area and plug their rechargers
into the
hallway plugs powered by our FFM generator since there was no
electricity at
either hotel. They finished recharging about 11pm.

Tuesday morning Robert (who works at Harrah's) learned that looters
were
seen in the Harrah's garages looting vehicles. I'm grateful for the
fact
that he drove me from the FFM parking lot to the Harrah garage to
rescue my
vehicle. Fortunately, it had not yet been looted since it was parked on
an
upper floor. I attempted to park it with my parent's SUV at the Hilton
garage, but the police there had secured the gates and I could not get
in. I
then parked it in the basement garage at the Hampton, although I was
concerned that the police seemed to only be there during the night.

Throughout the hurricane I had been in regular telephone contact on my
remaining phone line with a civil engineer in California whom I have
known
for over 30 years. This individual had spent countless hours on the
internet
checking geological elevations for New Orleans, meterological reports,
tidal
estimates, and other resources. His investigations intensified after
the
levee broke. After several conversations, he told me that he was
convinced
that the lake waters flooding the city would NOT reach our area of the
Warehouse District. He explained (in far greater detail than I'll
describe
here) how the FFM building area is approximately 3-5 feet above sea
level
and, being at the "rim" of the "bowl of New Orleans" by the river, is
one of
the highest areas of the city. At the time the hurricane's influx of
water
into the lake caused it to rise about 5 feet above normal. Thus it
became a
race of natural forces: would the excess water pushed into the lake by
the
hurricane subsequently drain out at the Rigolets and back into the Gulf
faster than the influx of water through the broken levee at the 17th
street
canal?

My California contact did computations and was convinced that the
outflux of
lake water coupled with the higher elevation of our immediate area in
the
Warehouse District would work together to prevent our area from being
flooded. As it turned out, he was right.

Early Tuesday morning about 3am, since it was difficult to sleep in the
80+
degree heat in my unit, I began to formulate a plan: knowing that the
Army
Corps of Engineers were beginning to stage/billet troops/engineering
personnel in the New Orleans Convention Center I wondered if the
following
could be effected: Would it be possible to secure our area around the
Convention Center from possible flooding and use that area as a
"foothold"
to restore the rest of the city?

Since the Army Corps of Engineers primary mission was to 1) rescue
people
from the floodwaters and 2) dam up the broken levee, I thought that if
the
Seabees could be brought in to construct a 4-5 foot temporary dam
around
around the Convention Center area, that such would prevent the area
from
being flooded even if subsequent rains affected our city. Once the area
was
free from the threat of being flooded, then the two electrical
substations
on either side of the Convention Center could be used at primary
generator
stations to restore a limited electrical grid in a 5-10 block area
around
the NOCC. From that base, the incoming troops could fly in supplies
and
equipment to began to rebuild the city.

During the morning of Tuesday, August 30, 2005, I went to the
Convention
Center and met with Col. Mouton, head of the Army Corps of Engineers
effort
in New Orleans. I had managed to type my "suggestion" using an old
electric
typewriter powered by the FFM generator while it was being operated for
two
hours Tuesday morning. Col. Mouton listen to my suggestions, but his
basically reply was, "The extent of the damage to New Orleans is very
extensive & growing --- you should leave the city as soon as possible."
I
told him that we had ample food and drinkable water at the FFM and
could
last for months. He said, "If you want to live under such conditions,
that's up to you, but I recommend that you evacuate the city."

Later that day we heard on our battery-operated radios at the FFM that
"road
pirates" were shooting people trying to leave the city via the only
remaining route (cross the MS River bridge to the Westbank Expressway,
continue along HWY 90 to Boutte and then to I-310, crossing the river
at
Luling and then on to I-10 and ultimately Baton Rouge) and then
commandeering their automobiles.

The people remaining at the FFM (which now numbered about 18) gathered
on
the 4th floor atrium area to discuss our situation. We had regular
meetings
each day at 9:30am and 3:00pm to update one another on our situation
and
assign tasks, as needed.

I related to everyone Col. Mouton's words and we learned of the
reported
shootings on the Westbank.

One of our biggest questions: where were the federal troops needed to
protect us and the city????

As it turned out, four more people decided to leave and take their
chances
on the highway and 14 people decided to stay because they felt we were
still
safe in the FFM and had plenty of food and water.

By Wednesday, the search committee had searched through units on the
1st and
2nd floors and obtained perishable, non-perishable, and basic first aid
supplies. We assembed the resultant cache on the atrium of the 3rd
floor
thinking that floor was a central location for all 5 floors and that it
would be safe from possible flooding. As the inventory increased, we
were
convinced that we could hold out for months, if necessary, until
essential
city services were restored. We felt that was the best way to keep the
FFM
building secure.

We also had 4-hour security shifts at the front desk beginning at 10pm
and
ending at 6am on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. It was
certainly
eerie sitting at the front desk in a totally darkened building and
hearing
throughout the night: sirens, helicopters, and occasional gunfire.

I had a small cache of revolvers and shotguns that I provided to
members of
our group. Thus, the individuals on watch at night were armed, and
individuals sleeping in the rear of the building facing the courtyard
were
also armed. During the day (by Wednesday --- as the level of violence
in
the city increased) many of us wore revolvers throughout the day.

On Tuesday afternoon, I convinced a police recruit --- Jason Berger ---
to
join our group and move into the FFM. Much of his police unit had
become
dispersed by the flooding, and some police had evacuated. Jason was
provided with a riot shotgun and another pistol since he (like many
police)
had lost their basic weapons in the flood. Jason was friend of an FFM
unit
owner who had evacuated before the hurricane. But Jason had originally
come
to the building not knowing if she had or had not evacuated from the
city.

On Tuesday and Wednesday evenings we decided to have a "cookout" in the
patio of the perishable meats that we had found in 1st and 2nd floor
units.
Such food would help us to survive since otherwise it would perish.
Edward
and Jim proved themselves excellent chefs and BBQ'd us two great meals
with
some excellent side dishes. In one sense it was surreal: we sat out in
the
patio among debris having a BBQ while military helicopters constantly
flew
over. I can only imagine what the military troops thought when they
looked
down into our patio and saw a group of about 15 people having a BBQ!!!

Even until Wednesday evening our spirits were high: we'd done our best
to
secure the building, we had plenty of drinkable water and durable food
supplies, we'd just heard that the floodwaters had stopped their
approach
towards our building, and we were convinced that we could hold out for
months at the FFM until the city began to return to normal. Although
we had
no electricity (except for 4 hours each day), no water supplies from
the
city system, the building was becoming increasingly hot, and our
communication with the outside world was minimal ---- we believed that
we
could stick it out until essential services were restored. Little did
we
know that all hell would break loose Thursday morning.

Rescue from Magazine Street...

On Wednesday, Jim McClean learned of a young woman alone in a large
residential complex on Magazine and Julia. She was the lone holdout
after
the building had been evacuated. Some of our group managed to get word
to
her to come to the FFM and she later joined us along with a cat she was
caring for that belong to someone who had evacuated from that building.

Thursday morning...

I heard gunshots in the distance late Wednesday night. Then, some
official
had the idea to require the people massed in the Superdome to walk to
the
New Orleans Convention Center where buses would supposedly be available
to
bus them to the Houston Astrodome and federal troops at the Convention
Center would provide those people with food and water.

The problem is that those people used the side street along the FFM as
a
major thoroughfare to get to the Convention Center. Thus, people that
had
possibly no knowledge of our building and Warehouse District area
suddenly
learned of our area. We were in the patio and could hear the people
walking
on the other side of the gate. Some of them said such things as, "All
we
need is a polevault to get over that (FFM) fence!"

By about 8am Thursday morning, the looting began in earnest in our
area. The
Corporation Bar and Grill was looted. The Howling Wolf was looted. The
Red
Dog Saloon was looted. Then looters got access to the FFM parking lot
and we
heard car alarms going off every few minutes. Soon there was a
"symphony of
car alarms resounding through the area."

Jason, our resident policeman, met with me and said that things were
getting
so bad outside that we needed to evacuate the building ASAP. We
basically
had 90 minutes to gather whatever we can, go out into the streets to
get
vehicles, and try to leave the city ... safely. Armed with a riot
shotgun
and several other weapons, and with the assistance of a second
policeman
with an automatic weapon from the Hilton who guarded our side gate as
we
exited, the remaining 16 of us managed to get in our four cars that we
obtained from the Hilton. Our caravan of cars then left the area and
drove
out of the city via the only remaining exit on the Westbank. While we
were
packing our vehicles, many young men from the Superdome stood around in
the
street and sidewalks, watching us. Some of these individuals had been
looting the area. Some were shouting -- others only watched us. I'm
convinced that there was only ONE reason we were not attacked: we were
armed
and they were not. Jason risked his own life by standing in the middle
of
South Peters in front of our building and holding his weapons at the
ready
while we walked to the Hilton to obtain our vehicles. Jason was in the
lead
car that we followed to ultimately reach Gonzales, Louisiana.

Those 90 minutes of evacuation from our building were traumatic. In my
case
I grabbed what belongings I could for myself and my parents, but the
most
difficult part was getting my wheelchair-bound father down 4 flights of
stairs in the dark (with bobbing flashlights) and Jason the policeman
standing at the bottom of the dark, hot stairwell yelling every 3
minutes:
"WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT!!! NOW!! NOW!! NOW!!" His words added to
everyone's
sense of intense anxiety. Thanks to the help of Edward, Jim, Tony,
Eric, and
others, we finally managed to get my father down that dark stairwell
---
although all of (including the wheelchair) ended up damaged and
bruised.

We left the building as secure as we could, but we were concerned that
looters could attempt to get into the area. Ultimately, it came down to
our
lives -- or the building -- or possibly losing both if we stayed. One
thought is that the individuals/looters who watched us come out of the
FFM
fully armed had no way of knowing if OTHER armed people remained inside
our
building. So that was a possible deterrant to looting.

From what I understand, until the Federal troops arrived late Friday
morning, there was a period of virtual anarchy in the Warehouse
District/Convention Center area from Thursday morning (when we left at
10am,
September 1st) until Friday morning. I believe we were among the very
last
Warehouse District residents to leave the area.

Once in Gonzales, our caravan assembled to discuss our plans. I and my
parents ended up traveling to a friend's home in Baton Rouge. Jason and
an
FFM resident went to Lafayette. Several people went to Birmingham,
Houston,
and California, and one individual stayed in Gonzales with a friend.
We've
stayed in contact with one another and some of us returned to the FFM
on
Saturday, September 10th, 2005 (described below).

Living in the FFM until Thursday was challenging: there was no
electricity
(except for brief periods) the units became very hot and the only
access was
up the stairwells. Since we had no water by Wednesday night, we filled
buckets with pool water and hauled them up to the upper floors to use
in
flushing toilets. The most bearable area was the lobby which surprising
stayed about 78 degrees. At night it was very reassuring to have
electricity
in the lobby -- if only for 2 hours .... for those two hours it felt
like
"civilization" had returned to our building.

Later developments....

On Thursday and Friday, September 8th and 9th, we learned that at least
two
FFM residents had managed to reenter the building. It appeared that
looters
had broken into the Exercise bldg.'s candy machine --- but surprising
left
much candy on the floor. Were they interrupted during their looting?
Also,
someone tore down the plywood covering the front entrance and
subsequently
broke a large pane of glass next to the inside glass doors. That was
sufficient space to allow them to enter into the building. The glass
door to
the management office was smashed with glass all over the carpeting. An
owner reported that he found keys strewn about the floor of the
management
office and then secured those keys. Apparently the doors to a courtyard
unit
near the hot tub was forced open, but the unit appeared orderly inside
and
there remained TV's and other electronic equipment that was not looted.
The
behavior of the looters seemed very bizarre --- if indeed the damages
were
done by looters.

There is presently no evidence that any other areas/units in the
building
were looted.

The Saturday, September 10th caravan...

Dr. Herman Soong (4th floor resident) offered to lead in a group of FFM
residents to New Orleans. As a deputy sheriff and clinical psychiatrist
for
the State of Louisiana, we hoped that Herman had the needed credentials
to
get through the checkpoints. As word got out about our planned
expedition to
New Orleans, the caravan swelled from three to over 10 vehicles. I
prepared
signs in Baton Rouge that were posed on the front of each car: "FEDERAL
(in
huge black letters) FIBRE MILLS VEHICLE #_____ OF _____".

The word "FEDERAL" was the first (and possibly only) word that a
checkpoint
policeman would read. By going back via the same route we exited, we
met
only two checkpoints. When the checkpoint guards stationed just before
the
Mississippi River bridge saw Herman's badge/flashing lights, Herman
said,
"these cars are with me" --- and so we were all waved through.

[Note: I would have endeavored to communicate sooner to my fellow FFM
residents, but in the mad rush out of the building on September 1st, I
left
critical information that I needed for such communication. My focus
during
that evacuation was the saving of human lives.]

We arrived back at the FFM about 10am on Saturday, September 10, 2005.

The 15 or so people who were back in the building began some basic
cleanup.
The dumpsters that had become a breeding ground for hundreds of flies
were
moved across the street. The generator was restarted. Some
refrigerators
were emptied. The pool was skimmed and treated with chlorine. The
plywood on
the front of the building was reattached. One of the computers in the
management office was secured by Property One. And, most important,
three
owners decided to stay in the building --- and, as of this writing,
they are
they watching over our property as best as they can. We should all be
grateful for their effort. I would have liked to stay in the building
but I
had to return to my parents in Baton Rouge since their respective
medical
conditions (Alzheimer's and Parkinson's) require my attention.

I believe we all owe gratitude to Monica, Robert, and Jim for staying
in our
building. I've already heard that they've been helping to rescue a
starving
cat in 104 (whose owner believed that a co-worker had removed the pet
from
the building prior to the hurricane) and also stopped a significant
water
leak from under the sink in Unit 214 that was apparently leaking water
into
Unit 116. They also did their best to sop up all the water that
collected on
116's wood floors.

Contact information and ... Where do we go from here?

CONTACT INFORMATION:
blah blah blah

 

Here is a pic of my building taken from convention center blvd, one block from me. You can see 'federal fiber mills' on the top of it. Told you guys it was close!
http://www.pbase.com/cvbjr/image/49754177

 

Thanks Roland. Hope your surgery went well and that your recovery is speedy. See you at the FQC next time around!

As for me, I'll be in Texas until I move back to New Orleans in January. Can't wait to get back.