Posted by Ozarks Lawyer on 9/03/05

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The legals listserves to which I subscribe to have
exploded with commentary and whatnot about the hurricane
and New Orleans. What follows is one from the National
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer's listserve:

CJ Experience: Still in New Orleans
One man, holed up in his flooded house, describes the
scene and storm
By Donald A. "Donny" Sauviac, Jr.
Updated: 5:08 p.m. ET Sept. 1, 2005

I am Donald A. Sauviac, Jr. a criminal defense attorney.
As of Thursday Sept 1, 2005 at 7:49 a.m., I am holed up
in a third generation family home located at Weiblen and
Vicksburg Streets in the Lakeview area of New Orleans. My
wife and four daughters left just before the storm and
managed to make it to Memphis, Tenn. where they have
three rooms with friends who left Metairie. I have two
collie dogs and a bird here with me. The dogs are holding
up on the second story flat roof with the generator. I am
on the second story of the house a converted double. I
have a 22 ft. pontoon boat tied up on the side street. I
have plenty of food and water. I keep using the generator
to charge up my phone and listen to the radio to figure
out what is going on around me. I just moved into this
house from a house in Metairie, which is known for
flooding. As fate would have it the Metairie house that
was up for sale is high and dry with no apparent damage.

The house I'm in had calf high water up to the second
step of the inside stairwell. The water has subsided in
the last day it only covers the firststep. (the house is
up on piers and from the sidewalk it comes up to my chest
standing -- I guess the total depth was about 5 ft. Until
yesterday I had clear running water in the upstairs sink,
toilet and tub -- probably ok for washing off but not to
drink. In a two block are there seems to be about a dozen
people who are staying at this time. We check in on each
other and talk by wading down and/or from windows or
rooftops.

For the past few days I was charging on neighbors cell
phone with the generator and used that phone occasionally
to get a call out. At this time I have cell service in
the very early a.m. and late p.m. I even have wireless
Internet service which just started working. My wife and
children are frantic they want me to leave but I won't.
This was my maternal grandparents' house that I as a child
evacuated to during hurricane Betsy when my parents home
in Gentily went underwater and we were evacuated by boat.

This is a very strong house, I laid on a mattress on the
second floor during this hurricane with a rosary in one
hand and the other hand uplifted praying the Hail Mary
over and over probably 10,000 plus times. I am Catholic
but no ultra religious -- until now. I promised never to
not evacuate in the future when told to do so if I just
made it through this one. I kept hearing the 140 mph, wind
hitting the house a nearly 100-year-old wood framed shot
gun. I kept waiting for something to give. It never did. A
tree fell on the back added on portion but seems to have
done little damage and quite a bit of the seal tab roofing
has blown off in certain places from what I can see.

As I stand now, I have 5 gallons of gas for the generator
(So far I have used 5 gals since the storm) I have I have
16 gals of water (I have used 3 on me and 5 for my dogs)
have two 101 qt ice chests that still have some ice (the 5
day story is probably true) and I have food for about a
week I have been trying to eat the things that will
probably spoil and my dogs have been eating better than
normal -- they won't touch the dog food since they are
getting the extra table food so to say.

My fan and radio batteries have held out very well. I call
in a list of things to my brother in Baton Rouge and he is
gonna try and get them to me if he can find a friend with
a flat boat. I have a lot of furniture and clothing on the
second, floor, which is fine. I have a lot of things
downstairs, which are either ruined, or about to be
ruined in the dark cold water that came inside. Everything
in my two garages is probably ruined. My N.O. law office
is a few blocks away on Canal Blvd.

Historically I never got water at Weiblen or at Canal
Blvd. I went there by boat two days ago and have about 5
feet of water in the office, which is on a hill with a
deep underpass. I parked a 1983 El Camino that I was
restoring there and it is either completely under water or
gone. I had a second small boat there, which has sunk. My
daughter's car was in the shop and I would bet money it is
under water. Also my car sunk when I tried to get in from
my house two blocks down when I noticed the storm was over
and the water was surprisingly starting to rise.

The water is from a breech in the 17th Street Canal levee
which separates Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. I believe
the extra water in N.O. is from the pumping efforts in
Jefferson. Jefferson pumped into Lake Pontchartrain, which
went into the 17th street canal which went into Lakeview.

I did assist in one rescue while surveying my office from
a distance I was summoned to help get an old lady off the
roof of her house. My boat a party (fishing) barge was too
large to go in the back way and a small flat boat got to
her first.

Again, my wife and kids want me to leave but I really
can't risk that for the past few days I have had numerous
offers from police, fire and volunteers in here in boats
but there are too many things I am attempting to save by
carrying out when the chaos settles for now I'm fine. My
boat does not allow me to get over railroad tracks or
under the flooded underpasses. If I left now I would have
to abandon the boat and contents. I am searching for an
alternate route, probably going to mid city, Gentilly or
further then getting into Lake Pontchartrain and then
going to the Bonnable Boat launch in Metairie.

Unfortunately I would be on ground level without all of
the items I have here and would still be without car,
electric, running water and probably few neighbors to
assist. I might also be precluded from returning to my
N.O. home. Right now I don't have the looting etc., which
has made the news, I am sitting here with a 5 ft moat and
armed to the hilt. If I get out I will be at the mercy of
maybe being picked up after days of waiting without
necessities and without any say so where I may be
relocated -- probably in the opposite direction of my wife
and kids and certainly away from the multiple properties I
am trying to protect.

Therefore I am waiting and planning to survey, pack and
remove what I can, so my family will have some clothes and
items other than what they left town a few days ago with.
I have to survey my new satellite office in Houma as a
possible temporary office relocation site. I think the
damage there is also bad but my wife thinks otherwise I
have had no contact there to make that determination at
this time.

I have no idea of how long I can hold out but know it
won't be more than 1 1/2 - 2 weeks more. My family will
be in desperate need of assistance, which I am trying to
coordinate from here by passing on info through my wife
and brother. I love this house and neighborhood. ... I
would like to get some info out to my friends nationwide
that I am alive and holding up well.

New Orleans - Surviving the Chaos, 9/03/05, by Ozarks Lawyer.

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