Posted on 09/06/2005 7:51:05 PM PDT by af_vet_1981
Amidst the suffering and turmoil, there are stories of survival and rejoicing. Now, one young family who left Reno for New Orleans just a few months ago, is back safe and sound.
Mark Markiewicz, his wife April and eight-year-old son Alex knew the hurricane was coming. They went to the Superdome for shelter, but they said the nightmare that awaited them there was far worse than anything they may have faced from Hurricane Katrina.
It was an anxious group of family members gathered at the Reno airport to welcome the Markiewicz' back from New Orleans.
April's grandmother, Helen DeSouza, said they spent days not knowing whether the three had lived through Hurricane Katrina. "I don't think I slept more than five hours. We felt guilty if we weren't watching TV, we got sick watching TV, and feared the worst."
But fear turned to joy as they saw the family round the corner and start making their way down the hall. They emerged from their embraces to tell a nightmarish story, of survival against all odds and of sticking together through the storm.
The family lived on the lower floor of a 123-year-old Victorian home in New Orleans. When the hurricane bore down, they initially planned to weather it from home, but then decided to go to the Superdome.
They say that's when the real nightmare began. April, "The first people to enter the Superdome were homeless people, mentally ill people, physical handicapped and then they decided to open it up to the public and they didn't separate us. So, you're walking around with people who have mental problems, and these people were preying on the children, they're preying on the women who they knew were there alone."
There were shootings, killings, at least one suicide. Women carried make-shift weapons because in the pitch black, there were rapes, even rapes of children. April, "I didn't wait in line for any of the food and water because we were too scared to wait in the lines. There was too much stuff going on. Anytime we went to the bathroom, we went as a team."
They had brought a few bags of belongings, which they were forced to abandon when the ceiling tore open and they were sleeping in the rain. April, "We brought five big heavy bags. Every time we had to pick up the bags and move. Finally, we found a small area where we thought we were safe. We made a little makeshift tent in the dark, because there was no electricity, and we literally camped out there."
Eventually, they left the Superdome and waded through chin-high water back home. Their apartment was flooded, but they made their way out again, caught a military helicopter, then a plane back to Reno.
Now, safely back with family, it's time to make plans. They lost virtually everything, the home they were building was heavily damaged, their storage units flooded. But unlike many families, they have each other, they are together, and they're all right.
And it was a happy, reunited family that made its way out of the airport and safely home again.
As for immediate plans, Mark says he's hoping to pull together enough money to take his son to Disneyland. Having weathered this storm at such a young age, he says, he thinks Alex would enjoy it.
Eventually, the family does want to return to New Orleans.
"Eventually, the family does want to return to New Orleans." And that would be because...?
Horrible.
I wonder how many children and women were raped and killed because Blanco needed more time to make a decision about getting the feds involved?
Odd, huh ?
It may have been survivor's guilt tossed in at the end of the interview, or perhaps related to the original reason that had moved to New Orleans from Reno.
I can't see moving from Reno to New Orleans. It must have been a family down on their luck or with roots in that area.
I would really like a full count of exactly how many threads were pulled off of FR on this topic.
There were SEVERAL that day.
“We saw two girls who had been raped, their throats slashed. Their heads were next to their bodies. This was on the second floor of the convention center,” Martin said. “They weren’t covered up. They had run out of sheets and body bags.
And because widespread discussion was intentionally prevented....
stimulation junkies
There was a poster the other night telling me the rapes didn't happen. But today the convention center was searched and bodies, including a 7 year old girl, were found in the commercial freezer.
Animals.
There are clearly some people with a pro-rapist agenda whose strategy and tactics are deny, deny, deny. There are too many reports, too many witnesses. Unfortunately many of the victims may be dead. Even worse than in Aruba where no body, no crime; no live victim, no crime; just bury the dead and lie to the American people because of moral decay and lack of character.
With their throats slashed.
Coming to a community near you.
Someone else mentioned it, so I looked it up earlier today, but in Orleans parish they have about 1400 registered sex offender/child molesters. How many were likely of a high enough income level to leave on their own I wonder. Then you have to wonder how many were inside the SD and convention center.
"And has said to some close to her, she thought the president was trying to make a'' political move'' on her."
Thanks to the Howard Dean/DU school of politics.
I happen to know Mark Markiewicz he is a former police officer. I'm glad to know he's back in Reno and safe. Sounds like he and his family went through hell.
And his wife said:"I didn't wait in line for any of the food and water because we were too scared to wait in the lines. There was too much stuff going on. Anytime we went to the bathroom, we went as a team."
Exactly! While people are drowning and dying horrible deaths she is logged onto DU reading and believing all the conspiracy theorists, Bush bashing ,wacko nuts. When people argue that the far left has not taken over the Rat party and that RATS AREN'T DANGEROUS to this country and are fit for office, I will point them toward this idiot woman and the consequences of her non action!
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