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September 13, 2005
‘Hurricane Katrina: It sounded like an F-15’
Editor in Chief
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Hamline Professor Dwight Watson received a phone call from Paul Strasshofer. Strasshofer, a friend of Watson, had just survived Katrina’s 140 mph gusts of wind. Once the storm passed, Watson flew Strasshofer from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Minnesota on Sunday, Sept. 4, and invited him into his house. Now safe, Strasshofer has learned the power of nature first-hand.
Strasshofer weathered the storm in a house in Amit, Louisiana, a rural community 64 miles northeast of New Orleans. Strasshofer hid in a room on the north side of the house, in the lee of the building. Without windows, it was hard to see the storm without leaving their shelter.
However, he could hear it.
“It sounded like an F-16,” Strasshofer said. Occasionally, Strasshofer went out to the screen porch to see the carnage. He even took some video.
Strasshofer and his friends had only canned goods and 10 gallons of water. He hoped his meager rations would last the 18 hours that Strasshofer ended up waiting out the storm. Said Strasshofer, “It felt like a big jail cell.”
During that time, Strasshofer did have a battery-powered radio, which was his only connection to the outside world. Strasshoffer said the lack of communication made him realize how many things he takes for granted.
The house survived the storm mostly intact. Shingles were ripped off and two windows were broken by an oak branch, and three trees fell on the garden behind the house.
After the storm, chain-saws roared through Amit, clearing downed trees. “That’s all you could hear after[wards],” Strasshofer said.
Without power, perishable food started to go bad. It needed to be cooked and eaten, or thrown away if unfit for human consumption.
“I started up a barbeque, and I offered to cook it for them,” Strasshofer said. As promised, once various local residents came around, Strasshofer served them.
Before Katrina, Strasshofer lived in a trailer park in Independence, Louisiana, 22 miles south of Amit. Of the sixteen units, Strasshofer said, six were destroyed, and “a couple were flipped over.”
His trailer had a “pine tree through it, like a dart.”
Wind caused most of the damage to the trailer park, according to Strasshofer. Water pooled in low-lying areas, but no serious flooding occurred. Strasshofer added that most of the park’s residents evacuated, especially the elderly. Although there were a few injuries, believes that no one in the park has died.
Still, the memories are too strong and the damage too severe for Strasshofer to ever forget. “I don’t think I’ll ever move back again,” Strasshofer said.
Posted by msveum at September 13, 2005 11:49 AM