The Barometer Online

Issue date: 5/17/07 Section: News

Media Credit: John Castle Tim Royal, previously from Terry, La., has been at OSU ever since Hurricane Katrina struck in August of 2005. He decided to stay at OSU.

At 8 a.m. on the morning of August 29, 2005, Tim Royal was sitting at his aunt's house in Arkansas, watching the news as Hurricane Katrina ripped into his home in New Orleans. The Royal family had evacuated on the previous morning as the hurricane continued to grow and was upgraded to a Category 5.

"It took us 20 hours to drive to my aunt's house in Arkansas," Royal said. "It usually takes about half that time. The traffic was crazy. The entire freeway was backed up with people trying to leave the city. Eventually, since there was no one trying to go into the city, they opened up both lanes to outgoing traffic.

"There were so many cars broken down on the side of the road, but nobody could help because all their cars were filled with all their belongings. It was just crazy. And every radio station was telling people to get out of town," Royal said.

Royal's close friend, Sam Fontenot, stayed in New Orleans after Katrina.

"I was really sad when Tim moved to Oregon," Fontenot said. "And it's so depressing here. I don't like living here. Almost everything's exactly the same since the storm. It's been two years and there are so many parts of the New Orleans that are still untouched. There has been very little progress to the city."

Royal, 23, lived 20 miles from Bourbon Street, attended the University of New Orleans and lived in Terrytown, a suburb of New Orleans.

"My sophomore year was getting ready to start within the week, and I really didn't want to evacuate," Royal said. "There were always scares for major storms, and many never hit New Orleans. We had become so jaded, I really wasn't that worried about the storm hitting us."

Royal and his family started packing up at 4 a.m. on Aug. 28. They packed as many of their belongings as they could into their two vehicles, a Ford Taurus and a Ford F250.

Royal's mother Cynthia Royal, who works as a veterinary technician, houses many animals in the home.

"We had a ridiculous amount of animals," Royal said. "We had four dogs, two birds and five cats."

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools