Below is a write-up of the trip:

Katrina- New Orleans Hovercraft Deployment Sept. 5, 2005 It was absolutely black outside. Our only view of anything other than the highway straight ahead, was from the peripheral light of our headlights occasionally poorly lighting up something on the side of the road. We could make out a broken forest off the side of the road and then there were huge gaps where trees used to be. We were heading into a major US metropolitan area that was currently just a black abyss. To keep the left lane free for emergency vehicles, our little convoy of 7 vehicles and 5 hovercrafts had merged into a military convoy that was at least 30 - 35 miles long with trucks carrying armed solders, huge fuel tankers, generator trucks and seemingly endless cargo carriers. Small convoys of five or six fully loaded civilian fuel tankers were passing us at 70+ mph and disappearing into the night. Streams of ambulances and police cars sped past us continuously heading into the city. It was a surreal experience. We had picked up our Marine escorts at the junction of I55 and 22 just prior to the check point that closed the highway to all but authorized traffic and headed into the New Orleans area. Our task was originated by the Hon. Charlie Melancon and was to get into rural St. Bernard Parish, which is in the 3rd District of Louisiana, and evacuate 3000+ people to the other side of the Mississippi River where presumably they could be taken to evacuation centers. Given the conditions of the roads and the military deployments, we were routed the long way around. Once we got close to the metropolitan area well armed policemen were manning road check points every 2 miles or so. There were guards posted at every major road junction checking authorizations requiring our small convoy to stop and show our authorization. Occasionally, we would pass a gas station that was taken over as a fueling point for the emergency vehicles with fuel tankers stacked 10 or 12 deep in the parking lot and emergency vehicles queued up for fuel. We finally arrived at our designated night stopover, which was a shopping mall parking lot. When we arrived it was totally dark and the shopping mall had been looted and burned down. The storm sewers were up flowing water into the parking lot and abandoned cars were smashed into pole lights. The operation was led by Chris Cyr and Louis Bondurant, Jason Kuehn, Harold Carter, Phil Whitney and Myself brought our hovercrafts. Jason’s wife Alisa and two of my friends Barry & Doris Blount also came to support us. After some discussion, we decided to move to a nearby Academy store parking lot. The store appeared to have been looted with the doors boarded up and an overturned truck but at least there was an emergency light and police presence for security. As we drove into the parking lot the sight of about 15 police cars converging on our location with their lights flashing greeted us. Emergency vehicles with flashing lights were so ubiquitous they were not even worth noting anymore. However, we were apparently seen as possible looters and our arrival was taken very seriously. It was a few fairly tense minutes with laser sights from automatic weapons lighting up Harold Carter’s and one of the Marine’s heads. Our Marine escorts were not in military uniform but had automatic weapons which may have created some confusion. It was all over shortly but it was not an auspicious beginning. It was now 10:30 at night and the temperature was still in the 90s and humid. It felt just like the Houston I left that morning only darker and stranger. Every few minutes a police car or ambulance would cross the overpass in one direction and then the other at high-speed heading who knows where. This was surely a war zone and I was glad to be in a place of relative safety. We shortly found out that our original mall stopping point was considered “hot” and the police were not authorized to patrol there for their own safety. They had been taking fire from houses there the past few days and it was unsafe. Just before midnight, the point people from the energy company in Wisconsin began to arrive with an emergency communications van and supply trucks. Around 2 A.M. they broke into an abandoned shoe store and got the lights and the air-conditioning turned on. The air-conditioning was much appreciated and almost everyone there except the Marines and police officers slept on the floor in the store for the night. Between having to put my hovercraft back together for the trip and the travel I had only 3 hours of sleep in two days and the hard floor went unnoticed by me (until I woke up in the morning). We were supposed to hear more about our task at 7 am but nothing was heard until almost 11am. We were then given a police escort to our deployment location which was Algers Point. The trip there was not one soon forgotten. Trees were felled everywhere, some on houses. Houses were missing roofs, walls or missing all together. One house was moved into the neighboring yard. In a new neighborhood, the new construction was destroyed, roofs were in adjacent yards, wood was scattered everywhere. We passed a strip mall that was totally missing the roof allowing the sunlight to stream out of the front windows; to the extent there were front windows. In front of a store, a few people would be congregating. Some sitting in lawn chairs, some trying to fix the roof that was peeled back like a tin can top. The roads were in poor shape with fallen power lines, trees and trash making passage a challenge if possible at all especially for my large trailer. It was hard to believe but this was a neighborhood that was, relatively, in good shape compared to others that had been totally destroyed. Upon arriving at Algers Point, we found our deployment point was a ferry ramp with the end about 12 feet above the water. The surrounding dikes were overgrown with trees and large bushes which made them unusable for a launch site. Just down from the ramp, the two ferries were pushed up the dikes sideways and now about 30’ from the edge of the water and quite high on the dikes. I doubt they will be serviceable again. On the other side of the ramp was a tugboat and barge pushed almost to the top of the dike. I suspect they are now only suitable for the scrap yard. We heard that a wave 25’ high came over the dike and did this damage along with destroying five emergency boats that were staged on the land side of the dike. It was an awesome sight to see those huge ferries just tossed up on the dike just like some bathtub toys. Our Marine guards, now in uniform, did an excellent job. When we stopped, one went on top of the dike with his rifle and the other stood guard at the back of our vehicles. They gave an uninviting look to the operation which was a good thing as it turned out. Our arrival made it clear that our original mission either was a mistake to begin with or was no longer needed. As we were able to get to the site by car, presumably hovercrafts were not needed and would be inefficient to extract these people. More importantly, there were not large groups of people stranded and waiting to be rescued. Most of the area had clearly been abandoned some time ago. After about an hour there, we were directed to go to the 4th District command center to get further instructions. We moved to the command center and Chris Cyr did his best to inform those in charge of our capabilities. The area was loaded with aluminum fishing boats and airboats. The airboats were based about two blocks away in a church parking lot. As we waited a number of things became quite clear. These people now had a lot of resources at their disposal. There was not really a unified civilian command center and, instead, each District was mostly operating on its own. Also, we were now operating outside of our authorization to be there as we were outside of the 3rd District. The last straw for some of us was when a police sergeant said “are you crazy” when he was told we had just come from Algers Point. It seems they were still taking fire from people on the dikes. Well we were not crazy but we were not informed either. Our authorization was Federal and so the State authorities really did not have any jurisdiction over us. If we asked to go somewhere, they could advise us not to go but could not prevent us from going there. I don’t know if the authority issue was part of the problem but, in any event, it seemed clear we were not needed. So after discussion with Chris Cyr, Louis, Harold, Phil and I headed home. My friends and I were glad to make the trip and the fact that we did not end up being used is really a positive note as it meant that the situation, while still bad, was improving considerably for these people. As we drove home long lines of military convoys were still heading into the area bringing more supplies and troops. I was dismayed that the civilian traffic trying to get into the city was miles long and had blocked both lanes of the highway such that a number of military convoys were stopped on the highway and held up from entering the city. Howard Boyle