Three New Orleans fire department captains and some of their firemen took refuge in a high rise apartment complex near the shores of Lake Pontchartrain and within a stone's throw from the 17th Street Canal during Hurricane Katrina.
When the water in the parking lot began rising rapidly they knew something was terribly wrong and one of them went to the seventh floor in the swaying building and began filming with his video camera. He captured the break in the 17th Street Canal and proved that the water did not overtop the levee but that the floodwall broke instead. It is a very dramatic film that was released and shown for the first time yesterday because it had been sealed as evidence. It was used in the Congressional investigation of FEMA and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers.
As soon as the winds begin to die to where the firemen could swim they went into the neighborhood and commandeered this boat. They made hundreds of trips for a week rescuing people from their houses and from the roofs of houses and in trees. Their bravery should receive the highest commendation offered.
When interviewed last night they all said that they simply try to put it out of their minds. Several of them watched their houses destroyed in the rushing water.
This boat has remained in the same spot where they left it when the waters began to recede. Notice the water line on the wall. Water remained at that level for about three weeks but in the first few days following Katrina it topped the houses behind the wall.