Archive

Posts Tagged ‘Hurricane Katrina’

The Continental Divide: My (DEN) Day In America

October 16th, 2018 Comments off


THOUGHTS FROM AN AMERICAN’S 10.09.18 ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAYOVER. The term “Divided Nation” is kicked, thrown and tossed around a lot these days. If the definition of being divided means I don’t share the same views as my fellow Americans, then I never want to live in an “Undivided” Nation. Forcing me to think as a whole sounds like North Korea and Saudi Arabia to me, in my opinion. The beauty of America is that I (we) can have our own opinions. If it were not for the First Amendment, I know with my big mouth free-thinking mind, I would have long been hauled off to a stadium and disappeared. Instead, I was allowed to use my independent critical thinking noggin to get to the bottom of arguably the biggest untold story (that can be told) of the 21st Century. The story of what really happened in New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina Response. The following is my account of October 9, 2018; a respectively awesome and ominous day in America for a man and hurricane named Michael.


DEN

Denver International (DEN) Airport’s Jeppesen Terminal


Exactly twenty years ago this month, I relocated from Greater Atlanta, Georgia to Henderson, Nevada. Last Tuesday morning, as I headed to Las Vegas McCarran International (LAS) Airport to catch flight to my hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, I began to hear about a Category 2 storm in the Gulf of Mexico named Hurricane Michael. Didn’t think too much of it as I had been up all night in preparation and just wanted to get a window seat and sleep.

Praying for all those affected by the natural disaster on the Florida Panhandle.

Michael


The one thing that drew me to Southern Nevada, aside from the warm weather, proximity to Cali-fornia without the Cali density and quakes, business climate, 24/7 lifestyle, allergy-free envi-ronment (at the time), popular travel destination of friends and family members, etc., was the access to around the clock non-stop flights from LAS Airport throughout the nation. I cannot recall why I chose a connecting route through Denver. I’m sure it must have been a great fare.


Nevertheless, as we’re cruising easterly on Southwest Airlines Flight 2193 at a smooth thirty-seven thousand feet, I opened one eye to see the beautiful majestic snow-covered peaks of the Continental Divide; the Rocky Mountains. Everything looked as it should so I went back to sleep. About twenty minutes later I heard a cockpit flight crew member’s voice come over the intercom and say something about the Boeing 737’s anti-icing system not working and DEN showing freezing temperatures. His next words were, “Ahh, we’re diverting to Phoenix.” I estimated that we were over Breckenridge, Colorado. Phoenix was five hundred-some miles back in the direction we had just left. I remember thinking…more time to sleep.


Okay. We sat at a gate, with passenger off-on privileges, at Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX) Airport for about an hour when the word came down that we were going back to the Centennial State. Alright. I pride myself on being aero-knowledgeable, especially when it comes to airport layouts. This goes back to my grade school days when I use to hand write airport managers and requesting diagrams and whatnots of their facilities. So. I see that we were cleared for a PHX easterly-flow takeoff on Runway 7L. As our 737 reached rotation speed and began to lift off, I had a clear view of the Arizona Air National Guard complex; the last Arizona stop for the remains of the also late (but not diverted) Senator John McCain before heading to Maryland. As for SWA Fl. 2193, we were once again Colorado-bound. I figured the ground temperature there had warmed up to the low 40’s or something making our icing issues a mute point, and resumed my high altitude nap time position.


DEN! Finally, I’m halfway to my intended destination. With about nine hours to go before I could continue on to Omaha Eppley (OMA) Airfield. What to do? The Boulder Beer Tap House in the DEN Main Jeppesen Terminal looked like just as good of as any to set up a Tom Hanks ’04 The Terminal-like camp…

 

MICHAEL

M. Woods

KATRINA

Nola.com

HARVEY

Harvey


Let me just say that IF I must connect, then DEN is my favorite airport to do so; a mega space where I always seemed to meet the most fascinating of people, and have the most interesting of conversations. And I was not disappointed on October 9, 2018. While chilling on a tap house bar stool dining on a Reuben sandwich and libations, one after another sat down to my left and to my right. Some were arriving, some were picking up, and some were connecting like me. All were nonstop dialogues, and I was like Sponge [Mike] Square Pants soaking it all in as I was born to do.


Now, when it came time for me to share, the conversation all seemed to begin with New Orleans; probably because I was sporting a “Who Dat!” Saints’ cap the day after Drew Brees broke the all-time NFL passing record on Monday Night Football against the Washington Redskins. The first questions were, “Are you a Saints fan?” My canned response was that the cap was giving to me by a Hurricane Katrina survivor as a gift for volunteering my time down there during those post-apocalyptic days; a historical bayou city that grew to love me and visa versa, spending seven-plus years before finally returning to my Vegas Valley on a full-time basis.


In December ’06, I took a trip to San Diego and Menlo Park, California to meet with (then FEMA’s) Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) CA-4 and CA-6, respectively. They were outer-suburban upper-middleclass professionals, whose tasks were to drop everything when called up and deploy to disaster zones to provide medical & moral support. I was moved after hearing their accounts and experiences. It would lead me to spend the next seven years documenting the real Katrina Response, tracking down Katrina Responders (Army, USAF, Navy, FAA, USFWS, FEMA, USCG, state, local, and more) from coast to coast under the auspices of The Contraflow Project.


I made the following bold statement to everyone I spoke with that ‘DEN’ Day, “What in 2005 was called America’s darkest moment was really American’s brightest moment.” It’s like the old saying, If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, did it make a sound?


Why do Sandy, Harvey, Irma, Florence and even the current Michael hurricane responses receive high praises, but every time one mentions Katrina? The responders were there in New Orleans. Why has the public not been told about this? It’s no conspiracy or anything like that. There is definitely no one, or entity, pressuring me to shut up. Race did became the dominate factor. But not in the way you think. It was intra-racial. The City of New Orleans is over three hundred years old and has a unique present-past, meaning very little has changed cultural demographically. Basically, during the Hurricane Katrina Aftermath, the hyper light-skinned Negro city leaders were scared to death of the darker-hued Negro constituents; both trapped in the flooded proverbial “Bowl” of Gumbo. Very few folks outside of the (504) RTA Street Cararea code understood this class hier-archical dynamic, including Kanye West who made the following 9.2.05 remark on live TV, “George [W.] Bush does not like Black people.” And that’s where the gvt, media, scholars, etc., left the story; everyone but me.


All that I have learned during my New Orleans odyssey / American journey, that began on 9.7.05, is dedicated via my research findings to ALL First Responders, especially those who served in New Orleans and never received the thanks of a grateful Louisiana people or a grateful nation. What started off for me in September ’05 as a humanitarian TCPrelief mission to help my fellow Black Americans turned into a passionate research project to honor my fellow White Americans; a group that in my opinion needs closure as well. They went deep down into harm’s way only to return home and find out they too were “The Blame.”


I cover BOTH sides of the so-called divide. A polarized (towards me) America was difficult for me to recognize at DEN. I conversed from the Jeppesen Terminal to the Coors Silver Bullet Sports Bar on Concourse C, where I met more beautiful Americans. Conversations that continued on to Gate C 28, and aboard SWA Fl. 3307 to OMA.


All were excited to hear about my forthcoming work. And SWA, blessed their corporate heart. I received an email the following day apologizing for the tardiness via our PHX diversion, and a Southwest LUV Voucher that I can use for future travel. This is why I LUV flying SWA; domestically.


Oral History Contributors

TCP Oral History Contributors: Hurricane Katrina Responders


THE CONTRAFLOW PROJECT…dedicated to ALL First Responders

To sum it up, my name is Michael and I want to make a sound. I, and my non-profit 501c3 organization Contraflow Inc., d.b.a. The Contraflow Project seeks your support for our mission to finally set the record straight. Or, as Paul Harvey use to sign off with, I want to tell, “The Rest of the Story. Good day.”


M. Darryl Woods, Lead Researcher
The Contraflow Project

@mdarrylwoods

 
 

4,000 Days to New Orleans

July 11th, 2016 Comments off

On Thanksgiving Day ’08, while visiting my little sister in Southwest Charlotte, I sat down to a fine meal with love ones. It was November 27, 2008, 1,177 days after I first joined the Katrina Relief Efforts. At the request of a Katrina Survivor named Rick Mathieu from the Treme Neighborhood of New Orleans in November ’05, I purchased a camera for what I thought was to be use to document storm and flood damages at his Treme and Seventh Ward homes. Instead, it was used to document the repopulation of the Big Easy. For three straight years, I carried around that camera (from Uptown to Downtown, from Lakefront to Riverfront, from Eastbank to Westbank) like people today carry around their smart phones. It was always in my hand. As you will see, my brother-in-law Pastor Sean Weaver turned my camera back on me. I was like “Soul Food” movie meets 60 Minutes

I sounded so engaging, and I remember feeling relieved that my Hurricane Katrina research was over. Not! Today, I know that I wasn’t even 1/3rd of the way to fruition when this rare interview of myself was captured. Yesterday, I asked a lifelong friend named Kathy to describe me with one word. Her response was, “Engaging.” This upcoming August 20, 2016, will mark my 4,000th day since joining the Katrina Efforts on September 7, 2005. It is good to know that after all these years, I’m still engaging. 4,000 I’ll need that character trait even more so to finally tell this mega story of what really happened in and around New Orleans during the Katrina Response.

Why is this all still relevant? Because it socially and politically changed the world; lame ducking arguably the most powerful man in the history of the world, Pres. George W. Bush, only seven months into his second term; sending the nation on a path toward CHANGE. Am I talking conspiracy theories? Not at all. I exhaustively researched and meticulously positioned literally thousands of events during those surreal days of the Katrina Resposnse into their proper sequence. I thank God for Microsoft Excel. Anyways, it is there where the true story jumps right out and slaps you. Basically, the light skinned city leaders of New Orleans (Katrina Responders) were scared to death of the darker skinned constituents (Katrina Survivors). A New Orleans pigmentocracy. Three Shades of Blackness

 


M. Darryl Woods, Lead Researcher
The Contraflow Project




Beyond the Civilian Responders

September 6th, 2009 Comments off

LTG Russel Honore & MG William Caldwell in N.O. on 9.3.05

During the Summer of ’07, I made another major research move by reaching out to the US armed services. To my surprise I was very successful with gaining clearance from PAOs to interview their personnel.

The KY ANG 123rd STS very supportive. USCG approval 7.03.07, interviewing pilots LT Shay Williams, LCDR Olav Saboe and CAPT Bruce Jones, and a cutter CO LT (CWO4) Dave Lewald. US Army approval 1.10.08; I interviewed 5th Army responders, including LTC Joanne McGovern, MG Mark Graham, as well as 82nd AB CAPT Jason Holder, COL Barry DiRuzza and COL Victor Petrenko; and LTG William CaldwellUSAF approval 4.24.08 I interviewed LTC Gary Cooke who flew a C-5 into MSY and to his surprise flew out with 200 evacuees in his cargo hold. US Navy approval 8.18.08; I interviewed CDR Paul Propokovich, CAPT Lafe Dozier and Rear Admiral Nora Tyson.

They all appreciated my taking the time to include the military in this epic story. Like the FEMA DMAT and US&R responders, the armed services were very supportive and proved to be a wealth of information. Research data received by the government was vital to building our intricate Katrina timeline of contexts and events.


M. Darryl Woods, Lead Researcher
thecontraflow@yahoo.com





Beyond Louisiana

September 6th, 2009 Comments off

DMAT CA-4 at Louis B. Armstrong Intl Airport on 9.7.05

On 12.11.08, I set out on a cross-country journey to interview in person FEMA medical and US&R responders teams in cities such as San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Memphis, as well as Helinet Aviation in Van Nuys, the Katrina pool helicopter crew during the first week.

During the visit to DMAT CA-4 (Disaster Medical Asst Team) Operations Center in San Diego, I was greeted by about fifteen team members who were happy to hear that someone was taking the time to tell the story from the from the responders’ points of view.

This was the beginning of our transition to documenting the federal response to Katrina. We gained cooperation from the USFWS, USMS, CBP, USACE and more FEMA responder units. Also, the FAA Mgr Dave Haddad explained what life was like above and below MSY’s ATC Tower. With the support of the federal government came detailed accounts via after-action reports, Power Point presentations, photos, videos, charts, maps and reports. It helped us complete our mission to thoroughly document the first two weeks of Katrina in a very detailed chronological format. This support has also allowed us to map the flow of responders into SE Louisiana.


M. Darryl Woods, Lead Researcher
thecontraflow@yahoo.com





Beyond New Orleans

September 6th, 2009 Comments off

Crescent City Connection BridgeThe research spread to St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, the Westbank and Baton Rouge.

On 6.28.07 Dwight Brashear, who was brought in to run the transportation desk marshaling commandeered school buses, described the scene at the state OEP to me. On 12.28.07, I interviewed Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu who relived a night when he drove one of eight buses filled abandoned Superdome evacuees in a convoy to Lafayette. I interviewed Gretna PD Chief Arthur Lawson on 8.12.08, and Gretna Mayor Ronnie Harris on 8.22.08, who both helped shed light on ‘another chapter’. I also interviewed LAANG CWO5 Kevin Dares, and his brother and fellow Katrina responder retired LDWF MAJ Sandy Dares.


M. Darryl Woods, Lead Researcher
thecontraflow@yahoo.com





Beyond the 7th Ward

September 6th, 2009 Comments off

757 Capt Kolshak & Capt Quiello preparing for Delta Humanitarian Flight 9900 to MSY on 9.1.05

Coming to what I believed was the end of my research, I had just one question, which was for Delta Airlines. Why were the Omaha-bound evacuees not informed of their destination until before landing?

To my surprise, I was granted an interview by two Delta executives on 7.7.06, who as 757 pilots flew Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein into Armstrong Airport on a humanitarian mission to deliver provisions and pick up evacuees. After hearing Capt. Joe Kolshak and Capt Mike Quiello’s amazing heartfelt accounts, my 7th Ward blinders were removed and Armstrong Airport quickly became the next major focus of our research.

I then started documenting other parts of the city such as Algiers, Lakeview, 9th Ward, N.O. East. It was then when I started comprehending evacuees migration pattern out of the city through major collection points like the Superdome, Morial Convention Center, Algiers Point Ferry Terminal, I-10 & Causeway and MSY. It was the beginning of my six-phased evacuation theory.


M. Darryl Woods, Lead Researcher
thecontraflow@yahoo.com





Four Years Ago: Day 2…

August 30th, 2009 Comments off

Lower Ninth Ward - 8.30.05

I woke up Tuesday morning, August 30, 2005, to my usual routine of checking my email and there it was. AOL Breaking News, “New Orleans is 80% underwater.” What! My heart just dropped. It seems that the yesterday’s headlines were a pre-mature assessment of the situation. I immediately went to turn on KLAS-TV, the Las Vegas CBS affiliate. They were still showing the “looping looting” footage of the same men “liberating” the same flooded food and athletic store. I switched channels to the NBC affiliate KVBC and saw the “looping looters.” I switched to the ABC affiliate KTNV, again, the same “looping looters.” It was like the Rodney King beating tape. These same people were being shown over and over so much that I had family members and friends tell me those people down in New Orleans were all criminals and they are getting what they deserved. I am talking about like-long African American card-carrying Democrats. The nation was being desensitized by the media’s “looping looting” policy. I then realized that the Big 3 networks are not providing me with what I need, which was the facts about what has happened to the other 99.9% of the New Orleans people.

Even though my cable was turned off  a few weeks earlier, I still had access to the Internet. But four years ago, high speed video streaming was not the norm as it is today. So I went to visit my business associate Darlene Russell who had it on FoxNews, and there it was. The Big One. The Biblical proportion. The disaster to beat all disasters. Look at New Orleans. A major American metropolitan area was underwater. 


M. Darryl Woods, Literary Responder
thecontraflow@yahoo.com