Over the loud speaker on Saturday morning at the EMS Expo Convention hall in New Orleans, came NAEMT President Ken Bouvier's voice stating we should start the immediate evacuation from the "Big Easy" now and the final banquet had been cancelled. I called Delta and moved my flight up. I felt secure to leave early Sunday morning. Katrina was several hundred miles offshore moving slowly at 11 mph and was due to hit New Orleans early Monday morning. On Saturday afternoon by the pool, the weather was warm, clear, and sunny with a light onshore breeze.

I had watched the weather late Friday night and saw the forecasters point out the potential direction of Hurricane Katrina and the unusual warm water between the hurricane and the state of Louisiana, which could reap havoc for a massive landfall if conditions worsened. I became nervous if the worst came about.

While some EMS Expo attendees left Saturday immediately, back in my room at the Hilton Riverside hotel appeared 3 pages of hurricane instructions, including that if I stayed, to fill the bathtub for drinking water. Saturday night, I was having dinner with conference friends in the French Quarter at a lovely spot, enjoying perhaps the last cup of seafood gumbo. A Delta agent called me to fly out even at an earlier time, at 5:20 a.m. Sunday. After dinner, we took a quick carriage ride around the French Quarter, and said so long to the city. We feared the upcoming devastation; however, I was impressed by the history and the beauty of the city on my first visit.

I left the Hilton Riverside at 2 a.m. by taxi, and when I got to the airport, Delta was nowhere to be found and had cancelled all flights. All Delta agents indicated the airport had closed, but almost all other carriers were flying out persons with aircraft. I immediately got a ticket with Northwest airlines for a 3 p.m. departure. Northwest then cancelled my afternoon flight Sunday. Several of us went on standby on the other AM NWA flights but with no luck; there were too many evacuees and not enough planes.

At 9:30 at the NW gate, I hollered, "I'm a paramedic and I'm heading north," so let’s go rent a car. I led a group of 20 folks that followed me downstairs. All rental car counters were closed but one local Express service was almost out of cars. I suggested we all split up into groups of 5-6 persons to fill a car. Suddenly, one man looked at me and said, "Hi I'm Rocco Morando and this is my wife Theresa and we're with you Dave!"

I then called Ken Bouvier for the best evacuation route out of New Orleans by car: "Head out on Hwy 61 to Baton Rouge and go west." One person in our group had secured a car with AVIS by cell phone but we still needed to find an open office. Suddenly AVIS Rental Car brought over several shuttle buses and took us over to the lot, and agents worked furiously to rent us a car. You could hear an AVIS agent answer his cell phone, and an agent said to their family or friends, "I’ll be home soon -- but I've got just a few more folks here at the counter."

At the AVIS lot, I did a quick report with a Dana Garrett, a CNN NY reporter. At 11:00 six total strangers drove off (Northwest was able to accommodate us within 300 miles of Orleans) on the hurricane evacuation route 61! We were all able to rebook our NWA flights for Shreveport, LA for early Monday a.m. departure, and one person flying out at Baton Rouge at around 9 p.m., who we dropped off.

The orderly ground evacuation took 5 hours to Baton Rouge in bumper-to-bumper traffic (normally a 1-hour drive). Law enforcement vehicles seemed to be at every lighted intersection allowing as much traffic as possible to head out of the Orleans area quickly. I had brought 2 granola bars and a bag of trail mix (and 2 bottles of water) to share. The hardest part was finding a restroom. One person in our group was 3 months pregnant, so at one stop, I guarded the door at one men's restroom as she slipped in behind the door.

Most all car evacuees were responsible, even moving over for some emergency vehicles. I saw many persons stop to help others, and saw an exchange of bottled water for some folks riding in the back of a pickup. The weather was hot and breezy with some thickening clouds by mid afternoon. We found a store open (most were closed before Baton Rouge) and bought snacks and cheese and crackers for the road.

On the highway, we finally got over 30 mph on the road to Lafayette and turning north we headed to Shreveport at normal speeds. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner near Alexandria. There was scattered light rain and a deep reddish sunset. After midnight, some 13 hours later, we slept inside at the Shreveport airport. We called AVIS and thanked them and told the agent that the car was at Shreveport rather then Baton Rouge. I got my group plastic garbage bags to make sleeping bags on the cushions in the airport which was almost vacant.

At dawn Monday, we watched the TV news to see the hurricane pass over the city and said our farewells, so longs, and thought of our friends in the city. We headed back to Ohio, Michigan and me to Minnesota, all of us through Memphis. NWA had a mechanical delay with one of the jet ways starting the plane, so I ran to catch another flight (only to be delayed again for a load and fuel calculation problem). When I arrived back in Minneapolis I did a report with John Crowman from KARE 11 news. "It’s good to be back." I wanted to personally thank the AVIS rental car agents in Orleans who saved our group, but maybe a hundred or so more evacuees. The rescue and recovery goes on.

©Dave Long, The Airbag Detective, Medic, RN, dave.long@northmemorial.com. Dave presented 3 classes at the 2005 EMS Expo: "Freeway and Roadway Safety," "New Car Anatomy From the Detroit Car Show" and "Hybrid Electric Vehicles." Dave is also a 15-year veteran sea kayaker, expedition kayaker and sea kayak racer, and always carries a small first aid kit in his brief case.