One-Year-Ago

I remember this night in 2005. The anticipation of knowing something bad was about to happen. Seeing the radar screens show us what was impossible to imagine. Less than an hour away, hell was going to break loose in just a few hours and days later it would rage on.

Though I’m 65 miles from where most of the pictures you see of Katrina and the aftermath took place, I can only relay what was here in Baton Rouge ...

The morning the lights went out in this city, a strong breeze passed over us from the open windows. The warm, moist wind couldn't be less cool if you were standing directly under the sun. The damp air gathered in the house like a humidor. I couldn't lie sticky in bed any longer while hurricane force winds were outside gusting the limbs off of pine trees.

I gathered myself into a bright yellow rain jacket and headed out for a stroll. I know the winds weren't quite the same as the one's tearing roofs off of houses just a few miles south, but they were the same ones. Just coming a little slower after the damage done. Over the screaming winds I leaned into were a choir of sirens and explosions. No doubt tree limbs falling across power lines and popping transformers. I knew it was going to be a long time before anyone had power again. And just as long for the streets, which were now dead and lonely, to fill up to a stand-still like they were days before.

I didn't know what was going on in New Orleans then. There were batteries in the radio, but the news was minimal. . .