Celeste's Hurricane Katrina Diary

Aug. 29, 2005
When I woke up on Monday, August 29, 2005, I immediately became attached to the TV. Hurricane Katrina had made landfall at 7am, by 8am the water was cresting over the levee and I immediately became concerned. I tried to contact my family; all had evacuated, except for one uncle, Uncle Joe and our dog, Ebony. Like most residents of Louisiana, he didn’t feel the need to leave because every year we are warned of storms and none ever hit or if they do, they never cause excessive damage.

Around 11am I started to hear reports of the 17 th street levee being breached. Again I became alarmed. Around 11:30am some friends came over to my apartment. The three of us sat in front of the TV watching CNN and in front of my computer, which was now tuned into a New Orleans TV station that was broadcasting, live across the Internet. We all began to panic as the horrific scenes came across both screens. My friend Keena had lived in New Orleans all of her life. I had lived there for 6 years. All of my family and friends were there. My other friend Nicole had lived there while in school at Xavier University of Louisiana.

As we sat and watched the city wash away I started to remember all of the good times I had there. When I was little, going to “The City” to visit my aunts, uncles, and cousins. School field trips to the Audubon Zoo, the French Quarters, Café du Monde, and the Riverwalk. The more I thought about it the more distressed I became.

August 30, 2005

I was a little on edge today because I still have not been able to get in contact with any of my family or friends in Louisiana. I am so concerned about Uncle Joe; we still don’t know where he is.

I sat and watched the news again all day today. I got dressed and went to Mr. Day’s classwhere I’m his GA. Again, I am physically there, but not mentally. Class was interrupted today. Nicole came in with two cards, one for me and one for Keena, they had passed it around the department and most of the people had signed it. That was very sweet of them. Keena began to cry, which triggered me to cry and we just stood and held on to each other crying. That was the first time I’ve cried about this ordeal. I’ve been trying to stay strong; I guess I am starting to break.

At the end of class Mr. Day announces that he and Nicole were going to John Deere to set up an account. He wants to name the account IA4LA. I think it’s a great gesture. He says that the purpose of the account will be to help the UNI students that are from the devastated area.

My mother’s birthday is September 1 st. I am trying to decide if I should mail her birthday card, but the likelihood is that she won’t get it on time anyway. I sent out a text message to almost everyone in my cell phone. I gave them all my house phone number. Hopefully my friends that I haven’t found yet will get it and call me and let me know that they are ok. I am starting to feel my body dragging, but I can’t let anyone else see me drag, I have to stay strong.

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