Surviving in the floodwaters of Hurricane Betsy
Dolores Parker by Nilima Mwendo, 2003; 4700.1688
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Hurricane Betsy flooded the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, 1965. NOAA.
TEMPESTS: Storms in the Archives
Dolores Parker: We were looking at the TV. They were saying about the storm was coming. And we would say, okay, we're going to get ready in case we had to get out, you know. I'd say the day before, we had went and got some canned goods and stuff and got . . . you know, just got things ready. I said, "Well, I'm going to go to work and we'll see what's going to happen from then." About nine o'clock I went to the door and I looked out, I said, "The street is mighty glassy." And my momma, she came and she looked. I said, "That's water out there." I said, "Well, oh, that water's going to go down." So then the [?] start getting worse, you know? So I called my husband at work, I said, "Look you better come on home," I said, "because I don't know what's going to happen." So he came home. At about eleven o'clock I looked outside; that water was at the first step. I said "Y'all," I said, "don't look like we're going anywhere." I said, "Look like it's coming up." I said, "Well it might just be a little bit of a flooding. So about twelve o'clock one of the kids yelled, "Momma! Water's coming up in the house! Water's coming in the house!" I said, "Oh Lord!" So we just started running around like somebody crazy. So the water got up and started coming up and up so we went next door. The kids, we put them on a mattress and they were floating around. Now, they thought it was fun. I had four old people, my momma and my three cousins over there. I had four children. None of us could swim. I said "Lord, I cannot drink all this water. How am I going to get out of here?" My husband said, "Look, just be calm." He said, "We're going to get out of here." I said, "Okay."
We stayed in that water until one o'clock the next day. But what happened was the helicopters started passing. We got out there with white handkerchiefs and started waving, telling them, "We need help! We need help!" So the guys from the yacht club came in. Like I said, we left out of here, the water was up to here. When the water settled, it settled halfway up the walls. And we couldn't come down here until . . . like about two weeks before we could come in the area to see what we could do. It was just devastated. We lost everything because everything was water soaked. Well, after we washed the house out, we stayed away for about a month to let everything just dry out. I promised the Lord, I said, "Lord if you get me out of here, you ain't going to have no trouble with me going to church and doing what I'm supposed to do!" And I kept my promise.