Father's experience in storms gave her strength to survive Katrina
Joan Bostick by Caroline Gerdes, 2012; 4700.2431
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Joan Bostick.
TEMPESTS: Storms in the Archives
Caroline Gerdes: Do you remember any hurricanes or floods in the Ninth Ward?
Joan Bostick: Yes, I remember one in the '40s and we didn't . . . We didn't leave the house. We were on Pauline Street. We didn't leave the house. We stayed there and it was just like a real bad heavy rain. It wasn't like, you know, Katrina where this flooded and that flooded. My father lived through the 1900s storm in Galveston and he would tell us something about it. And we were kids, and I'm so sorry I told him, I'd say, "Oh I don't want to hear about that." But he would tell us some of his experiences there and frankly that gave me a great deal of strength. We stayed in New Orleans nine days after Katrina. And his memory and thinking of it gave me a great deal of strength.
Gerdes: Were you living here during Katrina?
Bostick: In this house. Nine days. There were about nine people that lived . . . that stayed. I would say six white and three black. However, for the nine days, you weren't a man, you weren't a woman, you weren't old, and you weren't young, and for sure you weren't black, and you weren't white. We all helped each other. We held each other when we cried. We shared food. We shared water. And it was a very, very close community. About seven of them left and my husband said everything was going to go back to normal in three days and then a policeman came and he had tears in his eyes and he said, "Please leave." We said, "Okay." So that's when we went up to Abita Springs.
Gerdes: And when did you return to the Ninth Ward?
Bostick: About a month later when they had potable water.
Gerdes: Right. Wow.
Bostick: But I'll never stay again. I kept a journal of it and I haven't even . . . I don't want to see it, I haven't looked at it. It's something I went through and I'm glad I went through it. I'm proud that I went through it, but I don't want to do it again.