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An Interview With a Survivor
by Matt Allen
Matt Allen & Hattie Mills
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The warm afternoon sun was setting on the south Louisiana horizon as Mrs. Hattie Mills watched from the small front porch of her home, just as she has every evening for the past year. A native to South Louisiana, Mrs. Mills, 74 years young, is a widow who has lived in the Slidell area for most of her life. That was until Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.
Hurricane Katrina struck Slidell, Louisiana on August 29, 2005. Mills and seven of her neighbors and church members, including her pastor Kathleen Javery Bacon, fled into their church to wait out the storm.
"We stayed in the steeple of the church during most of the hurricane," said Mills. "The trees looked like bullets shooting through the sky." The hurricane had winds in excess of 165 miles per hour, and the eye of the storm passed only twenty miles away.
In the days after the storm, the stranded few that fled to the church were given a chance to escape.
"An outsider with a motorboat was out looking for people and was drawn to the church by the tolling of the bell," Mills said. "He said, 'Ring the church bell if you have more than two people,' so we did. And then he said, 'Ring the bell if you have more than five,' so we did." Mills continued, "Then he gave us the bad news. His boat only held five people. So we all agreed that we all go or no one goes."
It wasn't long until the National Guard came to their rescue. Through the hole in roof they went. The storm surge from the broken levees of Lake Pontchartrian was more than eight feet, and most houses were completely under water, including Mrs. Mills' home.
"I was displaced to Milton, Massachusetts. I was with my children - thank God, that's all that matters," said Mills.
For Thanksgiving she always stayed up all night making a huge pot of gumbo for Thanksgiving dinner, and baking pumpkin pies and macaroni and cheese. "That year I didn't have enough energy to stay up and cook, " said Mills sadly.
After six months she moved back to Louisiana with her grandchildren to Baton Rouge. "After gutting and renovating the house, I was able to move back to Slidell. But only two of my five kids have come back. "
Today Mrs. Mills will enjoy her new family room, compliments of the labor from the group attending the Mars Hill College Service Trip over Spring Break.
"I'm goin' get a big-screen TV and put a huge recliner right over there so I can watch Jerry Springer," she said jokingly.
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Spring Break Volunteers Pitch In
Galleries by Matt Allen and Kate Prichard
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