Chuck Rogers

To paraphrase a friend of mine, "I am he whose name is on this site." My wife is Janis Rogers, and my sons are Cary, Adam, and Jarret. You may think that my updates tell my story. It reports the events from my perspective, but not necessarily my story. Even though emotions did bleed through from time to time, the updates are intended to be a reporting of what is happening, not necessarily what I was thinking at the time. There are also details that may be missing that may help understand the personal effect Katrina has had on my life. Writing is cathartic. It provides an avenue that helps prevent me from venting on those who are depending on me. So without further ado...

It was a Dark and Stormy Night...

Oh wait, that comes later.

My story actually begins on Friday August 19, 2005 - when Katrina was nothing more than a tropical wave in the Atlantic Ocean. On this day I received a call from our friend Kenzi Schubert that he was going into the hospital to get a kidney transplant. Kenzi had been on dialysis for over five years, so this was welcome news. I immediately called my oldest son, Cary, and asked "Do you want to get a haircut?" To understand the significance of this question you must first understand that Cary has a fixation about who cuts his hair. His first haircut as a child was at the same place I had my first haircut as a child, the Plaza Barber Shop in our home town of Racine, Wisconsin. He was in Wisconsin over Fourth of July, but they were closed for vacation. Since he had not had a haircut since he moved to New Orleans in July of 2004, I thought it was a reasonable question to ask.

After explaning about Kenzi, he said "sure" and plans were made to leave after he got off work on Wednesday August 24, 2005. Kenzi's surgery went extremely well. So well, in fact, that he was already out of the hospital and home by Wednesday August 24, 2005.

On Tuesday afternoon, August 23, 2005, the tropical wave that would become Katrina became Tropical Depression #12. It was southeast of the Bahamas at that time. By 11AM Wednesday August 24, 2005 it had strengthened and become Tropical Storm Katrina, the earliest the 11th tropical storm or greater has ever formed since they have been keeping records. In the afternoon on Thursday August 25, 2005, Katrina was upgraded to Hurricane status.

At this point, Janis and I started paying close attention to the storm. Every meteorologist in the New Orleans area called for two scenarios, neither of which involved New Orleans: they insisted the storm would either travel up the west coast of Florida and hit the panhanlde, or that it would continue due west and hit either Texas or northern Mexico. Their logic was that there were two high pressure systems, one over Louisiana and another over Alabama. They said that eventually, these would split apart, but they felt the storm would either gravitate to the east side of the eastern high pressure system, or stay to the south of both. With confidence that Katrina would not impact the area, Cary and I left for Wisconsin around 11:30 PM on Wednesday August 24, 2005. Janis and I did discuss the things she would need to take with should the storm turn north, and I suggested she get some things ready in case the evacuation order came suddently. Never hurts to be prepared, after all. Especially when you are short-handed.

Katrina barrelled across Florida, and was briefly downgraded to a tropical storm again. Once it emerged into the Gulf of Mexico, it rapidly gained strength.What apparently happened then is a cold front came down farther and stronger than anyone predicted and literally split these two high pressure systems apart, creating an alley for Katrina. With nothing but warm water fueling its path, Katrina was all to happy to oblige. By the evening of Friday August 26, Katrina was a Category 3 Hurricane and Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana had declared a state of emergency. At this point, Katrina had our attention, but not our concern - after all, we had watched Ivan provide a glancing blow, and had been through several tropical storms since we moved to the area in 2001, all without incident.

On Thursday August 25, 2005 Cary and I discussed returning to New Orleans to assist with evacuation, leaving as soon as Friday. It was hard to decide what to do. On one hand, we thought we should all be together. On the other, we realize that trying to get into the city could be impossible once contraflow was implemented.

On Friday August 26, 2005 Cary and I made a surprise visit to Kenzi at his home in Milwaukee. He was very surprised to see us. We spent about 30 minutes with him, and he agreed to come down to our mutual friend Dan Cruz's house the next day for a cookout.

On Saturday August 27, 2005 we were paying close attention to Katrina - and becoming very concerned. I began sending out my infamous hurricane updates that afternoon, and the decision was made that Janis would leave New Orleans between 4 and 6 AM on Sunday August 28, 2005. We talked frequently on the phone that day, comparing notes about what needed to be done in the house and what needed to be brought with. Those of you who know me, know my existance is pretty much predicated upon my access to technology. So one of the first things she packed up are my hard drives, which had backups, as well as music and video data. These are all with us now. Next, she and Jarret took the TV our kids bought us for our anniversary, moved it upstairs and wrapped it in garbage bags (to keep out water) and blankets - both to protect it from things falling on it as well as disguise it from looters. Jarret went through our DVD collection and pulled out the ones he thought would have the most value to us. With clothes for about 5 days, computers, and hard drives, they packed up Cary's car and prepared to leave.

Cary's girlfriend Andrea and her brother Andres also packed up Andres' car and on Sunday morning around 5AM, they headed out of town, following Janis. It took 5 hours to drive a distance that normally takes 7 minutes. About this time, Janis gets a call from some friends that are now terrified and want to leave, but there is nothing she can do. This was the first of several "low points" for me. All I could do is stay glued to the TV and stay close to the phone. I am not accustomed to being unable to do anything to affect a situation.

I have only started telling my story. Check back frequently for updates.