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Walter Francis slogged through streets turned into swift rivers and creeks to find his mother, Nellie Francis. The 77-year-old woman was living among the dead at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
1. Walter Francis' home
As floodwaters overtook the Gentilly area, Walter Francis sets out from his Jasmine Street home to find his mother, seven blocks away on Pauger Street. By the time he made it to Gentilly Boulevard, the water was nearly chest high and a car was floating down the street. He had to turn back.
After a night of churning with worry, Walter arrives at his mother's house, having navigated flooded streets with a long stick he used to check for opened sewer holes. He used the same stick to prod the water inside her flooded home, fearing he might find his mother's body. He did not find her corpse among the watery tumult of what had been her "tranquility room."
When Walter finally arrives at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery, where a neighbor said he'd brought his mother by boat, Nellie and her dog, Tank, had been waiting for two days with a group of neighbors who had set up a makeshift camp with groceries and supplies from the nearby Family Dollar store.
A military helicopter lifts Miss Nellie and other cemetery campers from Mt. Olivet to the New Orleans Airport. She spend the night sleeping on a baggage carousel before a military Medi-vac aircraft too her to Tennessee. Walter stays behind and, two days later, drives himself out of the city.
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As floodwaters overtook the Gentilly area, Walter Francis sets out from his Jasmine Street home to find his mother, seven blocks away on Pauger Street. By the time he made it to Gentilly Boulevard, the water was nearly chest high and a car was floating down the street. He had to turn back.
After a night of churning with worry, Walter arrives at his mother's house, having navigated flooded streets with a long stick he used to check for opened sewer holes. He used the same stick to prod the water inside her flooded home, fearing he might find his mother's body. He did not find her corpse among the watery tumult of what had been her "tranquility room."
When Walter finally arrives at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery, where a neighbor said he'd brought his mother by boat, Nellie and her dog, Tank, had been waiting for two days with a group of neighbors who had set up a makeshift camp with groceries and supplies from the nearby Family Dollar store.
A military helicopter lifts Miss Nellie and other cemetery campers from Mt. Olivet to the New Orleans Airport. She spend the night sleeping on a baggage carousel before a military Medi-vac aircraft too her to Tennessee. Walter stays behind and, two days later, drives himself out of the city.