from balcony of JW Marriot, Thursday 7pm post Katrina, mostly evacuated, but still waiting for the troops to save us

jimsullivan1963, on February 14, 2009, said:

We left the Ritz as a group of 500 or so just before dusk on Thursday after the storm. The water was mostly knee deep, but mid chest at the curb on Canal in front of the Ritz. The Ritz is the 14 story courtyard building to the left of middle in the background. Here we are on the 2nd floor balcony of the JW Marriot (into which we were herded while waiting for buses to get through the blockades set up by FEMA. The buses came at 1 am. It was very quiet. There was press camped out 1 block to the right. There were NO soldiers, NO government at all. It was very hot and humid. That night you could see every star over the black silhouettes of the buildings. One old woman in our group collapsed at 11 pm but we were able to resuscitate her and send her to Baton Rouge in the back of a commandeered Escalade.