Survivors Launch Statewide Searches for Family Members

by Darwin Campbell
African-AmericanNews&Issues

After Katrina, many residents were forced to leave New Orleans only with what they could carry.
Now, the focus of many after reaching the safety of shelters in Houston, Dallas Arlington, Fort Worth and San Antonio is to reconnect with family.
“I want to see my children again,” said Michelle Preston, now in Dallas. “We were put in different boats and separated and I have not heard from my kids since.”
Preston, who lived in the Lafitte Housing Development in New Orleans, has children ages 5, 10, 11, 15, 16 and 18.
While she is thankful to be rescued, she expresses sadness over how the evacuations teams failed to consider the need to keep mothers and children together. Residents reported that in their run for safety, they waded through unforgiving flood waters and witnessed countless bodies of the dead floating in neighborhoods.
Brandon Varnado of Uptown New Orleans is searching and hoping to locate his 22-year-old wife, Chiquita Collins, who is eight-month old son and their nine-month old child.
“I really don’t know where they went to,” he said. “I just need someone to tell me something, because this is a terrible feeling to be separated from loved ones with no information about them.”
At the New Orleans Super Dome and Convention Center, thousands of stranded residents spoke of the stench of death, garbage and the crime that terrorized a people already traumatized by the storm.
Violet Guerra and her 13-year-old son, Adam, were forced out by Katrina’s rising waters and now in Dallas worried about the fates of other family members she believes are still trapped in New Orleans.
“I am looking for my elderly relatives,” she said tearfully holding up a cardboard sign with the names printed on it. “I want them back. I want them here and safe.”
Three relatives in their 70s and 80s include, Bernice Livingston, Addie Bolden, Mamie Harrell and Austin Harrell.
Guerra said she is disappointed with the response time, but also how Black people in New Orleans were portrayed.
“It was degrading. We are Americans who suffered and now we are survivors,” she said. “We are not refugees, looters and indigent. Most of us are hard working citizens and homeowners who lost everything. I am truly hurt by the way this has been reported.”
Anthony Parker, who lives in New Orleans Third Ward, is hoping to find his family he believes might be in Houston.
“I want them to know I survived and I am alive,” Parker said. “All things are a total loss, but we thank God and will use his strength to make it.”
For others, family and money is of great concern.
“We have no money, no I.D. and no social security card,” said Leonard Davis, who is elderly and retired. “I need the money due to me to help me buy medication and take care of personal things.”
Theorn K. Wilson and Piyshe D. Buckley of New Orleans East said nothing is more important than contacting family and making them aware of their survival.
“We don’t want people worried,” he said. “We are O.K.”
Despite the trauma, some in Fort Worth shelters said despite the devastation, New Orleans is still home and look forward to returning as soon as possible.
“It is tough right now,” said L.C. Theron, who had to leave his dog in the attic of his home. “I don’t have any family, but like may others; we will be going back someday to reclaim our city.”