This is the second of a three part series. Chief Meteorologist David Glenn shares his experience covering Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast
Part 2 – Landfall
The 2 hour nap simply wasn’t long enough. The adrenaline from the day before was still flowing and the nervousness of the situation would not allow for any relaxation. The wind was roaring outside and I could feel the pounding of the wind against our house. Katrina was closing in. It was still dark, but I still had power….briefly. The lights were flickering as power lines were popping around the city. Just before I walked out the door for the final time, the power shut down for good. A flashlight was the only light source I had to walk to my car. Once outside, the wind was loud and strong. I could hear a sound that sounded like batting practice. That sound turned out to be the pine trees in our back yard smacking into one another as each gust roared through.
During my short drive back to the station, debris could be seen blowing across the street and parking lots. I even saw one brave jogger defying the conditions to get in that pre-sunrise workout. Activity at the studios was still just as active as it was hours before. Katrina was about to make the first landfall along the Louisiana coast. That occurred at 6:10amCT near Buras, LA. The bands of storms rolling over Mobile were fierce, and the threat of sporadic tornadoes loomed. One such threat happened as soon as I arrived to the studios. Jim Loznicka could be heard over the PA system in the building for everyone to stay downstairs due to a tornado warning. Thankfully, nothing happened, but the call to safety was necessary. Just a short time later, the power went out.
Our television station was equipped with a diesel generator that could last up to 3 days. However, as the generator powered up, it caught on fire. The fire was quickly extinguished and the building did not suffer any damage. But, with no back up power, we were off the air. Our morning show crew was urged to drive over to the Clear Channel Radio studios about 3 miles away to resume our simulcast over the radio. Our news anchors Peter Albrecht, Drexel Gilbert and I were to stay at the dark studios in hopes that the engineering staff could restore power and get us back on the air.
Two hours went by in a dark, stuffy building full of people. Cut off from data, we felt helpless. Our morning crew made it to the radio station to continue our coverage. But, as it appeared that we would not get power restored, Peter Albrecht and I urged our bosses to let us get to the radio station and continue our coverage. And, give our morning broadcasting crew a much deserved break. We left the television station in a convoy of cars for the short drive to the radio building. This is at the same time Katrina was making the second landfall near the Louisiana/Mississippi border just 70 miles to our west. So, here we were, driving during the height of the storm. At one intersection, I watched as a CVS pharmacy under construction, had its siding ripped off and sent flying down the road ahead of us. Trees were nearly kissing the pavement due to the gusts. Thankfully, we all arrived safely at the Clear Channel Radio building in Midtown. Once inside around 10am, I would not leave until 1am the next morning.
(Radar image at landfall)
Our morning show crew of Scott Walker, Sandra Shaw and Jim Loznicka were relieved to see us arrive. They had been on the air for many hours and ready for a shift change. Since this was a radio broadcast, I had no maps to prepare. Instead, I felt like a sports commentator providing play-by-play of the storm. Peter and Drexel along with the Clear Channel announcers kept relaying vital information to residents and taking some dramatic phone calls from listeners all along the coast. The “lucky cat” charm that my son had given me sat perched on my laptop computer the whole time.
The storm surge in downtown Mobile reached over 13 ft, which was the highest since the early 1900’s. Water up to the traffic lights in the lower 1/3 of downtown. Across Mobile Bay, nearly every pier was plucked away. Business along the causeway suffered either from high flood waters, or just washed away. Dauphin Island, which is really a huge sandbar, had no dune protection for the homes. So, many houses were completely destroyed and homes that were set back from the water now had beach front property. The worst effects were in south Mobile Co near Bayou La Batre. This shrimping community suffered heavily with property and boat loss. But, miraculously, no fatalities.
(Doppler radar rainfall estimate)
By afternoon, Katrina was pushing farther inland. We were beginning to see some of the first video footage from Biloxi and Gulfport. Stunning….that is the only way to put it. I had just been to Biloxi a week earlier. It now was unrecognizable. For all of the neon lights of the gambling community, Biloxi/Gulfport/Ocean Springs had a quaint charm of still being small communities along the beach. Homes sat just across from the beach unlike other beach communities swallowed by condos. Katrina had submerged and brought these cities to their knees. The gambling barges had been tossed across the highway. Some buildings simply just gone….disappeared! And, there were fatalities….too many. I will never forget seeing the footage from our competing station WKRG. It was of a man desperately searching for his wife. They had been separated when their home split in half during the storm surge. The reporter interviewing him was crying as well. That is the one video moment from Katrina that I will never forget.
(Storm chaser video of the incredible storm surge in Biloxi)
As we continued our radio coverage into the afternoon and evening, the wind was slowly dying down, but still quite gusty. As we concentrated on our local region, I kept thinking about New Orleans. The first stories from there during the early afternoon was how the city survived and things were not as bad as had been feared. These reports were from the French Quarter, which really had come through the storm better than the rest of the city. But, I kept wondering about the levees and that circulation that seemed ominous for flooding. Little by little as the afternoon turned to evening did the news reports from New Orleans begin talking about the levee breaches and rising flood waters. What had been feared unfortunately became reality. And the story continued to unfold in the Crescent City in the days and weeks to follow.
Shortly after midnight, our news anchor Kim McCrea took over reporting the news and Kelly Foster came in to trade shifts with me. It had been a long day, the storm was winding down. Even though it was dark, I was anxious to get back to my house to see about any damage. A curfew was in place, but police allowed the media to be out. You never fully appreciate street lights until there aren’t any. I could not find my car in the dark parking lot. The only light source was from an alarm strobe in a nearby building….talk about creepy. The drive home was like driving in a cave. Sure, I had headlights, but no street lights and having to navigate around debris. It took nearly a half hour, but I made it home. Our house made it through the storm. We lost over 50% of our roof shingles, but that was it.
I had no power at the house and it was hot. I did not want to start the generator that late at night so as to not wake the neighbors. I could hear generators humming all over the neighborhood. So, with a battery lantern, I tried to fall asleep on our couch. I should have been able to quickly fall asleep, but I could not. After hearing about and seeing so much damage, I felt guilty to be resting comfortably in my home.
Part 3 – Sunday
David Glenn
