Jacob Zimmer's Account of Fleeing New Orleans

I've edited Jacob's e-mail a bit, but here is his account of fleeing Katrina:

On Sunday as the mayor of New Orleans was declaring MANDATORY EVACUATION, I was struggling to decide whether I should put my valuables on the second floor of my two-story rented house (because it might flood) or on the first floor (in case the roof gets blown off my home). Allow me to take you inside my decision making process:

In this situation, one has to be emotionally prepared to let go of their electronics, furniture, clothes and so on. What the heck, the furniture isn't paid off anyway and I have insurance, right? But my collection of Star Wars posters and toys, my Hawaiian shirt collection - I can't pack all that. What about nice clothes? I mean, should I pack my suit in case someone I know dies in the hurricane? Because then I'll need something to wear to the funeral. These are the kind of thoughts that were going through my head.

Everyone says about your valuables: "They are just material items, the important thing is to get yourself out alive." Call me sentimental and nostalgic, but as I was sorting through photo albums, home videos, journals, love letters (yes, I keep those), autographed books, school annuals, my publications, and such, it was hard to decide which ones I wanted to pack in the car to take with me and which personal valuables I was prepared to let fly or float away (like the women who wrote me those letters).

The wind knocked the heavy rain against the glass windows and blew through the cracks in the house making that scary whistling sound. In a few more hours those cracks could turn into holes, the windows could be blown in and the walls could even be blown over. OK, that's being melodramatic - I?m sure the brick walls will stand. So I packed a few things I needed to survive in suitcases and all my other valuables I boxed up and put in the upstairs closet.

As I was packing the car, I realized that I had some space leftover so I went back upstairs to the closet, ripped open the boxes and very quickly decided which items to take with me. I know I got some photo albums, but not all of them. I know I got some publications I have my work in. I pretty much left all photos, journals and any papers from college and high school. I was too rushed to take a careful inventory. I know I left all the videos we made from my years on the road.

In my rush out the door, my dog slipped out and ran off. As I chased her down the road, she ran further away. I wasn't in the mood for this. I started thinking to myself and asked: "If I leave without her, did I pack a photo of her to remember her by?" Running around in the rain chasing a runaway dog is not how I like to start a road trip. So I drove off and left her.

I was hungry. I needed food. All the stores were closed. The gas stations were closed. I had a few videos to return to Blockbuster but they had the whole store boarded up - they didn?t even cut out a slot in the plywood for the return box. Good thing they got rid of late fees because I am going to hold on to these DVDs for a while. I made it to the bank and withdrew the last bit of cash I had from the ATM. I have a few paychecks on the way, but without a mailbox to put them in I don't know when or how I will get them.

So yeah, I decided to go back for the dog. When I arrived back at my house she was sitting in the front yard. The rain was pouring and the wind was blowing so hard I could barely open the car door. Ya know that scene in the movie Independence Day where the tunnel is filling up with a fireball and the boy yells for his dog and at the last minute the brave canine jumps out of the tunnel and narrowly escapes the fireball? Well, I called for my dog and she ran away again. This time I chased her down, grabbed her and threw her in the car. We hit the road.

The nice thing about waiting until the last minute to leave is that when they institute a mandatory evacuation prior to a city wide curfew at 6 pm, at 5:59 there is no traffic. New Orleans was a ghost town. The only cars on the road were me and cops - and on the raised highways were parked cars in the emergency lane. I guess people figured it was better to leave them on high ground than underwater.
My mother had invited me to visit her and my brother this coming Labor Day weekend and so I decided to go on up to my hometown of Louisville, KY for the whole week. While the city of New Orleans was empty, the interstates leaving town were not. The first 100 miles took over 5 hours. Counting traffic and a few naps along the way, I spent 22 hours in the car with a smelly, wet dog. Yeah, I made it here safely and I am alive, yada, yada, yada.

I saw a photo online of a house in my neighborhood/zip-code that had not only its roof blown off, but the brick walls were knocked over. That picture really scares me. That is probably what my house looks like.

I am a little behind on my car payment and this morning I got a call from Chrysler Financial asking me to make a payment by phone. In the process she asked me to confirm my address. I replied: "You realize I live in New Orleans, right? Have you seen the news? Yes, 1541 Hanging Moss Lane, Gretna, LA 70056 is my address but I don't know if I have a house there anymore. Why don't you send the tow truck to repossess my car and when they get there, call me and tell me if my house is still standing. In the meantime, all I have is this car that I haven't finished paying for yet so if you want to take it away too, good luck finding me cause it's not parked in the driveway."

-Jacob

Comments

[Jacob Zimmer]

Zero comments? This is what happens when you edit out my clever metaphor. ;-) (I titled my piece "Katrina and the Waves" and integrated the song lyrics). Seriously though, thanks for reposting.

[Scott Jones]

This post is linked over on Ramblin' Educat.

So, will you be in Louisville for 4 months?

[marty]

I'm happy to hear that you're safe, Jacob. I am and will continue to be in prayer for you and all your many neighbors.

I'd like to hear some sort of comforting words about this catastrophe.
So far, not even much of a mention of the event itself among the blogs I read (including my own but excluding this insightful email from Jacob).

[Andromeda]

Wow, I dont know what to say to you. I dont know what I would grab, what i would leave behind. I dont know that I would have been as calm as you seemed to have been. I found thos linked on someone elses blog (not sure what one) and if there is anything that we can do for you, I would be more then happy to help if I can. I live in Colorado, I think it is the safest place I could be LOL.. Good luck and I hope your somewhere safe!

[Scott Jones]

Marty,

I just don't know that there is anything to say that's relevant.

[Jacob Zimmer]

Who is Ramblin' Educat? S/He said they knew me at OBU?

I need boxer shorts if anyone has some they don't wear anymore. I only packed one pair and am tired of walking around mom's house in them. Thanks.

[Jacob Zimmer]

My story made the local paper:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050902/NEWS01/50902009

[Phil]

Perhaps some time between the event and recovery will give people some perspective. At the moment, my attention and responses will be directed at the impoverished still trapped in N.O. While I was touched by Jacob's story, I concur with Scott that there's not much more to be said that would be relevent.

[Scott Sizemore]

Don't believe anything this guys says. He's full of lies.