As conditions in and around New Orleans grow worse, the pleas have multiplied— online cries for help from the families and friends of those stuck in their homes. Many of the listings include addresses, even phone numbers of those awaiting rescue. Dateline called some of those numbers today and heard story after desperate story.
Koya Craddock, who lives in Atlanta, posted her family’s story online last night in desperation. Her aunt and uncle, her cousin, and her cousin’s boyfriend have been trapped in a house on Bayou road in downtown New Orleans since the storm struck Monday morning. Because Craddock’s cousin has a gash on her leg, the family is afraid to trudge through the water on the street.
“She’s not in too good a shape,” says Craddock. “They are inside the house and by some miracle they’re still dry at this point. But they’re concerned about more about her leg cause they know she cannot walk in the water. They’ve been outside on the roof waving a flag — a white sheet. They used ketchup to write help on the sheet and they said the helicopters have been passing 4 or 5 times and they’re just not stopping. The adults in the family are rather old so the boyfriend is on the roof and he’s trying to grab their attention.”
At 11 this morning, we reached Koya’s aunt, Carol Fortunay, on her cell phone, which has been working intermittently.
James: How many time have the helicopters been by?Fortunay: Quite a few times but they’re transporting medical people we can understand.James: Do you have food and water in there?Fortunay: We have no food and no water in the house.
About 2 hours later, with her niece Koya on the line, we spoke to Carol again.
James: Hello?Fortunay: Yeah.James: Are the helicopters still around? Yeah they are around, we just keep flagging and flagging and they just keep passing. We think they are seeing us though. James: You think they’re seeing you?Fortunay: Yeah they’re flying real low they just not stopping.Koya: they’re not stopping?Carol: [crying] noCarol: ...we got to get more towels so we can flag em.Craddock: They’re gonna get you carol.Fortunay: I know. We just don’t have anything in the house anymore. We’re just afraid to leave the house because we -– (gets cut off)Craddock: Carol? Carol?
We lost the connection with Carol around 12:45 this, afternoon and have been unable to reach her since. Later this afternoon, I called the Coast Guard’s hotline and was put through to an emergency operator with the Louisiana state police.
We were told that there are different operations at one time, coordinated through state police and FEMA, and there are different things these helicopters could be doing, and different missions they could be on.
The operator took the family’s address and said they would add it to their huge database of people needing rescue.
Coast Guard officials announced today they’ve rescued more than 4,000 people from rooftops and flooded neighborhoods throughout the gulf coast.
Tonight, Koya Craddock is praying her relatives will be added to that list.
