This is the most personal and detailed story I’ve seen so far from a hurricane survivor.

“Missing Person: Sarah’s tale” was written by Sarah Donley, the daughter of the editor of NOLA.com. She tells her whole experience from the time she evacuated the 9th ward on Friday night before Sunday’s storm. It’s almost 5000 words, but I’m sure much-abridged. Here’s an excerpt where she describes the moment she heard news about the fate of her neighbourhood:

The only information we received at all those few days was a woman in line at Saia’s, a small grocery store that opened on Tuesday with no power and two inches of water on the floor. The owner was only letting a few people in at a time, and as a result we waited in line for nearly an hour. At some point I heard a woman behind me in line mention the Bywater. I went up to her and asked her if she had mentioned the Bywater. Yes she had, she told me. Desperate for any sort of information, I begged her to tell me anything she had heard. She looked me square in the eye, and said softly “All I’ve heard is that they are pushing floatin’ bodies out of the way to find survivors.”

Comment RSS - Trackback URI