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Ninth Ward resident Kemberly Samuels recalls that she was pre-occupied with her family reunion in New Orleans the weekend leading up to Katrina and did not know how serious the storm was. After the reunion ended she began to hear more about the severity of the storm.
“My relatives out of town told me what they saw on TV. ‘The Hurricane is about to hit. Y’all need to leave,’ they said. Because of them urging us to leave we left,” she remembers. Kemberly, her husband, and daughter evacuated to higher ground finally settling in a St. Bernard Parrish housing development where her husband worked.
They left the 9th Ward with a few items including clothes, their pet dog and bird. The deceptive nature of the storm lulled them into a false sense of security. “We did fine during the hurricane. It was like a regular hurricane. We didn’t even lose power,” Kemberly stated.
Unfortunately for Kemberly and her family this moment of calm was quickly taken away as the levees were breached and water flooded the area. “The water swept in so fast. It kept coming. It flooded our cars so we couldn’t leave.” The family had to move to a higher floor within the complex. They waited in a third floor apartment as water continued to fill the bottom of the building.
Kemberly tries to clarify certain misconceptions she felt occurred in news coverage of the event. “On the news they were portraying us like animals. Not every young person was looting and shooting. Young men came in with boats in chest deep water to save us.” Kemberly and her family were rescued and sent to Interstate 610 in New Orleans, where they waited for a few days to be evacuated.
Kemberly describes the days in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina as “total madness.” “We had no food and water for days,” she said. “We had not had a bath in days.”
Kemberly and her family were eventually evacuated to Houston, where they now live. Kemberly feels compelled to return to New Orleans. “I have to go back. That piece of property is ours. We own that!”
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