The next morning I got up an hour early by accident. Adaora and I thought about going down to visit Karen to see how they were holding up. We were never able to confirm if they had evacuated the 1,000 people — 200 patients the rest staff — staying there. I’m so exhausted I decied to go back to bed after having showered. A minute after I lay down I hear a knock on my door. It’s a producer for Anderson Cooper’s how telling me we are having a meeting in 15 minutes to decided whether we stay or leave. I was a bit surprised but said I’d be there. When I got downstairs the decision had been made, we were leaving in one hour in a convoy. I was told I had to decide what I wanted to leave behind and bring as little as possible. It was a strange feeling for once being the victim instead of the observer.
I gathered my things, grabbed some food for the road and went downstairs to the garage. We decided the only way out was to drive the cars down the sidewalk. We weren’t sure they would fit but since it was six inches higher than the street, it was our only shot the engines would not get flooded.
I guided the first and biggest car down. All along the sidewalk were broken out windows. As we got to the end of the block there was an electronics store with people streaming out of it holding equipment. A policeman was leaning on a police cruiser on Canal Street watching. He was leaning on a cruiser he didn’t have the keys to. He didn’t have a radio either but may have had a gun though that would not have been useful in this situation. There was nothing he could do.
All of our cars made it out onto Canal street. We got in and drove out on a very confusing but mostly dry route towards the west of the city. We drove to Baton Rouge. Along the way Adaora was looking out the window and notice a huge plane in the sky. It was Air Force One. The president was doing a quick flyover from the plane. I took a picture and correspondent John Zarrella put it in his report.
The convoy ride was something I never thought I would exprience here in the United States. It was a surreal, and I’ve been to Baghdad. I don’t ever recall feeling as scared as I did getting out of that hotel garage. I had no idea what we would face.