2008 Woodie Awards
Something worth rebuilding'
Sarah Vaz '07
Issue date: 9/15/06 Section: World
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Editor's Note: This is the first in a two-part series about New Orleans resident, Len Alsfeld '74. Part One details his personal experience in the year since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
In a city where so much has been lost, Len Alsfeld has found blessings amid the debris. A Providence College alum and Rhode Island native, Alsfeld is one of the many New Orleans, La., residents who have stood by the city, despite the devestation and slow recovery process.
When Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast last year, Americans saw chaos erupt in their living rooms as T.V. news correspondents reported on the crisis every night. This horror, however, paled in comparison to what New Orleans residents experienced as darkness set in and the waters rose.
Alsfeld remembers the days immediately after the storm as nothing short of social breakdown. With electricity unavailable and the basic essentials of life hard to come by, rioting and looting became commonplace. Those who evacuated sat in traffic amidst breakdowns. Lines to receive rations of gas were staggering.
Many, like Alsfeld, relocated to Baton Rouge, La., immediately after Katrina hit. But Baton Rouge, with the strain of tens of thousands of New Orleans residents thrust upon their community, suffered from the strain. Restaurants and supermarkets buckled under the pressure of customers consuming in panic mode.
He says that with the corporations buying up condos by the dozens for their employees, and FEMA "shamefully" purchasing everything in sight, the essentials of life, including basic shelter, were hard to come by for evacuees like him.
Meanwhile, Alsfeld had three children in college, and a fourth child who had been attending high school in New Orleans, to worry about.
"When you have kids," he said, "you try to maintain a predictable and normal lifestyle." Katrina, however, had made this virtually impossible. Alsfield remembers his youngest son Clark acting "like a zombie" in the days after the destruction.
In a city where so much has been lost, Len Alsfeld has found blessings amid the debris. A Providence College alum and Rhode Island native, Alsfeld is one of the many New Orleans, La., residents who have stood by the city, despite the devestation and slow recovery process.
When Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast last year, Americans saw chaos erupt in their living rooms as T.V. news correspondents reported on the crisis every night. This horror, however, paled in comparison to what New Orleans residents experienced as darkness set in and the waters rose.
Alsfeld remembers the days immediately after the storm as nothing short of social breakdown. With electricity unavailable and the basic essentials of life hard to come by, rioting and looting became commonplace. Those who evacuated sat in traffic amidst breakdowns. Lines to receive rations of gas were staggering.
Many, like Alsfeld, relocated to Baton Rouge, La., immediately after Katrina hit. But Baton Rouge, with the strain of tens of thousands of New Orleans residents thrust upon their community, suffered from the strain. Restaurants and supermarkets buckled under the pressure of customers consuming in panic mode.
He says that with the corporations buying up condos by the dozens for their employees, and FEMA "shamefully" purchasing everything in sight, the essentials of life, including basic shelter, were hard to come by for evacuees like him.
Meanwhile, Alsfeld had three children in college, and a fourth child who had been attending high school in New Orleans, to worry about.
"When you have kids," he said, "you try to maintain a predictable and normal lifestyle." Katrina, however, had made this virtually impossible. Alsfield remembers his youngest son Clark acting "like a zombie" in the days after the destruction.