Contraflow: From New Orleans to Houston

By Bill Herrington

WINNER OF THE 2017 IPPY BRONZE MEDAL FOR BEST REGIONAL NONFICTION

FINALIST FOR THE 2017 NEXT GENERATION INDIE REGIONAL NONFICTION AWARD

A story of leadership and compassion witnessed following Hurricane Katrina.

In this eyewitness perspective, Bill Herrington weaves gripping details of the lives of people, businesses, and entir

• Language: English
• Publisher: William P. Herrington
• Release date: Aug 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9780997649642

Bill Herrington

As a corporate banker in New Orleans for 20 years, Bill Herrington actively supported community education alongside his wife Frances, a teacher. He uses his unique perspective of the extraordinary leadership witnessed after Katrina to raise funds to support education of youth impacted by natural disasters or family tragedies.

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More Praise for Contraflow

Bill Herrington’s moving account of Katrina reminded me of those challenging days when so many responded so generously to the needs of friends they had yet to meet.

– Daniel K. Lahart,

SJ, President, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory

Contraflow tells accurately how New Orleanians were impacted after Hurricane Katrina.

– Newell Normand,

Sheriff of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, leaders were beginning to collaborate in new and exciting ways. Bill Herrington describes how the storm affected the region—and how New Orleanians regained their hope.

– Mary Landrieu,

former senator of Louisiana

The book is an authentic story of one family’s recovery in the aftermath of Katrina. It is filled with adventure, compassion, community service, humor and love. It is a book that every New Orleanian and Houstonian who struggled through Katrina will certainly enjoy.

– James Meza, Jr.,

former superintendent of Jefferson Parish public schools

Bill Herrington offers an engaging and honest first-person account of how Hurricane Katrina impacted New Orleanians of all types in all walks of life and how Houstonians, seeing people in need, stepped up to help them.

– Debbie Harwell,

Ph.D., Managing Editor, Houston History, Center for Public History, University of Houston

Katrina was more than incessant battering wind, driving rain, and rising water. Contraflow weaves in the horrendous with the tears of joy and accomplishments that no one could have foreseen or yearned for. Years from now, many will research and detail events and relevant facts of those dreadful days, weeks, and months. This chronicle includes facts as well as insight into the souls and minds of some real people that actually lived and endured and, in many ways, beat Katrina.

– Randy Howard,

former board member and commercial head of Hibernia

National Bank

CONTRAFLOW: FROM NEW ORLEANS TO HOUSTON

A STORY OF LEADERSHIP WITNESSED AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA

Copyright © 2016 by William P. Herrington

Prepared for publication by Stellar Communications Houston

This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author. For information, contact Stellar Communications Houston.

The author has endeavored to recount events, conversations, and data as accurately as possible.

Abridged edition: August 1, 2016, by William P. Herrington.

Published in the United States of America.

Contraflow: From New Orleans to Houston

A story of leadership witnessed after Hurricane Katrina

Paperback 978-0-9976496-2-8

Hardcover 978-0-9976496-3-5

E-book 978-0-9976496-4-2

Stellar Communications Houston

www.stellarwriter.com

281.804.7089

Written with Ramon A. Vargas

Editing and Preparation for publication by Ella Hearrean Ritchie

Cover design and formatting by Jamie Tipton

Dedicated to the 60,000 volunteers in Houston, Texas,

who helped administer the largest evacuation operation

of a U.S. city in American history, especially the "men

for others" at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Preface

PART ONE COUNTDOWN TO DESTRUCTION

1: Three Days Before the Storm

A History of Community Activism

A Reform Agenda Takes Hold

The Press Conference that Never Happened

2: Two Days Before the Storm

A Disastrous Experiment

The Contraflow Surprise

A Vicious Curveball

PART TWO UNPRECEDENTED DAMAGE

3: The Storm

One Day After the Storm

Two Days After the Storm

Three Days After the Storm

A John Wayne Dude

4: Heartbreak at Airline Highway and Causeway

Hatching an Unlikely Plan

The Eeriest Sight

Flooding the Saucer

5: Fifteen Minutes and Four Hefty Bags

Black Stew

The Essentials

The Piano

6: The Rescue

Guns and Crucifixes

The Choppers

We All Have Problems

7: Contraflow to Houston

We’re Taking ‘Em All

The Buses are Coming

Unprecedented Leadership

Valuable Lessons

The Wicked Stepmother

PART THREE RECOVERY

8: Home Away From Home

A Brotherhood of Sorts

Sixth-Floor Solidarity

The Merger

9: A World of Difference

A Close-Knit Community

A Man for Others

The Lost Children of Katrina

Silver Linings

Thanks Houston

10: Returning Home

Out on a Limb

Gone

The Looters

A Little Louisiana Ingenuity

11: Stirring up the Hornets

An Exhilarating Coup Before the Storm

The Easiest $20 I Ever Made

An Unforgettable Return

Awn it Like a Hawnet

12: Visiting Mr. Harrigan

The Four-Letter Word

Mr. Harrigan

Looking Back

Ten years after the storm

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgements

There are many people who helped me make this book a reality, but I wanted to take a brief minute and specifically highlight these few.

Russ Hoadley, thank you for writing the account about Hibernia’s experience during Katrina and acknowledging the bank’s efforts. For those interested, Russ’ account, A Beacon of Hope: Hibernia Bank’s Recovery from Hurricane Katrina, is well worth a read, and it can be found online at www.hiberniakatrina.com.

The Center for Public History at the University of Houston, thank you for so carefully preserving the account of Hurricane Katrina in Houston History’s Houston’s Helping Hand: Remembering Katrina, which is the source of much of chapter seven in this book. Your initiative helps Houstonians develop a respectful understanding of others’ experiences as well as the history of Houston.

Dianne and Jimmy Moss, my dear sister and brother-in-law: Thank you for taking us in after Katrina. And Jimmy, thank you for helping me with the difficult work of cleaning our home after Katrina.

And last but certainly not least, Ella Hearrean Ritchie and Ramon Antonio Vargas, thank you for helping me get this story ready that I’d been pondering writing for the better part of a decade. Ella is a Houston-based publisher whose Cajun family had dealt with flooding and FEMA trailers after the storm. Ramon Vargas has been a resident of the New Orleans area his whole life and has been working as a journalist there since 2006.

Preface

Along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the term contraflow is well known to local residents. It is a term synonymous with an evacuation due to an approaching hurricane.

Contraflow refers to the reversal of incoming traffic lanes on major highways during times of emergency to improve the flow of cars. In contraflow, the number of outbound lanes is doubled during evacuations, and all incoming cars are blocked until the order to leave town is lifted.

But to me, contraflow is about more than traffic logistics. It is an ominous expression that will always remind me how fragile life is and how a peaceful existence can be unexpectedly and abruptly reversed.

This is the true story of the lives of people, businesses, and entire cities that were temporarily reversed and permanently altered by Hurricane Katrina, one of the most catastrophic storms on record. On August 29, 2005, the tropical storm breached the hurricane protection surge system in New Orleans, flooding eighty percent of the city and killing approximately 1,400 people. It is considered the worst civil engineering disaster in the history of the United States.

Although several worthy books have been written about Hurricane Katrina, I wanted to tell this particular story for three reasons.

First, this is the story of leadership and compassion on a scale I had never seen before and may never have the occasion to witness again. The magnitude of the devastation and the suffering in New Orleans perhaps overshadowed the extensive humanitarian response, particularly in Houston. But the truth that emerged from Katrina is that unexpected disasters can reveal the best in people. I witnessed this truth in some of the civic, corporate, and community leaders who stepped up to help families and businesses recover when others did not, even if doing so invited criticism from some quarters. In Houston, three of the best people who call that city home come to mind: Former Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, former Houston Mayor Bill White, and Father Dan Lahart of Strake Jesuit. Their leadership was both unanticipated and underreported, so this story is a tribute to them so that their actions can be celebrated and can serve as a guide in future catastrophes.

Second, this is the story of the impact of the storm on the entire community. The lives of New Orleanians were starting to look up prior to the storm, slowly but steadily recovering from the 1980s oil bust and the unsuccessful 1984 New Orleans World’s Fair. A cross-section of regional New Orleans insiders were collaborating, perhaps as never before, to reverse the declining trends in economic development, education, and political leadership. These efforts seemed to be working, even resulting in the relocation of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans in 2002.

But when Hurricane Katrina struck, it forever changed the lives of many New Orleanians. We were all suddenly thrust into a new, non-exclusive class of people who were vulnerable in ways we had never even imagined. The media focused primarily on the poor. But our members were rich and poor, young and old, of all skin colors, ethnicities, and religions—every economic and social sector of the community. We shared overwhelming losses in the storm, including homes, possessions, schools, churches, and workplaces. To make a tragic situation even worse, looters took advantage of many residents who had been displaced to others states and cities throughout the country.

The victims who were most deeply affected lost their family members to the storm. Less obvious was the impact felt by families who lost their sense of community after the storm. Churches, sports teams, playgrounds, businesses and, perhaps most importantly, schools, all shut down, both temporarily and permanently. For many storm victims, those institutions formed a network of support throughout the city that was lost in Katrina’s aftermath. Katrina’s wind and waves destroyed this network, leaving families stranded and searching for a place to belong. That sense of camaraderie, of family, is one of the most important aspects of small communities like New Orleans.

Finally, this is the story of the strong institutions that serve as the glue for good communities. I became intimately aware of how schools, social service organizations, religious organizations, and nonprofits are foundational to helping people recover from crises. Some families were lucky, like mine, and I share our journey in recognition of the people and institutions who served as temporary pillars in our life. But some people who did not have resources will never fully recover, particularly displaced children who did not have good academic options after the disaster. Their lack of resources re-traumatized these victims during an already challenging time in their life. For this reason, a good portion of this story is dedicated to the realization of the importance of education.

Bill Herrington

PART ONE

COUNTDOWN TO DESTRUCTION

CHAPTER 1

THREE DAYS BEFORE THE STORM

Friday, August 26, 2005

9:30 a.m.

Right away, it was obvious that something was wrong.

I had just arrived at the administration building of the newly renovated Medard H. Nelson Charter School, mentally reviewing my talking points before the press conference that would be held for its grand re-opening.

The elementary school was located at 3121 St. Bernard Avenue in the central part of New Orleans near the intersection of St. Bernard Avenue and Interstate 610. The campus was inconspicuous and similar to many other typical school buildings with a cream-colored brick exterior, with its name highlighted in bright orange lettering on the front wall.

But it wasn’t the plain exterior that excited me. It was what was going on inside. I adjusted my tie and patted the front pocket of one of my favorite suits with a satisfied smile.

Inside the pocket was a neatly tucked cashier’s check that I would be presenting to the school on behalf of Hibernia National Bank, the largest bank headquartered in the state of Louisiana. I had worked for the bank for nearly twenty years and I was looking forward to one of the most rewarding community involvement presentations with which I’ve ever been involved. The bank had approved its largest donation ever of $250,000 for the sponsorship of the Medard Nelson Charter School in support of a bold new charter school education initiative. A cross section of the city’s elite would be there, including Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, some city council members, the University of New Orleans (UNO) Education Dean Jim Meza, and UNO President Tim Ryan.

But as soon as I entered the schoolroom, I stopped abruptly. People were scurrying around, looking anxious and nervous. Across the room, Senator Landrieu was listening intently to something that one of her aides was telling her. The Senator looked concerned.

A few moments later, one of the school administrators walked to the front and asked for everyone’s attention.

Ladies and gentlemen, the administrator said, clearing her throat, thank you all for coming. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has caused us to change our plans. Mayor Ray Nagin has just ordered a voluntary evacuation due to the threat of Tropical Storm Katrina. Again, thank you for coming, but the news conference has been canceled, as we need to prepare for evacuation.

And just like that, my big day turned into a big dud.

I couldn’t believe it. Weeks of planning had gone into this press conference, but within minutes, the television cameraman and newspaper reporters were packed up and streaming out of the room and back into the heat and humidity of a typical August morning in New Orleans.

But my disappointment in this moment was no match for what was coming. I didn’t know that in a few days, I would witness one of most devastating events in American history, one that would change the lives of everyone in and around New Orleans. Young, old, rich, poor—none of us were exempt from the force that would pummel our city.

Even more life-changing would be the unanticipated compassion and leadership that would emerge from the wreckage. I was about to experience humanitarian efforts unlike anything I had ever witnessed before.

But I didn’t know any of that this morning. Feeling dejected, I followed the group out of the building and trudged back to my car, unaware of what was in store. I sighed, readjusted my tie, and reflected on the events that had led to the press meeting.

A History of Community Activism

¹

The bank I worked for had developed a reputation for helping people in the community almost as soon as it had been established on Camp Street as Hibernia Bank & Trust Company on April 30, 1870, when a dozen Irishmen held the first meeting of the board of directors. They had chosen the name Hibernia in honor of the land of their ancient Roman ancestors.

The bank was born in a city that was much different than the New Orleans we know today. At that time, New Orleans had a population of about 170,000 people, forty percent of whom were foreign-born, and 24,000 of whom were Irish, according to a Hibernia annual shareholder’s report from 1994.

But its passion for the community was evident from the beginning. One example was the devotion of Hibernians to selling war bonds. And in addition to providing assistance during natural disasters, Hibernia supported two World’s Fairs a century apart—in 1884 and again in 1984—and have supported hundreds of nonprofits over the years.

In 1921, the bank constructed a building for its headquarters that was recognized as an architectural and engineering marvel, sparking a building boom in New Orleans. The building would remain New Orleans’ tallest building until 1964. The building—especially its cupola, a shining tower that was illuminated at night—was hailed as a beacon of commerce and a symbol of a fast-growing economy.

But the bank didn’t stop there in making a mark. In 1933, Hibernia President Rudolph Hecht arranged the federal financing for the first bridge over the Mississippi River in the New Orleans area, the Huey P. Long Bridge.

Almost sixty years later, in 1992, Hibernia recruited Steve Hansel to the bank after posting sizeable losses during a real estate crisis. Hansel quickly recapitalized the company, administering an ambitious acquisition program of buying smaller community banks around the state. Under this vision, Hibernia became the largest bank to be headquartered in the state of Louisiana as well as one of the largest in the southeastern United States.

It was during this time that I managed commercial banking in New Orleans for Hibernia National Bank. I appreciated the fact that my role at Hibernia afforded me an inside view of the progress the region was making. My wife Frances, a teacher, and I enjoyed participating in the economic development and educational aspects of New Orleans along with many others in the bank and the community who shared a similar passion for improving the city.

A Reform Agenda Takes Hold

The charter school network was spearheaded by Jim Meza, the UNO dean of education who initially struck me as a friendly, affable, and mild-mannered guy. Jim was affable, all right, but his aggressive approach with prospective sponsors would later tell me that he was anything but mild-mannered. His determination was evidence of a shift in the attitude around New Orleans. He embodied how fed up the business community was with the languishing economy and poor schools. Leslie Jacobs, a businesswoman then serving on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), proposed a statewide recovery school district that could take control of individual failing schools. The measure required a constitutional amendment before it was implemented, and voters ratified it that year.

Thanks to the pervasive attitude toward education throughout Louisiana and the dogged perseverance of Jim, Hibernia