Hurricane Katrina at Notre Dame Seminary

The cable television signal worked until the flooding reached the neighborhood Tuesday afternoon, so a wire was run through the refectory to power the cable TV. On broadcast television, the only signal was Channel 4, the CBS affiliate, which broadcast non-stop, counting the late-night reruns of their earlier newscasts. Much of the coverage, however, was simply narrarated helicopter flights over neighborhoods to help evacuated people determine if their homes had survived. Many of the television stations set up shop in surrounding cities like Baton Rouge or Jackson and reported to New Orleanians now displaced to such locations. In any event, there was little information helpful to those remaining in the city. Still, those in the seminary were well aware that some parts of the city had flooded severely - that people were using power lines as guides to move from house to house on rescue missions, that one looter had shot another looter who had no hospital to treat him, that Mayor Nagin was already talking about steet clean-up.

Note, too, the time on the clock - this photograph was taken at about 3:45 a.m. One seminarian wrote while sitting at night in the seminary refectory, "It doesn't seem like a day - time has lost meaning" in the absense of electricity, email, and other time definers - like deadlines. An excellent way to spend the night hours was on the porch watching the brilliant night sky that was now visible above the blacked-out New Orleans and listening to the peaceful quiet that replaced the constant hussle and bustle of Carrollton Ave.
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