The Great Deluge

by Douglas Brinkley

  A few weeks later, suffering from claustrophobia, my wife and I leased an apartment at the Royalton, a high-rise that ran out of room due to Louisianans looking for four- to six-month leases. Much of this book was written in the Royalton’s lobby, next to the free soda machine. I became a de facto member of the graveyard shift, chatting with the manager Natalie Santibanez, concierges Irenio Bantolina and Eddie Longoria, courtesy officer Onyeaga Nkemakolam, maintenance man Abraham Ibrahim, porter Carlos Villalobos, concierge Sergio Vasquez, doormen Reggie Lang, John Miller, and Gregory Porter, and valets Zaher Alsaleh, Emmanouil Charalampidis, Amin Eltaha, Juan Gamez, Frank Gleuni, Hassan Kassem, Julian Manzano, Aziz Sawadago, Kevin Starks, and Kenneth Tims, among others. Their diversionary banter about Houston gangs, real estate prices, Enron, the Mexican-American border—anything but Katrina—was most welcome.

  Now, here is the buried lead of the acknowledgments. Upon arriving in Houston as an evacuee, the president of Rice University, David Leebron, and his wife, Ping, without any bureaucratic red tape offered me research quarters at the top of Fondren Library. Every amenity—a parking space, library access, electronic equipment, telephones—was placed at my disposal to write about the Great Deluge. My conduit to Leebron, Melissa Kean, Rice University’s official historian, became my hall suitemate. She is a walking encyclopedia of all things Houston, a funny, vibrant, kind person, and an unbelievable asset to the university.

  When Katrina hit I was working on a book for William Morrow about Theodore Roosevelt and conservation. In early September, shortly after the deluge subsided, my longtime editor, friend, and sparring partner, Claire Wachtel, suggested that I write about Katrina instead of TR. “You’ve got to do it,” she kept saying. She was right. No editor could have worked more diligently on my behalf. She is a formidable talent and a believer in my work. I consider her family.

  Others at Morrow deserve special thanks. Kim Lewis, executive managing editor, miraculously turned my manuscript into pages in an eclipsed week. Michael Morrison, president and group publisher, was always ready with advice and encouragement. He really believed in the book. Lisa Gallagher, senior vice president and publisher of William Morrow, was responsible for handling the various media requests and launch strategies that plagued us from the outset. Likewise Ben Bruton—from Nebraska—always kept me informed of the reality, not the shadow, of what William Morrow had planned for this book. When Claire was absent, her assistant, Lauretta Charlton, as well as marketing manager Kevin Callahan, stepped into the fray, unafraid to get bloodied up. I’m grateful to them both. Sean Griffin likewise assisted with this book in numerous ways.

  Because this book deals with mass negligence it had to be vetted carefully. This arduous task was performed by attorney Ellis Levine, who went over every line with a fine-tooth comb. One weekend we were on the telephone together for eight hours. By Monday I was able to sleep soundly. The rest of the Morrow team was vice president and associate general counsel Beth Silfin, design manager Betty Lew, production director Susan Kosko, production manager Derek Gullino, and designer Brian Mulligan.

  My longtime agent, Lisa Bankoff of ICM, once again did a terrific job of looking after my publishing interests. Together we decided that some of the proceeds from this book will go to the Historic New Orleans Collection and St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans.

  So much for the New York crowd. This book was written in Houston, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge, on the run and in places like Katz Delicatessen, Mother’s Restaurant, and the St. Charles Tavern. (All right…and a lot of Starbuckses). And my SWAT team, an unlikely confluence of friends/Internet researchers, were always at my side. Just days upon arriving in Houston I got a telephone call from Emma Juniper, a twenty-year-old Clark University student and former personal assistant to the late Hunter S. Thompson. Armed with her white laptop—a Gonzo sticker on the top—she was full of grief concerning the plight of Katrina victims. She wanted to volunteer with the Red Cross and asked if she should. I said yes. Next thing I knew she had flown to Denver, rented a seven-person van, picked up her stepmother, Kristen Hannum, and twenty-one-year-old sister, Kira, and started driving to Texas. Using her computer, she was matching up displaced families scattered around Colorado, Oklahoma, and North Texas with their friends and relatives in the Astrodome shelter. Emma, I soon learned, was so proficient at this, that I hired her away from the Red Cross. My wife, Anne, and I rented her an apartment next to ours in Houston. We adopted her. And let me tell you, that young woman can scan cyberspace. Because I’m computer illiterate, her skills were desperately needed to fact-check and retrieve articles. She also made me feel old. A big new rage in college is called “couch surfing,” where Generation Z-ers drift from city to city, sleeping for free on fellow surfers’ sofas. It’s the whole Kerouac thing done via the Internet. Due to her couch surfing, I got to meet an eclectic mix of smart young people. I learned a lot.

  My dear friend Julie Fenster helped me in myriad ways. A fellow contributing editor at American Heritage, she was instrumental in framing my vision for the book. Every couple days we would talk by telephone and she would read my chapters with a critical eye. A first-rate historian, Fenster is also a great Internet researcher, and she constantly found blogs and stories for me to consider incorporating into the text. I don’t know anybody smarter. Unfortunately on December 14, Fenster’s mother, Ruth, died of cancer. She was a great lady. It was quite a setback to Julie but, even under those grim circumstances, she continued to push me forward in writing this book. Dozens of times, when I was in despair or exhausted, she said, “You’ve got to stay with it.” Again, she is like family.

  Then there was twenty-four-year-old Jessica Maruri, who made coffee drinks at the Starbucks on Maple Street in New Orleans. I began most of my pre-Katrina mornings in this shop, reading the New York Times and writing on yellow legal pads. I got to know Jessica—a 2003 graduate of Brandeis University—and found her savvy, bookish, and underappreciated. Like our family, when New Orleans flooded she had evacuated to Houston, finding employment at the Starbucks at Rice Village. I hired her away for this project. She became an extremely valuable tape transcriber, Internet researcher, and appointment secretary.

  The fourth wheel of this operation was twenty-five-year-old Andrew Travers, the assistant director of the Roosevelt Center at Tulane University. Flushed out of New Orleans by the flood, he landed at his parents’ house in Ridgewood, New Jersey. He ran the Roosevelt Center’s non-Katrina-related work from that outpost for four months (George and Rita Travers deserve a special nod for allowing him to take over their home office.) In January he came back to New Orleans and opened up our campus headquarters. Working double-time, he ran the office during the day and at night came over to my Jefferson Avenue house and helped me pull this manuscript together. He is the best.

  While writing this book I taught three classes at Tulane University: “History of the Cold War,” “Theodore Roosevelt and the American Conservation Movement,” and “Emergence of the Modern United States, 1917–1945.” Occasionally during lectures I would deviate from a topic and talk about Katrina. I first tested out some of this prose on them, reading aloud about Reverend Willie Walker at the Carrolton Avenue boat launch and Tony Zumbado filming Memorial Medical Center. Their feedback, at a few critical junctures, was important. Tulane University President Scott Cowen and Provost Lester Lefton were also supportive despite the enormous pressure of keeping the school afloat in the flood. My friends and colleagues in the Tulane history department supported me in numerous ways. They include Jim Boyden (especially), George Bernstein, Kenneth Harl, Richard Latner, Colin MacLachlan, Linda Pollock, Lawrence Powell (especially), Susan Schroeder, Randy Sparks, Richard Teichgraeber, Roseanne Adderley, Rachel Devlin, James Hood, F. Thomas Luongo, Samuel Ramer, Gertrude Yeager, Emily Clark, Neeti Nair, Jennifer Neighbors, Marline Otte, George Trumbull, Justin Wolfe, Terrence Fitz-morris, David Goldstein, Lance Hill, Edwin Lyon, and Bruce Raeburn.

  Another auxiliary me
mber of our Great Deluge SWAT team was New York photographer Lindsay Brice, who is originally from Valdosta, Georgia. We’ve been friends for fifteen years. Many of her excellent photographs are published here for the first time. She ended up in New Orleans as a freelancer, sleeping in her car. Heather Allan of NBC, worried about her safety, allowed her to infiltrate Camp NBC, to claim a patch of trailer-floor carpet as her bed. Someday an entire book of her Katrina photographs will be published. She also served as photo editor for this book, selecting, with my guidance and her expert eye, the appropriate images.

  The reason I was able to travel around the post-Katrina Gulf South was a result of having press passes. When Katrina approached, Rolling Stone (Jann Wenner, Will Dana) immediately activated my credentials. Later Vanity Fair (Graydon Carter, David Friend) did the same. At various times NBC News, CNN, and Fox News Channel also allowed me to join up with their forces. It made all the difference in the world.

  I personally conducted all of the interviews in this book. A number of key people helped me facilitate them, including Andy Ambrose, Jim Amoss, Judy Benitez, Ruth Berggren, Ralph Blumenthal, Irene Briganti, Ty Bromell, Tuwan Brown, Africa Brumfield, Andy Buisson, Dyan “Mama D” French Cole, Rick Coleman, Joe Donches, Ron and Judy Drez, Clancy Dubos, Jimmy Duckworth, Terry Ebbert, Mimi Fast, Ben Fee, Caroline Feldman, Daren Fonda, Bruce Foret, Sally Forman, Charles Foti Jr., Tami Frazier, Nate Fredman, Lawrence Geller, Libby Goff, Jeff Goldblatt, Rafal C. Goyeneche, Tammy Haddad, Jean Harper, Caroline Held-man (Mama D filmmaker), Ben and Sarah Jaffe, Darryl Johnson, Benjamin Karp, Melissa Kean, Anura and Ravien Kulpath, Hal Leftwich, Marc Maglieri, Bob Mann, Rick Matthieu, Janet McQueen, Bernard McLaughlin, Maria Midence, Matt Moseley, Julie Oppenheimer, Warren Riley, Sara Roberts, Garland Robinette, Norm Robinson, Pharisa Robinson, Melanie Roussel, Theresa Simmons, E. Frank Snellings, Oliver Thomas, Anita Thompson, Juan Thompson, Reverend Willie Walker, Christopher Wormuth, Richard Zuschlag, and Tony Zumbado.

  Special thanks to attorney George Tobia for grappling with my legal uncertainties, Kristi and John Schiller for Texas-style hospitality during my four months in Houston, and Meredith Cullen for friendship in the trenches. My wife’s friends Kelley and Harper Trammell of Houston welcomed us to our new surroundings. Film documentarian Stephen Rue helped me facilitate a couple of crucial interviews. Frances and Calvin Fayard allowed me to crash at their New Orleans home during the first weeks of the Great Deluge. And Rini, Wally, and the Marcus family deserve a special salute for riding out Katrina with us at One River Place.

  And to Sean, Robin, Dylan, and Hopper…the family…for helping us escape Katrina and for putting us up during Hurricane Rita. Sean’s heroics in New Orleans, such as diving into swamp water to save the life of a schizophrenic woman are unforgettable.

  Once again, my wife Anne, daughter Benton, and son Johnny are my joys. I love you guys. Likewise, Mom and Dad.

  Searchable Terms

  Abbott, Chris

  ABC News

  Acadian Ambulance Service; hospital evacuations and

  Accardo, Paul

  Ace Hardware Store

  Acheson, Dean

  Adams, Johnny

  Adano, Dara

  Aerolite Meteorites Society

  Afghanistan

  African Americans; Cajun Navy and; dynamiting of levee and; empowerment of; in Gretna Bridge Incident; on I-10; looting by; middle class; in Mississippi; at Morial Center; Nagin and; in Ninth Ward; as NOLA Homeboys; as non-evacuees; in NOPD; poverty of; “pray and pack” sessions of; at Superdome; see also civil rights movement; Creoles; racism

  Agriculture Department, U.S.

  AIDS, AIDS patients

  airboats

  air-conditioning, lack of

  Air Force, U.S.; Keesler Base of

  Air Force One; New Orleans meeting on

  Airline Highway overpass

  Air National Guard

  airplanes; evacuation by; in relief effort; WC-130 Turboprop (Miss Piggy)

  Alabama; Camille in; deaths in; FEMA and; Gulf Coast in; see also specific places

  alcohol

  Alexandria, La.; Coast Guard in

  Alford, Jeremy

  Algiers, La.

  Algiers Naval Base

  Algiers Point

  Ali, Ronnie

  Allan, Heather

  Allbaugh, Joseph

  AllState

  Alonzo, Gene

  Amann, Charles

  Amann, Jeff

  Amarillo, Tex.

  Ambrose, Andy

  Ambrose, Stephen E.

  ambulances; see also Acadian Ambulance Service

  American Airlines

  American Bus Association

  American Meteorological Society

  America’s Second Harvest

  America’s Wetland (Dunne)

  Amoss, Jim

  Amtrak

  Anderson, Johnny

  Anderson, Kathy

  Anderson, Sherwood

  Anderson Cooper 360 (TV show)

  Angola Prison

  animals; evacuation of; as Katrina survivors; oil spill and; rescue of

  Annan, Kofi

  Ant Farm, The (art work)

  antibiotics

  Antoine’s

  Apache oil platforms

  Applewood, Sean

  Aqua Marine Inc.

  Aquarium of the Americas

  aquariums

  Arabi, La.

  Arena

  Arkansas

  Arkansas National Guard

  Arlington, Tex.

  Armitage, Lynn

  Armstrong, Lance

  Armstrong, Louis

  Armstrong, Oliver

  Armstrong, Tyler

  Army, U.S.

  Army Corps of Engineers, U.S.; critics of; flood walls built by; levee breaches and; levees and

  Arpey, Gerard

  Arseneau, Albertine

  Ashcroft, John

  Asia, tsunami in

  Associated Press

  Astrodome, see Reliant Park

  Atlanta, Ga.; Chertoff in; evacuations to; New Orleans compared with

  attics; people trapped in

  Audubon Institute

  Audubon Society

  Audubon Zoo

  Augustine, Ruby

  Australia

  Avara, Matthew

  Aycock, David

  Baez, Joan

  Baghdad

  Bahamonde, Marty; Brown’s reports from; helicopter tour; Superdome and

  Bailey, Coyt

  Bailey, Dereece

  Baker, Dave

  Baker, Gerard

  banks

  Banks, Gralen

  Baptists

  Baquet, Dean

  Barbour, Haley; evacuations and; FEMA and; on post-Katrina damage; on rebuilding

  Barbour, Marsha

  Bardy, Bob

  Barnet family

  Barnett, Michael

  Barney, Clarence, Jr.

  Barr, Stephen

  Barry, John

  Barthé, Earl

  Barthelemy, Sidney

  Bartlett, Dan

  Barton, Clara

  Barton, Rick

  baseball

  Basquiat, Jean-Michel

  Bataan, USS

  Baton Rouge, La.; airport of; blackout in; buses in; dark humor in; EOC in; evacuations to; FEMA in; HIV infection in; provisions in; Red Cross in; restaurants in; Robinette’s broadcasting from

  Baton Rouge Advocate

  Baton Rouge Area Foundation

  batteries

  Battle of Oak Street

  Baudoin, Brian

  Baum, Dan

  Bayard, Tim

  Bayou Bienvenu Flood Control Structure

  Bayougoulas

  Bayou Le Batre, Ala.

  Bayou St. John

  Bayous of Louisiana, The (Kane)

  Bay St. Louis, Miss.; churches in; EOC in; first responders in; flooding in; isolation of; Taylor family rescued in; see also Hancock Medical C
enter

  Bay St. Louis Emergency Management Agency

  Bay St. Louis High School

  Bay St. Louis Police Department (BSLPD)

  Bea, Bob

  Beaumont, Tex.

  Beauregard, P. G. T.

  Beauvoir (Davis home)

  Beckham, Blake

  Begala, Paul

  Belchner, Sue

  Bell South hospital

  Beningo’s

  Benitez, Judy

  Bennett, Jack

  benzene

  Berger, Eric

  Berggren, Ruth

  Berigno, Gloria and Luke

  Beron, Thomas

  Berrigan, Patrick

  Bertucci, Bryan

  Betton, Matt

  B.G. (the Baby Gangsta)

  Bickham, Willie Earl

  Bienville, Sieur de

  Big Charity, see Charity Hospital

  “big dump, the”

  Bigelow, Eddie

  Biloxi, Miss.; Bush’s visit to; deaths in; gambling in; media coverage of; Quiet Water Apartments in

  Biloxi Bay

  Biloxi Regional Medical Center

  Biloxi Sun-Herald

  bird flu

  Black, Cliff

  BlackBerry use

  Black Death

  Black Men of Labor

  blackouts; in New Orleans; size of

  Blackshear, Rodney

  Blanco, Kathleen Babineaux; in Air Force One meeting; blame game and; buses and; conflict with Bush of; congressional testimony of; contra-flow plan of; critics of; EOC and; Executive Order 31 issued by; federal control resisted by; on FEMA ineptness; helicopter surveys by; image problem of; inexperience of; IOU pad policy of; LDWF green-light from; Mayfield’s relationship with; media problems of; mistakes made by; on Nagin’s actions; Nagin’s relationship with New Mexico aid offer to; news conferences of; state of emergency declared by; Superdome and; troops requested by; vagueness and emotionalism of

  Blanco, Raymond

  Blindness (Saramago)

  Blitzer, Wolf

  Blount, Roy, Jr.

  blues music

  Blumenthal, Ralph

  boat owners, as non-evacuees