The combination of rain, storm surge, and multiple breaches in the levee system that had kept New Orleans dry overwhelmed areas of the city yesterday. It was unclear how many remained stranded. Thousands remained unaccounted for last night.
Especially hard hit was the Lower Ninth Ward, one of the city's poorest areas. The rising waters chased many residents to their attics and then the roofs.
Weber and his 44-year-old wife lived in the Lower Ninth Ward. He was trying to pull her to the roof when he lost her. A while back, she had suffered a stroke and her legs were weak, he said.
On Monday, he said, he heard a loud boom, which he believes was the sound of an unsecured barge breaking through the levee near his home. Five minutes later, he said, the water was gushing through their door.
"I said, 'Baby, we have got to get out of here,' " he recalled.
'She's gone now'
He punched out a window and climbed outside. Then he reached for his wife. He pulled her onto the roof, and then the water pulled her away.
He floated by himself for 14 hours awaiting rescue, clutching a piece of wood and wondering why he should not let go.
"She's gone now," he said, looking at his cut and bandaged hands. "That's just not fair."
Katrina showed little mercy to the city.
The storm took Weber's wife, his home, and his belongings.
It robbed his neighbors of shelter and their most cherished possessions.
It left 9-year-old Leanna Wallace with cuts on her neck, after she scraped it on a ceiling as water rose in her home.
"We had to put our heads like this," she said, tilting her head to the left. "Somebody had to come rescue us with a boat."
Seeking 'heartbeats'
Nearby, Iontha Jack, 43, stumbled down the street, glassy-eyed, apparently dazed. She wore only a black T-shirt that reached to her knees. She nervously tugged at it, pulling it lower. "I'm alive, so you all are going to see some leg," she said.
