Escaping through the roof in Katrina and being rescued by a Good Samaritan
Gwendolyn Ridgley by Myrna Matherne, 2007; 4700.1955
Click photo to enlarge
Gwendolyn Ridgley. Photo by David Breidenbach.
TEMPESTS:
Storms in the Archives
Gwendolyn Ridgley: The storm Betsy that passed in nineteen . . . was it '65 or '66? One of
those years. Quite a few people died in that storm, because they went to the attic and they didn't
have the proper tools to get out through the roof. And that was way passed, we just used to talk
about that all the time. But now, we're confronted with this storm [Katrina]. So we did pull down
the stairs to the attic, and I said, I told Pat, I said "I'm not going in the attic." And we just
laughed. And just at that point, the water hit the front door. Her air handler is in the hallway,
right there as you're going up. And in there is where she kept her little tools, miscellaneous
tools. The saw, the hammer that we needed. And we got those things, and up in the attic we
went!
We sawed and we hammered. And of course, once we hewn through the roof, we could hear the
helicopters passing, the orange helicopters passing. And we got a little flag, a towel, whatever,
and we would fly it through, but nobody never stopped. But we realized later that they were getting
people out of the water. And I guess this was my first time really praying out loud. And I said,
"Lord, Lord, you've got to get us out of this, Lord." And just then, the boat was coming.
Myrna Matherne: Oh!
Ridgley: Yes, just then the boat was coming. And he was rescuing the other people across the
canal there. I yelled at the young man. I said, "Could we possibly . . . Could you possibly help us
out?" He said, "Oh, yes, I'll be back for you." I said, "Don't tell me you're going to come back if
you're not going to come back." He said, "No, I wouldn't do that to you. I'll be back." He said, "In
about ten minutes, I'll be back. Once I get all of these people out." And then he came back. Good
Samaritan, and right now I can't even think of his name, but I pray for him every night, thanking
God for him every night.