A Rescuer's Diary from being in New Orleans when Hurricane Rita hit

 Posted by: Eric Rice, 10/14/06

Ha, Ha. I have to laugh at that night at Lamar as Rita hit. We were
woken that morning with a Sherrif Dep for the county using a bullhorn to
tell us we had to evacuate to the North. Nobody could go south. It was so
surreal, Jane told us to just go work so we went into town (south). Several
minutes after we left the order came down "no rescues that day" we kinda knew
that was coming but didn't care much. We had tons of people watching the
weather and it was not hard to figure out that we were very safe for most of
the day. We set a 3:00 deadline to leave the city. Well at 3:00 everyone
called with some animal crisis they just could not leave even if the damn
hurricane was about to hit us dead on. We finally left at like 7:00. This was
pushing it. Things hit the fan just as we got near Gonzales/Lamar. Lots of
wind and rain. Some lady at the gas station told us that Lamar and HSUS had
implmented the infamous Password system. What a joke. She felt bad
for us and gave it to us on the spot. We went to the gate and since we had
the password we got right in. Now came the craziness. We pulled up and
you could tell we were in a lot of trouble. Nobody had gone out and some crazy
lady started going berzerk (others were really nice) about FEMA and
evacuations and some list of people that were allowed to sleep at Gonzales and us
not being on it. She was from some local HSUS chapter and she was really
laying into the girls. We told her to get Jane...and she started screaming
Jane who, blah, blah, blah. While she was acting looney this other really
nice guy was getting us water and gatorade. She got mad he was being nice
to us and told us to get in our cars. He walked over with a case of
Gatorade. Realize it was raining so hard you could not see. I was really
laughing inside at how bizarre the entire thing was. That is when she took
Lacey's sign off her car. You do not take Laceys sign. Lacey had the .38 at
the YMCA the night all the thugs started appearing and she is the president of
her local Humane Society. Those signs came right back. The they escorted
us to the gate. I had a little dog with tags that I kept and they tried to
take it. No way was it going in that system to be lost. We went to a
parking lot a few miles away and all we could do it sit and wait. I got in the
back of the truck and made a very comfortable bed out of a cot we have. It was
comfortable because it was the first night with no humidity. I
remember thinking this truck is going over and I should at least set the
generator outside so when it does it doesn't crush me. But I was so tired and
comfortable I just fell asleep. The little dog slept right on the end
of the cot. I woke up the next morning to sunny skies and we started buying
supplies to set up the YMCA that night. We never really even took a
day off from Rita. Later I will tell you how that poor little dog got lost.
It is one of my biggest regrets.

To read more about Erick's rescue stories, check out his blog at:  www.EricsDogBlog.com