"Every victim is a story of disaster" Leslie Stone with Operation Blue Roof takes information from a victim, and serves up compassion and Corps care following Hurricane Katrina. USACE Photo. Back to Features

Critical Item!
A Corps disaster tool box should not leave out a box of tissues
By Chrystal Spokane, Realty Specialist, Louisiana Recovery Field Office 

EDITOR’S NOTE: Chrystal Spokane, an Army Corps of Engineers realty specialist from Memphis, was one of the first to deploy to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina’s landfall. She soon discovered an essential item in her collection of disaster response personal equipment and supplies – a box of tissue.  Chrystal has since returned several times for additional deployments and at press time (7/15) was serving in New Orleans again. 

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NEW ORLEANS, La....Recently, I was asked about the work realty specialists did after Hurricane Katrina.  This inquiry started my mind down memory lane that began when I arrived in Baton Rouge five days after Katrina’s landfall.  I stayed for my first deployment 60 days.

I talked about setting up blue roof right-of-entry collections centers and staffing them, locating and appraising debris disposal sites, finding suitable space for the Mortuary Operational Response Team – DMORT, identifying habitable office space for field offices, and securing a lease for the Recovery Field Office – RFO - in Baton Rouge and setting it up.   

I went home that evening and pulled out my plastic storage bin that contains my emergency ops gear.  Inside are my red Corps shirts and caps, a windbreaker, a flashlight, hand sanitizer, some office supplies and cargo pants (not very fashionable, but you can carry all the office supplies you need in those pockets).  

There in the bottom was the thing that evoked the most reaction, and my mind raced with the memories of all the people who sat in front of me looking not only for a blue roof but someone to listen.  It was a box of tissues.  Those that work with me may think this is out of character, but I was deeply touched by the people of Louisiana and their stories.  I’ll summarize. 

• A woman whose father died during the storm was caring for her elderly mother and making funeral arrangements amid the chaos of a wind-damaged home. 
   
• A 30-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department shared that he was deeply moved by the actions of two men from Wisconsin he had met.  They had towed their boats down to New Orleans right after Katrina and rescued residents from rooftops. They never mentioned their names and they never asked for recognition.  Then they left as quietly as they had arrived.    
   
• A retired gentleman spoke about being one of the first people into Plaquemines Parish after Katrina, and he used his fishing boat to rescue exhausted people from the muddy water. 
   
• A single mother, with money in the bank but no way of accessing it because of the power outages, was concerned about finding enough food every day to feed her daughter. 
   
• An elderly gentleman shared that he evacuated with a few clothes and the family Bible, and he would be “just fine.” 
   
• A young father returned to New Orleans while his family stayed in Texas. He was repairing their home. He expressed his despair that the family dog had disappeared during the storm, and he would have to tell his children that their beloved dog, a Vizsla, was gone.  
   
• A woman who was overwhelmed by the number of people and the distance they had traveled to assist with the recovery asked for my name so that she could pray for me and my colleagues.   
   
• A woman who was so very proud that she had made a home and raised her sons after losing her husband in Vietnam was devastated that she would now have to ask her grown sons for help. 
   
• An older man who had retreated into his attic as the flood waters got deeper and deeper said with tears in his eyes that he hadn't lived to be 74 years old so that he could die in his attic.  He kicked a hole through his roof and swam from rooftops and treetops until he reached safety.     

The stories were endless and each one came with tears. 

So if I am called upon for another disaster and I’m face-to-face with those impacted by it, I’m ready with a tissue for them and for me. 

Sometimes we are more than a community of professionals. We in the Army Corps of Engineers are a community of compassion.