Vaccarella Family During/After Video
This is what it’s like to be in a strong hurricane in an area where there’s a lot of storm surge.
The Vaccarellas stayed in their home in Meraux, LA, in St. Bernard Parish (county) east south east of New Orleans. The eye of Katrina came ashore just a few miles west of this location. St. Bernard Parish was one of the most severely devastated areas because it was just east of the eye of the storm and you can see in the video that two-story houses were submerged up to their roofs in storm surge water. It looks to be 25-30 feet of storm surge.
People reported that the water came into their houses and went from the floor to the roof in about 3-5 minutes. This is why we keep axes in the attic. If you have to evacuate in a hurry to the attic, you have to be able to chop a hole to get out and onto the roof so you can be rescued. If you’re trapped in the attic you could drown from rising water or suffocate from lack of ventilation.
Video taken by Vaccarella Family during/after Hurricane Katrina and posted by askwestley on YouTube.
See more pictures in the Hurricane Katrina Picture Book by Jeffery Morgan.
Read Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City by Jed Horne.
Posted on May 7th, 2008 by Sherri
Filed under: Stories, Videos
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