“It kept getting larger. I never had seen a storm of that magnitude and that size,” said former St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis.
It wasn’t the levees. It was the wind, the surge, and the silence afterwards.
“When you looked at it, it was the entire Gulf of Mexico, and I knew we were in trouble then,” said Davis.
In St. Tammany Parish, communities like Slidell, Pearl River, Lacombe, and Mandeville were blindsided by the force of Hurricane Katrina.
“To us it was another hurricane fixing to hit, we’d be able to handle it. As we found out later, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event I never want to live through again,” said Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal.
Living through it was tough for those who chose to stay and those who had to, like Fandal, who was a sergeant with the state police at the time.
Survival and Recovery:
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
“It was pretty surreal. I can remember driving on I-10 and seeing people climb the fences to get on interstate side looking for some help,” said Fandal.
The basics, such as electricity, water, and sewer, were completely destroyed. Much like the nights that followed, communication was completely dark.
“Couldn’t communicate, phones were all down, we had satellite phones, they didn’t work,” said Davis.
Davis says, thankfully, a lot of folks took evacuation pleas seriously. For those who stayed, many needed help.
“There were quite a few memories there that stick with me,” said Slidell officer Rodney West, Jr.
West remembers being in a flooded neighborhood, trying to save people.
“We were losing flashlight power and everything and just having to leave from back in that neighborhood in the boat, and you still hear people yelling for help, and you can’t get back there because there are too many trees, too many power lines, and it’s definitely too dark. There was no light whatsoever,” said West.
Like many areas, much of Slidell was under water.
“It was definitely a sight to see if you had to see it. It was just kind of hard to take in at first,” said West. “Just going in places in a boat right after the storm passed through that I never thought I would ride a boat in.”
Infrastructure across the parish was either crippled or lost. More than 40,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.
“I saw houses, pine trees, just cut them like a piece of cake,” said Davis.
Lessons Learned: Building a Stronger, More Prepared Northshore Community
Tons of concrete that made up the Twin Span Bridge no longer stretched across the lake. They fell to the bottom of it.
“All the powerlines from Covington to here were completely destroyed. Everywhere you looked all the red lights, they were all on the ground,” said Davis.
Recovery wasn’t easy or fast.
“We’re going to make it through. That’s what I kept telling people,” said Davis.
It would be a while before FEMA could send help. At the time, there were few local organizations prepared to step in. Initial recovery depended on neighbors helping neighbors. Twenty years later, lessons learned have helped change that and so much more.
“We didn’t have a community foundation situated in this geographic area,” said Northshore Community Foundation President and CEO Leslie Landry.
Because of Katrina, the Northshore Community Foundation was established in 2007. It now acts as a lifeline for relief, recovery, and long-term stability in the wake of disasters.
“When disaster strikes, or any sort of pandemic, emergency situation, we have the resources and the capabilities to act quickly,” said Landry.
Landry says Katrina’s lessons run deep. Since its creation, the foundation has pulled in more $93 million to help communities. More than $1.5 million helped with Katrina recovery in 2008.
“There’s no one natural disaster that’s ever the same, but we’ve learned so much on how to respond and what to do when a storm is in the Gulf and be ready to strap our boots on and get to work,” said Landry.
It also meant a new way to work for law enforcement. Chief Fandal says local, state, and federal agencies are much more connected now, and the planning for hurricanes is never “just another storm.”
“As agencies we really need to work together, and we have started that since Katrina. We don’t have the same communication problems that we had then,” said Fandal.
Parish leaders say revised emergency plans, upgraded infrastructure, and improved access to resources put the parish in a much better place. The Twin Span Bridge was rebuilt and renamed “Frank Davis ‘Naturally N’Awlins’ Bridge” in 2015, after the longtime WWL personality. All that’s changed for the better, though, didn’t come without immense loss.
“We did a ceremony here at the water with the flowers and roses that we threw in,” Davis.
On the one-year anniversary of the storm, community members gathered here, on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain, to remember the people who died during and after the storm.
“I lost a good friend, a good man. He was cutting a tree, and it backflipped on him,” said Davis.
Many who evacuated never came back.
“I go through some subdivisions now and it breaks my heart to think about, ‘Well that’s where Mr. so-and-so lived and we grew up together.’ They’re no longer here. They moved,” said Davis.
Today, St. Tammany Parish has a growing population. Part of it is because of the sudden spike in new residents who evacuated the Southshore and never returned. Since leaving office, Davis says he’s forever grateful for a community that didn’t give up on itself.
“I don’t know how to put into words. I’m just grateful for the community we have, that they came together,” said Davis.
Parts of the Northshore will always carry Katrina’s scars. They’re in broken tree lines and stories passed down. They’re also in the quiet resilience of a region that learned you can’t just wait around for help. You must be ready to give it.
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