Lives Torn Apart – Survivor’s Stories Part II of IV
Posted on 20. Aug, 2010 by Nathan W. Armes in Blog: On Assignment
Hurricane Katrina ripped homes from their foundations, trees from the ground and lives apart. Over the next few days I will recap three stories from Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, which felt the full force of the storm.
Thursday Aug. 19: 5 Year Anniversary of Katrina
Today, Friday Aug. 20: Chris Steiner – Waveland, Miss.
Saturday Aug 21: Deborah & David Burgess – Bay St. Louis, Miss.
Sunday Aug 22: . Rebecca McIntosh & Kathy Everard – Waveland, Miss.
VIA The Hickory Daily Record. September 11, 2005
Chris Steiner, 63, owes his life to a nameless fishing boat and quick thinking.
Steiner and a friend, Martha Keen, 79, rode out the storm in his family home in Waveland, Miss., because, as he says, “this was not supposed to happen.”
Steiner’s roots run deep along the Gulf Coast. For generations, his family has retreated to a home in the small beach community for shelter because of it’s sturdy construction and the fact that water has never risen so far inland. This time, the house would not be spared.
Around 4 a.m. Aug. 29, the power went out in Waveland. Steiner and Keen still has enough hot water to enjoy a cup of coffee.
Then all hell started breaking loose, says Steiner.
The fury Katrina unleashed on the Gulf Coast is historic. Steiner made all the right moves to survive.
“No, panic,” says Steiner.
“God gives us something like automatic pilot.
Everything was clear about what we had to do to save out butts.”
Then the water started to rise.
“Water was coming through the floor, and right there that was the alarm.
That just doesn’t happen.”
With the water rising and the chance of survival slipping away, Steiner had to a make a decision: fight or flight?
In many flood situations, victims move to the highest point in the home, usually the attic, to ride out the deluge. When the water keeps rising – and people become trapped – matters become deadly.
Steiner grabbed Keen and tied an extension cord around her waist. He gave her an ice chest to help her float as they exited the house.
“Martha, we’re going out, we’re not going to be a drowned rat,” Steiner recalls saying.
The wind howled and the salty floodwaters rose around them. Though the water never totally flooded the house, Steiner believed he was making the right decision.
“It’s blowing, it’s serious. There is no fear at this point,” says Steiner.
As Katrina’s eye passed over the sleepy beach community they swam to a boat, a Boston whaler, to ride out the remainder of the storm.
“The sky lightened and the winds started to die down,” he said.
The survivors spent the remainder of the storm, just over an hour, in the bulkhead, covered by a bench, sharing a Coca-Cola they stumbled upon in the boat’s cooler.
As floodwaters and storm surges receded, the boat came to a rest at an angle, still attached to a steel trailer which never moved.
It was Aug. 31, before Keen was evacuated by two National Guard members.
Steiner helped the two guardsmen put the tired and ragged Keen into a Humvee.
“I kissed her on the cheek and said, ‘You’re in the system. We’ll find you,” Steiner said.
Though Steiner is physically OK, he worries about his friend. As of Monday, there was still no word on Keen’s whereabouts.
Steiner placed a small piece of duct tape on the living room wall to serve as a watermark. It’s almost 8 feet high in a home that sits on 3-foot stilts.
Steiner’s home now teeters on its foundation. His great aunt willed him the house. “Whoever built this knew what they where doing,” he says as he runs a hand up the molding to the kitchen door.
The house groans.
Cheers,
Nathan W. Armes
Denver Photographer & Photojournalist
Be Social and Connect With Me:
Related Posts:
Connect With Me
Facebook comments: