KCK Man Remembers Katrina, as Isaac Moves Through

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Hurricane winds from Isaac are poised to hit New Orleans, LA late Tuesday on the eve of Katrina’s devastating blow seven years ago.

One man who said he was living in New Orleans during that time, remembers very clearly what it was like.

Montae Richardson was a junior at Dillard University in New Orleans at the time.  He said he and his roommate had just gotten their new apartment, only to be run out by Hurricane Katrina.

Katrina ravaged the coast and put the city under water in 2005.

“It was like a ghost town, and it was like riding through the set of a movie. I had never seen anything like it,” Richardson said.

Richardson said it was his mom who called him to leave the city.  He, along with thousands of others, tried to find refuge up north.

“What was suppose to be a five-hour trip to Shreveport took 27 hours,” Richardson said.

But it was 27 hours that meant the difference between life and death.  Katrina claimed more than 1,800 lives.  Homes and apartment complexes were destroyed, including Richardson’s.

“It was in New Orleans east, one of the hardest hit areas, and there was about 10 to 12 feet in my apartment complex,” he said.

His place was nothing but a muddied parking lot with cars, debris, and more, in places they shouldn’t be.

“You could see and smell dead animals everywhere, it was really bad,” he said.

Richardson said as Hurricane Isaac looms, there is a sense of nervousness in that area.

“Because of Katrina, a lot of people are reluctant to ride out storms,” he said. “It’s something that I’ll never forget, it’ll always be in the back of my mind,” Richardson said.

Richardson said he moved back from Louisiana two months ago for a new job.  He said he is keeping in touch with his friends down south.  He said they say for the most part, they are not as concerned about Isaac.  But he adds, there are some who have evacuated the area.

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