Katrina forever changed many lives, including these
Hurricane Katrina uprooted many and swept them to other places, including Alabama. There were those on the Alabama Gulf Coast who also lost nearly everything to Katrina. These Alabama Power employees have stories that are both similar to what many others faced and uniquely their own.
Brian Suttles
August is forever fixed as Brian Suttles’ month for anniversaries: His wedding on Aug. 27, son’s birthday on Aug. 28 and Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29. For Suttles and thousands of others, Katrina turned the world upside down.
Ten years ago, Suttles and his young family lived in New Orleans. With their anniversary and son’s birthday to celebrate, Suttles and his wife, Sandy, with 4-year-old daughter Madison and 2-year-old Cole, journeyed to Birmingham to see family. Enjoying the visit, Sandy wanted to extend her stay. They had no inkling her decision would keep Brian’s wife and children safe.
Brian Suttles from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
Sandy kept their car and Brian took a train to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was a police sergeant. His first days back were uneventful. Working on campus since 1999, he’d seen several near-misses with storms. He heard that another hurricane was forming but was expected to miss the city. Heavy rains were forecasted.
“As the storm came closer, we prepared to close the school and get people off campus,” said Suttles, one of six staff safeguarding the 88-acre campus. “The storm passed and the levee broke – it looked like a bad tornado at first.”
Strong gusts of wind, up to 155 miles per hour, uprooted trees. With the campus flooded and nearly 5 feet of water in his apartment, Suttles said, “We all realized we were in a dire situation.” For three days, his team kept the campus secure. Suttles watched looters across a road, while his captain reported that thieves had stolen U.S. Postal Service trucks.
With floodwaters continuing to rise, the seminary police knew they had to leave. Suttles drove away in a six-vehicle convoy, led by a front-end loader tractor pushing water away. Entering Interstate 10 to exit New Orleans, Suttles was shocked by the mass of humanity on the run.
“I’d never seen so many people on the interstate in my entire life – there were men and women with their children, so many families,” he said. “These people fled their homes for higher ground, and that higher ground was the interstate. Our captain told us to turn the lights on and not stop for any reason. I prayed a lot. I prayed we’d make it through.
“In a situation like this, you’re running on adrenalin,” Suttles said. “You’re doing what you know you should do. Knowing my family was nearly six hours away, I wondered how I’d get home.”
Several hours later, they stopped at a church in Mississippi to sleep. It was Suttles’ first chance to call family. “The first person I called was my mom,” he said, his voice wrenched with emotion. “It was so good to hear her voice, and she was glad I was safe. I told my dad, ‘I’m ready to come home,’ but I had to stay one more night in Mississippi.”
Four days later, Suttles’ prayers were answered. He made it to his parents’ home – and safety – in Birmingham. Suttles’ captain called to ask whether he’d be back.
“I went through a moment of regret – the regret of not going back and helping restore things,” he said. “But I’d contributed all I could do. I hung up my police belt.”
The couple returned to New Orleans only for their personal records. Entering the home, they found furniture and belongings overturned by floodwaters, the rooms covered in black mold from top to bottom. The single item Sandy retrieved was their daughter’s sock monkey, still lying on a high shelf.
“The Birmingham area was home to us,” Suttles said. “We were fortunate to have somewhere to go. I knew my place was in Birmingham. It’s noteworthy that my former captain is now an Army chaplain, and my police partner is a full-time pastor in Mississippi.”
Working to recover in 2005, the family settled in a friend’s doublewide trailer in Remlap. Suttles said that many people, as well as the Salvation Army and church members, provided funds to help them get back on their feet. Suttles has been a staunch supporter of the Alabama Power Service Organization (APSO) since he began working at the company in 2006 as a security officer. He was president of APSO’s Magic City Chapter in 2012, and still volunteers in between working in his current role as a customer service representative at the Leeds Office.
“When I’m helping customers who are going through a rough patch, I’ll sometimes tell someone to seek help with the Salvation Army,” he said.
Similar to viewing a movie reel, it takes only a moment for Suttles’ mind and senses to return to the tumult of Katrina.
“I can remember lying in bed at night and hearing people calling for help. For three nights, it was very restless, and there were early mornings,” he said. “I can still smell the stagnant water, smell natural gas and see the people. I had a few nightmares after that, where I’d wake up with a jolt.”
Portia Williams
Portia Williams from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
Moving to New Orleans in her teenage years, the city was home to Portia Williams for 17 years, and she thought she’d be there for life.
“We didn’t know what we were getting into on the front end of the storm,” said Williams, administrative assistant, HR-Labor Relations. “The sky was beautiful, the weather was great and the temperature was normal.”
For years, her family had faced – and overcome – the hurricane threats. Many residents felt the city was invincible because storms – notably Hurricane Danny in 1997, Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Cindy in July 2005 – had historically weakened and turned away to the city’s eastern end before making landfall. Though she lived near a levee, Williams never worried about the structure’s ability to withstand flooding.
“I lived near Lake Ponchartrain,” said Williams, a graduate of Xavier University. “The levees were built for our protection. Every time there was the threat of a hurricane, people would say they’d ride it out. But my mother never liked for us to stay during a storm.”
Around noon on Sunday, Aug. 28, Williams loaded her Jeep with three days of clothing for a short stay with an aunt in Birmingham. The family expected some flooding, but thought they’d be back in a few days. However, Hurricane Katrina changed those plans. Williams was greeted by total silence upon returning to New Orleans several months later – after floodwaters finally subsided – to see what she could salvage.
“It was so quiet, it was surreal,” she said. “Everything was dead and brown. I’ll never forget this big magnolia tree in our front yard – it had been so green and lush, it was majestic. The windows in the house were blown out.”
Afterward, the thing Williams most missed was the city’s culture and community.
“Tradition is very important in New Orleans,” she said. “My community was gone for a period of time.”
Losing everything made a difficult situation that much harder. It is difficult to comprehend one’s belongings are gone, Williams said.
“It’s kind of a mind trip,” she said. “The first things you ask are, ‘What am I going to do? Where am I going to live?’ There are so many things we take for granted. You come to that place where you realize the choice is about living, how to build my life again.”
“I relied on God a lot – He was my comfort in the midst of chaos,” Williams said. “And I have my family. But without a faith, I don’t know how you’d make it through. The good side is there’s nothing you can’t do after you lose everything. You come to that place where you realize the choice is about living. All you can do is survive, make it through and rebuild. That strength is something you carry through your entire life.”
Williams eventually decided to settle in Birmingham with other family members. Aug. 23 brought another anniversary to Williams, who celebrated five years of employment at Alabama Power. Though she experienced the loss of her home in New Orleans, Williams feels that she learned the true priorities in life.
Bud Robertson
Fortitude is a quality in which Bud Robertson is well-experienced. Living near Dauphin Island for many years, Roberson defied the odds and the elements to build an idyllic retreat at Portersville Bay. But Katrina ushered this homeowner a final “one-two punch.”
“It’s the struggle of living in paradise every day,” said Bayou La Batre Office Manager Robertson, who has worked at Alabama Power for 40 years. “We had seen so much over the years, I knew it was pure luck – or even fate – when you saw 100-year-old homes still standing, after all the storms that blow in through the Gulf.”
With winds roaring on Aug. 28, 2005, Robertson’s first effort was to save his store’s electric appliances. Robertson, Mobile Division Market Specialist Rick Ramirez and Facilities Superintendent Phil Rooney removed as many appliances as possible, securing the equipment in 40-foot trailers for transport. When Robertson got home later, he and his wife, Debi, hurriedly stashed paintings, photos, antiques and personal records in their car.
“After the storm, we stayed to see the damage, though it was a couple of days before law enforcement in Bayou La Batre would let us on our property,” Robertson said.
The couple’s awful shock upon arrival: Only the house pilings remained. Everything was gone, including his 30-year APC service award, a grandfather clock.
While Robertson helped with restoring electric service in the Bayou, Debi stayed with their daughter in Birmingham. Losing their home was traumatic.
“It’s like running out of a house fire in the middle of the night,” Robertson said. Housing was at a premium after Katrina, and the couple bought a home farther inland.
“That was the quickest way to recovery,” he said. “All we had was a bed and a refrigerator.” Alabama Power replaced Robertson’s grandfather clock, which graces the foyer of their new home.
For years, Robertson “waffled” about whether to rebuild, and outfitted the waterfront lot with a travel trailer, for use as a fishing camp. Now, architectural plans are in the works.
“People live on the water for the view,” Robertson said. “There’s no other reason to do it. We said that we’d never again put everything we own back on the water. The new house will have to be pretty high and be able to withstand a certain amount of wind, but maybe it’s time to build it back.”
On the eve of the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating landfall from the Gulf of Mexico, Alabama NewsCenter is sharing stories of those who came to Alabama to put down new roots and build new lives and businesses and those who survived the storm here.