Here's a follow up story about a NOLA Viber, can't se where he was a genviber. http://www.islandpacket.com/fe....htmlQuote »Flooded with LoveHurricane Katrina survivors reunite with family dog and begin new livesDAVID LAUDERDALE, Packet columnistPublished Monday, March 13, 2006Thanks to Omar Farah of Bluffton for sharing the story of his family's harried escape from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit, and the miraculous reunion with the family dog a week ago on his 42nd birthday.When the killer hurricane approached, Farah and his family planned to ride it out at their Canal Street home. By 8 p.m. the night before the strike, Omar changed his mind and took his wife, Mimi, and daughters Elizabeth, 15, and Reema, 6, to Mimi's sister's house in Mississippi.Then he turned around and went back to New Orleans, in part because he was stubborn and in part because Nuerda the mixed-breed Lab dog still was at home.During the night, he heard winds howling, the roof ripping and tree branches cracking. But at 7 a.m., he woke up, looked out and said, "Wow, I rode that storm out."Two hours later, the water started rising in the street. He tried to phone Mimi, but communications were dead. He went across the street to a home occupied by about eight older people. He painted "Please Help Us" in red on a sheet and hung it on the roof.By about noon, his Pontiac Vibe GT was covered with water. He said he panicked. He put the dog on a top bunk, put his valuables in a plastic bag and left on foot for higher ground. He still thought he would be back soon. He had no wallet, no money, no credit cards, no identification. And soon two guys had to stop him from wading in water up to his chest. They picked him up and carried him to a bank. Thirty-five to 50 people were already there, from crying babies to the elderly.Soon, they had to crowd into the second floor. And it wasn't long before the man who seemed to be the leader said he had bad news."What more?" Omar asked himself.Water was coming into the second floor. They'd have to go to the roof.Omar and another man with a flashlight went on the roof hoping to get the attention of rescue helicopters. That started at 4:30 p.m. and at about 10:45 p.m. a red U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was hovering overhead. Four people at a time could be lifted to the chopper in a basket.Omar was taken to the University of New Orleans. The next day, he was taken to an overpass on Hwy. 610, where buses were hauling people away from the flooding city. After spending a night beneath the overpass waiting his turn, Omar ended up on a bus to the Astrodome in Houston.He was lost for 13 days. He did not know if his family survived. He knew they did not know about him. They had nice meals and a cot for him, but he did not feel like eating or sleeping. People told him he was crazy for taking his family to Mississippi. That's where the storm hit, they told him.During his stay at the Astrodome, he got in on the visit by TV stars Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil.Oprah gave him a big hug."She told us, 'Don't feel sorry for yourself. Don't call yourselves refugees. You are Katrina survivors,' " Omar recalls. "Tears came out of everybody's eyes. It was an intense moment."Omar tried text messaging and every way he knew how to get word to his family.He finally horned his way in front of a local television news camera, and he told his story. He told about his wife and girls. He told where he last saw them.A friend of his wife's who lives in Houston saw it. That friend phoned Mimi's sister in Bluffton, Sandy Bermudez. She was able to text-message her sister. Eventually, Omar was able to get a text message to his brother: "Tell my wife I'm going to South Carolina if I have to walk."Workers at the Astrodome were helping coordinate transportation, but not paying for it. Omar got a seat on a Greyhound to Savannah, but he didn't have $172 with him.A man next to him shared something in common with Omar. He, too, was a native of Jordan. He gave Omar his address, and paid for the ticket.It was a two-day trip. By now, Omar had his appetite back, but no money. At a bus station in Montgomery, Ala., a man who had been a customer at Omar's Algiers Discount Meat Market years ago walked up and said, "Omar! What are you doing here?"He gave Omar $30 for food.In the Atlanta bus station, Omar was eating a hamburger when he noticed the lady next to him was looking at his food, but not eating. He asked her if she was hungry. She said, "Honey, I'm from New Orleans and I have no money."Omar's $30 ended up feeding two Katrina survivors.Meanwhile, it wasn't easy going for his family, either.Mimi had to get up at 3 a.m. to go wait in line for ice. She had to have it to keep insulin cool for daughter Elizabeth, who is diabetic.Omar, and eventually the full family, lived with the Bermudez family, including an infant, for weeks before he could get their own apartment at Simmonsville Cay.He quickly found work in the meat department at the Food Lion supermarket on Hilton Head Island."David Cooper, the manager, has been so nice to me," Omar said. "He has given me a job to keep the roof over my head and my family's head. It's a great company, a great store and great people to work with."Omar and his family worked a number of different businesses in New Orleans, including driving cabs and limousines. He said this is the first time he's worked for a corporation.Elizabeth is enrolled at Bluffton High School and Reema is at M.C. Riley Elementary School. Omar cannot say enough good things about how the schools have treated his children.Things were coming together, with the help of FEMA, family and others. But the children started crying. They wanted the dog. The little, blond female is named Nuerda. Omar said that is an Arabic word that means "light and sunshine."Out of the blue, Omar got a call from his brother in New Orleans. He'd gotten a letter from Austin, Texas. It had a picture of Nuerda on it. The dog had been rescued and taken to Austin by volunteers working with the nonprofit group, Paws of Austin (www.pawsofaustin.org).Prima Mosi, who directs the organization, told me what happened in Katrina's aftermath.They immediately organized a caravan of volunteers and supplies and headed for New Orleans. A triage for pet rescue operators was set up in a big ranch in Raceland, La. The horses were gone and the barns were turned over to rescued pets.A volunteer named Matt found Nuerda walking on Canal Street. The nearest address was noted, and Nuerda ended up in an Austin home with volunteers who came out of nowhere to offer to keep dogs until the owners could be found. They expected it to take up to a month. But they kept Nuerda for five months. They placed ads in the New Orleans paper and online. Finally, they put a picture of the dog on a letter and mailed it to everyone in a four-block area of where the dog was found. That worked.Truckers volunteered to carry the dog to Georgia. Intricate arrangements were worked out, all via e-mail. Nuerda rode an 18-wheeler from Austin to San Antonio, and then another to Atlanta. From there, a volunteer in a car took Nuerda to Macon, Ga., where the Farahs had a great reunion in a gas station parking lot a week ago Saturday.The whole experience has left the outgoing Omar preaching a new sermon."I don't believe in giving up," he told me in the Food Lion parking lot. "There is no such thing. I lost my mother as a baby. There are no excuses. I can't tell you how much we appreciate this country. My wife and I have worked hard for what we saw disappear in the flood. But God bless America. I tell you like this: Anyone who would ever think of hurting this country as good as this cou
ntry has been to everybody is crazy. They didn't care where I was from, they helped me."Don't feel sorry for yourself. In this country, all you have to do is get up and work hard. The jobs are everywhere."Hell came to New Orleans, but we're finding God everywhere."I praise God every day that I have survived to tell you this story."
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Hurricane Katrina
Re: (Atomb)
I don't think I could leave my Andy cat behind either. But we're sitting on high ground now with plenty of time to THINK about it. I suppose when you are right in the middle of things your mind is on a whole 'nother level.