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The first was after leaving my partners and evacuees in the boat at an on Ramp on I-10, I walked up the ramp to a row of Army National Guard Trucks from Michigan waiting on the side of the road, to see if they could receive our evacuees. They said they were heading back down the on ramp, as the water was too high down the road to proceed on to their objective, and would be glad to, and to hop in and they would give me a ride down the ramp. I hopped in and told the Military folks what we had and what the situation was like in the projects we were helping evacuate. I then asked a fellow in an ATF Kevlar vest where he was from, and he replied he was a local. I then asked if he knew the ATF Agent who transferred to Louisiana from Michigan that I had worked with. He just looked at me with a look of exhaustion, and said he was a New Orleans Police Officer, and he was sent to the superdome early on, but the water came up and he never made it there. He said his car was underwater now, along with his equipment, and he just flagged down the first Military vehicle he found. He said there was an ATF Agent who was with them a day or 2 ago (he couldn't remember) and he gave him his ball cap, sunglasses, and a vest. He said he just fell in with the Military guys and slept when they did, and tried to get word back to the PD that he was alive and working, but he didn't really know if the word ever got though. He wants all to know that there are a lot of NOPD officers out in the water working like him and that all missing police had not turned and ran.
The one that really hit home, after I got home and started unpacking my stuff at the house. We had just found out that we would be going home the next morning since FEMA declared that the effort was changing from rescue to recovery and our equipment was breaking down. The water pumps on the outboards were stopping up from sucking in the debris in the water, and most of the props on the boats looked like they were made by amateur blacksmiths. And our boats were beginning to protest the full throttle 2 hour long trip from Baton Rouge to New Orleans that was followed by sitting from sunup to sundown in water up to the doors, that was then followed by a full throttle trip back to the housing and hot meal that was provided by the churches we stayed at.
Since we were leaving in the morning, I wanted to try to trade a few patches before I left. I figured I would ask a few of the guys if they had to trade patches. A local State Police Officer in a cruiser pulled up, I asked him if he traded patches, figuring he was one of the office staff and might have a few. That's a thing we do (trade patches). He started pumping gas in the car, and just looked at the ground for a little bit.
He looked up at me with an unforgettable look in his eyes, and said that he used to have a patch collection, but it was wherever his house washed away to, and always kept a few patches in his truck, but he was driving the Captains car, since his truck was underwater. He said his house was gone and he had been wearing the same clothes for the last few days, and had been working every day since the hurricane hit on 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night. As he was getting back in his car, I handed him the patches in my pocket, and told him he had the start of a collection, he started to cry and got into his car and he was gone before I could get any information from him.
You see every one has lost everything down there.
I want to thank all at B2B who gave something for relief. It was great to hear you all banned together and helped.
And, yes, I will be to work on Monday.
Jim Richards"
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