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Chapter 60
Sunday, September 18, 2005
K plus three weeks
The monster wasn't
the end of the Hurricane Season of 2005. The people in K-land
were unaware that five named tropical systems emerged in the
following three weeks. Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricanes Maria,
Nate, and Philippe formed, grew, and dissipated in the expanses
of the Atlantic Ocean. Only Ophelia, a minimal hurricane, threatened
habitable areas, and the storm danced off the Carolina coastline
from September 13 to 15 before dashing off to fall apart in the
chilly waters off Newfoundland. On the day Ophelia was declared
extinct, a sister was born north of Hispaniola.
~*~*~
Jane sat in front
of Carrie's computer holding her head after another frustrating
day. The mortgage company had finally admitted that the management
had not come up with a plan to help the Gulf Coast customers
affected by the storm, but they promised they were working on
it. Meanwhile, Gallic National Bank, while moving forward with
the reopening of their branch offices in the surrounding parishes,
still had made no announcement about the future of the main offices
in downtown New Orleans. As for the Red Cross, Jane still couldn't
get in by phone to register for financial relief, and the spokespeople
on the radio continued to deny any plans for setting up local
serve centers to handle this program and patronizingly insisted
that people continue to call the always-busy, toll-free telephone
line.
Added to that was
the anticipation of going home. The electrical utilities had
set up web sites where customers could see the progress in restoration.
The utility servicing Covington had started by restoring power
to government buildings, hospitals, schools, and other vital
facilities. They were slowly fanning out along the major thoroughfares,
restoring service to residential and commercial buildings. It
was agonizingly slow, for in the effort to clear roads after
the storm, all downed cables had been cut up for safety. It wasn't
a matter of re-hanging cables and drops. They had to rebuild
the entire network, often setting new power poles as well.
Today's progress
report showed they were a mile from the house. How much longer
it would take for them to get there, she didn't know. Jane was
antsy to leave. Carrie had been all that was loving and gracious
during their stay, but Jane ached to be in her own house, especially
with St. Tammany schools reopening that week.
The telephone interrupted
her thoughts. "Hello - Buford residence."
"Hey, babe.
How's everything?"
"Chuck? Oh,
hi. We're fine over here. Just a little stir-crazy. How are you?"
"Oh, good.
Listen up - I want you to hear something."
Jane frowned, wondering
what her husband was about. In the background she heard noises.
"Honey, what are you talking about?"
"You didn't
hear it?"
"Hear what?"
There was the sound of a motor followed by a familiar ding.
"The microwave."
"Oh, that's
what that…THE MICROWAVE!? CHUCK, IS THE POWER BACK ON!?"
She heard her husband
laugh. "It sure is!"
"Mommy?"
Jane turned to Hailey, standing in the doorway of the Buford's
home office. "Why are you yelling?"
Jane's grin threatened
to split her face wide open. "It's Daddy! He says the power
is back on at home!"
Hailey clapped her
hands while jumping in place. "Yay! Yay, Daddy! Can we go
home now?"
"We sure can,
sweetie! As soon as we can pack!"
The Bingleys' twenty-two
day exile had ended.
~*~*~
Emma never thought
she would walk into her sister's house in Rockville, Maryland,
with almost nothing but the clothes on her back. Yet, all of
her and her husband's worldly goods were contained in the two
suitcases George and Tyler pulled out of the Parker's trunk.
Almost everything else they had ever owned remained in their
still-inundated house back in Lakeview.
Emma and Irene took
the opportunity to play with the Parker's daughter as Tyler showed
George the spare bedroom that would be the Katz's home for the
foreseeable future.
"Irene? Is
there a chapter of NCJW near here?"
"Yes, Emma.
They meet at the Jewish Community Center on Montrose Road."
"Can we go
by there soon? I'd like to start getting involved."
~*~*~
Monday, September
19, 2005
The tropical weather
quickly built up to tropical storm status, earning the next name
on the 2005 list. As the letter Q was never used, the 17th named
storm would use the letter R, and that was Rita. She was still
a tropical storm as her wind lashed southern Florida, the Keys,
and Cuba, but the models forecasted a rapid strengthening over
the next couple of days.
~*~*~
Tuesday, September
20, 2005
The models got worse
as Rita sped into the Gulf of Mexico after slapping Key West.
The scientists all said it was going to be a major storm by the
time it made landfall, and while they spread a wide warning about
it, the target seemed to be Houston.
However, the storm
surge would affect a broader area. As shaky as the levees were,
New Orleans had to abandon its resettlement plans and re-evacuate
the city. The city called for a press conference with Joint Task
Force Katrina and the state at the Convention Center.
It wasn't going
well, Ellie could tell. The mayor was trying to lay out the plan
to get residents out of town, but the reporters kept demanding
the city justify its actions during Katrina. It was turning into
an interrogation.
Bryan Thorpe didn't
see it that way, of course. This was an opportunity to grill
the city's officials over their mismanagement of Katrina, and
he and the other reporters weren't going to let it go by. Thorpe
had to talk his station into extending their stay in New Orleans,
and with another hurricane in the Gulf, management gave them
approval, as long as the crew beamed back film equivalent to
the footage they had shot the last time they were by the Convention
Center.
The mayor was growing
increasingly frustrated, when General Honoré politely
took the microphone. In beret and sunglasses, he repeated that
the purpose of the press conference was to explain the plan to
move the remaining people out of the area as Rita moved closer.
He talked about how buses were going to be at the Convention
Center when several reporters broke in. A male reporter overrode
Thorpe.
"But General,
that didn't work the first time -"
"Wait a minute.
It didn't work the first time. This ain't the first time. Okay?"
Honoré shot back. "If…we don't control Rita,
you understand? So there are a lot of pieces of it that's going
to be worked out. You got good public servants working through
it. Let's get a little trust here, because you're starting to
act like this is your problem. You are carrying the message,
okay?" The general again repeated the details of the plan
to the assembled press, reemphasizing the importance of getting
this information out. He asked for more questions.
Another male reporter
asked about the rumor of a staging area on the West Bank, which
the general repudiated. Once again he explained the plan, and
Ellie thought he showed incredible tolerance with the mostly
hostile reporters.
Honoré then
added, "Let's not get stuck on the last storm. You're asking
last storm questions for people who are concerned about the future
storm. Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward.
And don't confuse the people, please. You are part of the public
message. So help us get the message straight. And if you don't
understand, maybe you'll confuse it to the people. That's why
we like follow-up questions. But right now, it's the Convention
Center…and move on."
The same reported
reporter then said, "General, a little bit more about why
that's happening this time, though, and did not have that last
time -"
Honoré, his
patience exhausted, exploded, "You are stuck on stupid!
I'm not going to answer that question! We are going to deal with
Rita. This is public information that people are depending on
the government to put out. This is the way we've got to do it."
Thorpe and the other
reporters were taken aback at the set-down. Ellie tried to contain
the grin on her face, something that Mayor Nagin made no attempt
to do.
The general, realizing
he had been harsh, pulled back a bit. "So please. I apologize
to you, but let's talk about the future. Rita is happening. And
right now, we need to get good, clean information out to the
people that they can use. And we can have a conversation on the
side about the past in a couple of months."(1)
The press conference
continued, and the needed information was relayed to the residents.
However, the general's comments made all the national news and
cable outlets that night. Within days, Honoré would become
a folk hero.
~*~*~
The cable still
wasn't working in Covington, but Chuck had found an old set of
rabbit ears for the TV. He, Jane, and the kids watched the news
about the new monster.
"Are we going
to evacuate, Chuck?"
Chuck thought for
a moment. "I'd rather not. It looks like Rita's heading
for Houston, anyway. But, it's up to you, honey. Whatever you
want."
"We stay,"
she said firmly without hesitation. "I'd rather be in my
own house without power than go through another three weeks like
what we've just had."
"Mommy, are
we going to lose 'lectricity?" asked Hailey.
Her father answered.
"After the last storm, there're a lot of weak limbs and
trees, sweetie. I wouldn't be surprised if a few fell and took
out the new power lines even with just a little bit of wind.
But don't worry," he quickly reassured her. "With all
the crews around, it won't be long before we get power back.
That's not what worries me."
"What's wrong?"
asked Jane.
Chuck gestured at
the set. "Look, you know me, I've never wished a hurricane
on anybody. The worst thing that can happen is if we get hit
again. But, if Houston takes a hit from a storm like Rita, it's
almost as bad. Houston's the fourth largest city in the country.
If it gets clobbered, who's gonna care about us?"
~*~*~
Wednesday, September
21, 2005
Rita kept surprising
the experts. The storm intensified incredibly quickly, jumping
from Category 3 to Category 5 in just a couple of hours. Incredibly,
the internal pressure reached 897 mb, one of the lowest ever
recorded, and with winds of 175 mph, it was stronger than the
monster that had wrecked the Central Gulf three weeks before.
If such a storm, with its storm surge, ever ran up the Houston
Ship Canal, unbelievable damage and flooding would occur in Texas'
largest city.
But no one trusted
this monster. Yes, it was moving rapidly, and that usually meant
it would keep its heading constant. But storms had been known
before to stop and turn. Nobody was taking chances. It was now
due south of New Orleans, and the Crescent City could breathe
a little easier. But for people from central Louisiana to Corpus
Christi, Texas, all eyes were glued to the weather forecasts.
~*~*~
Henry and Cathy
Tilney could appreciate the irony. Only a few weeks before, they
had housed Emma Katz during the evacuation from Hurricane Katrina.
Now, with Hurricane Rita bearing down on Texas, it was their
turn to get out of Dodge.
Texas ordered a
mandatory phased evacuation from the coastal areas on Wednesday,
September 21. One of the last scenes the Tilneys saw on TV before
they left the house was a stream of school buses heading towards
Galveston, commandeered to move people without vehicles from
the seaside city.
Henry had originally
planned to head north, but after receiving a quick call from
Chris Breaux, they decided to make a dash eastward to Lafayette,
skirting before and beyond the expected track. The traffic was
bad but not impossible, especially after they hit Louisiana.
While the southwestern part of the state was evacuating, the
traffic flowed relatively smoothly, as it seemed the locals had
things well in hand. It made sense to the refugees from Bayside
- after all, the Louisiana officials had plenty of practice.
The Tilney family reached the Breaux homestead before nightfall,
and to their surprise they were greeted with hugs from Marianne
Breaux.
"Mari,"
Cathy managed, "thank you so very much. We really don't
deserve this kindness."
Mari faced her once
and future friend in a perfectly collected manner. "What's
done is done, and what's in the past stays there, Cathy. We're
very happy to have you for as long as you need. May I introduce
you to my in-laws?"
~*~*~
Thursday, September
22, 2005
The limo pulled
up to the DGS Citation jet parked at Houston's William P. Hobby
Airport in the early hours of the morning, discharging the dozen
Delta Global executives right at the hatchway. Leon Anderson
talked to his boss on the cell phone as he helped his wife aboard.
"Is there
anyone left downtown?"
Will asked.
Leon shook his head.
"Anyone who wanted to save their car got out yesterday.
What about New Orleans?"
"Evacuating
now. I'll be all right here at Pemberley."
"Okay. We'll
be in Miami in a few hours. How did the handoff to London go?"
"Smooth
as silk. Ed's in the Miami office, now."
"Good. Hey,
I just thought of something. I don't think Osborne is gonna give
us any more grief about relocating to Houston now."
"You're
probably right. Call me when you land."
~*~*~
The generosity of
the people of Texas can never be doubted. During the early weeks
of the Katrina evacuation, up to 200,000 were sheltered for some
time in the Lone Star State. However, with that big heart comes
a big ego. Texans watched the chaos of the Louisiana flight from
Katrina with a mixture of sympathy for the victims' situation,
and smugness that such a confounded mess could not happen there.
The forecasters'
models indicated that Houston was still in the cross-hairs as
dawn arose on Thursday. Heeding the entreaties of the mayor and
the governor, and the sensational warnings of disaster from the
newscasters, the nation's fourth largest city began to empty.
Three million people, twice the number that fled from Katrina,
moved inland, away from her sister. Unlike the Crescent City,
the residents of the Bayou City could go in three directions
- north, east, or west - and had no large bodies of water in
the way. Yet, the carefully laid out evacuation routes were quickly
overwhelmed, and Texas Governor Perry called for the implementation
of Texas' own Contraflow plan.
To the officials'
consternation, they found Contraflow was not so easy to implement.
It took hours for the Department of Transportation to coordinate
various law enforcement entities to close the southbound lanes
of I-45, the eastbound lanes of I-10 from San Antonio, and the
southeastern lanes of US 290 from Austin and reverse traffic.
The state was woefully unprepared. Half of Texas was in gridlock
as traffic collapsed to a crawl. Trips out of the strike area
were taking ten to thirty-six hours, depending on the destination.
It was more than
inconvenience. Cars ran out of gas. Scores of people, the very
young and the very old, died from dehydration in the hundred
degree heat. Early that day, a charter bus carrying elderly residents
from a retirement home caught fire in bumper-to-bumper traffic
on I-45 south of Dallas and exploded before it could be evacuated,
killing twenty-three. The earlier satisfaction of the phased
migration from the coast faded in the face of the horror on the
highways.
~*~*~
As the hours moved
on, Rita's track moved ever eastward. Faded from its Category
5 peak, it was still a dangerous Cat 4 with an enormous storm
surge. She moved across the Gulf, forcing water towards the Louisiana
coast. From the Texas line to the mouth of the Mississippi, the
tide rose higher. The flooding in St. Mary, Terrebonne, and Lafourche
was worse than during the monster, and many levees were breached.
A thousand people had to be rescued from Vermillion Parish flooding.
As the waters moved into the Barataria estuary, it overcame the
inadequate levees that the Corps had long neglected and flooded
Lafitte and the southern parts of the West Bank that had escaped
Katrina's fury.
Worse, the pressure
placed upon the patches in the Industrial and London Avenue canals
was more than they could stand, and with their failures, the
city began to re-flood. By Friday night, parts of the Crescent
City were once again under as much as eight feet of water. The
Corps and the levee boards had to start all over again.
~*~*~
Lost in the suffering
was a bit of news from federal court.
In 1922, the City
of New Orleans chartered a new company called New Orleans Public
Service Inc. to take over the struggling competing companies
that provided electricity, gas, and transit to the city. By 1926,
it was known as NOPSI. This company would be a subsidiary of
a larger holding company eventually known as Middle South Utilities.
However, the citizens of the city did not trust State regulators
to set utility prices and demanded that power remain with New
Orleans government. Therefore, NOPSI and MSU's other Louisiana
operations, LP&L, would be run as separate companies.
In 1979, the transit
operations were transferred to the Regional Transit Authority,
and ten years later MSU changed its name to Energy Corporation.
LP&L and NOPSI became Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans,
with separate boards and operations. By this time Entergy New
Orleans could not generate its own power and had to purchase
most of its electrical and gas needs from its sister Entergy
companies in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Still, rate
regulation stayed with the New Orleans City Council.
Because of the set-up,
in the wake of the storm, the finances of Entergy Louisiana and
Entergy New Orleans were separate, and Entergy New Orleans ran
through its cash reserves very quickly in its efforts to repair
and restore service. Every erg of power, every cubic foot of
gas, and every foot of electrical cable had to be bought from
Entergy Louisiana, and Entergy New Orleans was broke.
On September 23,
Entergy New Orleans filed for reorganization under Chapter 11
of the US Bankruptcy Code. New Orleans' insistence on a separate
utility had borne the inevitable fruit.
~*~*~
Saturday, September
24, 2005
Hurricane Rita continued
to fade, but not quickly enough, and made landfall between Sabine
Pass, Texas, and Johnson Bayou, Louisiana, at 02:38 CDT as a
115 mph Cat 3 storm. Cameron Parish, south of Lake Charles, took
the brunt of the hit and like St. Bernard twenty-seven days before
was completely wiped out by a twenty-foot storm surge. Calcasieu
and Beauregard parishes received heavy damage from wind and rain.
On the Texas side
of the strike, communities in the so-called Golden Triangle of
Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange sustained enormous wind damage.
But thanks to on-shore winds, the surge was far less than the
one that hit Louisiana. Thousands of acres of trees were felled,
a major part of the East Texas economy, and two million people
lost power.
Of Rita's one hundred
thirteen victims in Texas, only about nine were directly caused
by the storm. Many of the rest died during the evacuation, something
that would haunt state officials for years.
The effects on the
oil industry were greater than Katrina. More rigs were damaged
or sunk, and the rest of the refineries in the central Gulf were
shut down. Twenty percent of the US refinery capacity was out
of service. Between the two storms, over one hundred oil platforms
were destroyed and more than four hundred fifty pipelines were
damaged.
~*~*~
Tuesday, September
27, 2005
At a hastily called
news conference, NOPD Superintendent Eddie Compass stunned the
assembled by announcing his retirement. Everyone knew the pressure
the police chief was under since the storm, with suicides and
alleged desertions among the force, tearful exaggerated stories
to the press, courts overturning the mandatory confiscation of
firearms, and false rumors the chief had driven his family to
Texas during the crisis - actually, his eight-months pregnant
wife was in Denham Springs with their daughter, while the chief
was at his post - but no one expected this result. Mayor Nagin,
present at the event, claimed he did not force Compass out and
thanked him for his service. He then named Assistant Superintendent,
Warren Riley, as acting superintendent during a forty-five-day
transition period.
Richard Fitzwilliam,
in attendance, wasn't buying it. He had already heard the rumors
of an angry confrontation between the two men early that morning
and that Compass was effectively pushed out. Riley was a good,
solid cop, so there were no worries there.
But Compass was
a guy who rose through the ranks. Yes, he became emotional during
many of his press conferences and passed along bad intelligence,
but was the chief let go for the good of the NOPD - or as a scapegoat
for the mayor?
~*~*~
Saturday, October
1, 2005
K plus one month
For the first time
in many years, the joyful shouts of children were heard at Pemberley
Plantation. Will and Lizzy had invited the Boudreaux clan for
a relaxing afternoon, a chance to unwind from the agonies of
the storms, and a last chance to refresh themselves before the
mid-October wedding of Mary Boudreaux and Bubba Teresina. The
weather since Katrina had been dry, except for some rain from
Rita, so it was a fine day to dash about the yard, as Hailey
and Brett Bingley were doing. At least, Brett was trying to dash.
"Hailey!"
cried her mother from her chair on the patio. "Be careful
with your brother! Don't let him fall and hurt himself!"
"Kit, why don't
you go keep an eye on them?" suggested Mrs. Boudreaux.
"Aww, Mom!
Why me?" she complained.
"Because Jane
is eight months pregnant, that's why! Now, go on!" Mrs.
Boudreaux shook her head as Kit stalked off. "That girl
will be the death of me."
"Now, Franny,
don't you get all wound up again," mumbled T.B. Boudreaux
while he sipped his beer.
She glared without
rancor at her husband. "My nerves wouldn't get all wound
up if people around here would mind what I say!"
T.B. grinned. "See
how it is, Bubba? You know what they say, 'Know the Momma, know
the daughter.' You sure you wanna go through with this?"
"T.B.!"
growled Mrs. Boudreaux.
Bubba grinned good-naturedly
as he hugged his intended. "More that ever, T.B."
"William!"
cried Mrs. Boudreaux. "Did I tell you how lovely your family
home is?"
"Five times
already, Mom," said Elizabeth under her breath.
"Yes, thank
you," said Will.
T.B. snorted. "Franny,
stop drooling all over Will's house. You're embarrassing the
boy."
Lizzy could tell
an argument was about to break out, so she turned to Bubba. "So,
I suppose you're pretty happy about last night's football game,
huh, Bubba?"
"Oh, yeah.
Anytime we beat Vandebilt, it's a good night." Vandebilt
Catholic High in Houma was E.D. White's biggest rival. "What
makes it better is that we're 3-and-1 going into conference ball."
"No problems
about taking time off during the season?" asked Will.
"Nah, I'm an
assistant coach, after all."
"The storm
messed up everybody's life," added Mary. "The school
administration is being very accommodating."
Bubba shook his
big head. "Shoot, we're not as messed up as the New Orleans
schools. Their seasons got canceled."
Chuck piped in.
"Those storms tore up the football season. LSU had to move
all those games around, and the Saints home games are going to
be split between the Alamo Dome in San Antonio and Tiger Stadium
in Baton Rouge. Tulane's got it the worst. They haven't got a
home. Their entire season will be on the road."
Will sighed. "It
was going to be a good season, too. They'll be lucky to win any
games now."
Mrs. Boudreaux got
out of her chair. "Well! If you're going to do nothing but
talk sports, I'll just go inside to the kitchen and start warming
up the appetizers I brought. Kit! Come inside and help me!"
Kit, sitting on
the grass playing with the children, looked up. "Aw, Mom!
Why me?"
"Because I
said so, that's why! Now, come on!" As the two walked into
the house, T.B. finished his beer. After taking requests, he
and Chuck followed the others into the kitchen.
"So, how are
you two holding up?" Lizzy asked the other engaged couple.
"Okay,"
said Mary, "but Mom's been a bit of a pain."
"I can't complain
- Mary's been doing most of the work," Bubba said, earning
a look from his intended. "Hey, you told me to stay out
of the way!"
"And now you
listen? Men!" She would have protested more, but Bubba picked
her up and kissed her. "No fair!"
Bubba laughed. "Hey,
Will, when are ya'll gonna go through this, huh? When are you
gonna get hitched to Lizzy?""
Will blinked and
turned to Lizzy. "To be honest, we haven't given it much
thought lately."
Bubba sobered. "Heard
that."
"We've been
so busy, just putting one foot in front of the other," Lizzy
explained.
Bubba chuckled.
"Why don't you just run off to Vegas or something? It's
what we should've done."
"Bubba!"
cried Mary.
"Aww, I'm just
kidding, Mary, you know that."
Mary grunted, pretending
to be offended, and missed the horrified look Will and Lizzy
shared with the Bingleys.
"Umm, no, I
don't think we'll be going to Vegas," Lizzy said. Not
while Lydia's there.
Chuck had a suggestion.
"If not Vegas, how about the islands? Aruba or Barbados,
or some place like that?"
"I think Lizzy
wants a church wedding," Will answered, and Lizzy nodded.
Mary screwed up
her face with a thought. "Church wedding, hmm? Well, how
about…"
"COME AND GET
IT!" cried T.B. from the kitchen door. "It's your Momma's
oyster dip! Hurry up, I'm starved!"
Mary and Lizzy went
to gather the children as Chuck helped Jane out of her chair.
"We'll talk later," she told Lizzy.
"Hey, T.B.!
Is the LSU - Florida game on, yet?" Bubba turned to Will.
"Can't wait to watch that one on your big-screen TV, Will."
Will smiled. "That's
what it's for, big guy."
The group went into
the house for a few hours of normalcy.
~*~*~
(1) - Excepts from
verbatim transcript of General Honoré's press conference
on Hurricane Rita preparations in New Orleans on September 20,
2005.
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