Tampa Photography Blog

Merriam-Webster defines martial law as the law administered by military forces that is invoked by a government in an emergency when the civilian law enforcement agencies are unable to maintain public order and safety.

While the local, state and federal governments were arguing over how to handle the crisis, who should handle it and who should get credit, The National Guard stepped in and took control.

Thank God.

Working in a tense, unpredictable situation is hard enough without worrying about whether or not YOU as a journalist will become a victim. When people are desperate, they turn to anyone who can help. Some plead, some steal.

Rumors started that the New Orleans Police Department was basically disabled—officers had taken to looting or fleeing the city all together. I have no idea if that was true. I do know that as many local people as there were volunteering (police, firefighters, etc), there were just as many members of the National Guard.

I never felt 100% safe when I was in New Orleans for Katrina but then again, I didn’t feel completely safe while attending Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street either.

As we drove near the French Market, we came upon a profane epitaph spray painted on a wall above a dead body wrapped in a sheet. It was a surreal experience to see a dead body in the open with no immediate need to remove it or investigate. We asked some local police officers later if they knew what body we were talking about. They did and they said it appeared the man was strangled to death.

So, this man didn’t die from drowning or starvation after Hurricane Katrina, but instead someone strangled him? This blew my mind.

When I asked why they didn’t move the body to a morgue, the officer answered with a “What’s the point?” kind of attitude. He said there were so many bodies piling up, it was hard to find places to store them. 1300 bodies total were found in Mississippi and Louisiana, not counting those who are still missing. A makeshift morgue was set up at St. Gabriel to house nearly 900 bodies while family members tried to identify and claim their loved ones.

We also visited a cemetery and saw that the few caskets that were buried underground were no longer in their original resting place. Most of the graves in New Orleans have above-ground tombs because once you dig a few feet under the surface, you’ve hit water. When it floods, everything becomes an above-ground cemetery.

After a few days of complete chaos in the city, The National Guard took over and did so very well. They camped out at the Riverwalk and Convention Center and brought order to a situation that seemed completely out of control. They were kind enough to share water and MREs with us and I will never forget how they handled the aftermath of Katrina.

September 1, 2005 journal entry:

“The most uneasy feeling was driving around the French Quarter, seeing no one except refugees trying to leave and looters. It finally hit me that there is no law. If something happened to us, no one would know and there’s no police to call. Even if there were, our cell phones don’t work within miles of New Orleans.”

“Francis [a Times reporter] didn’t do anything I didn’t want to but I definitely pushed my personal limits—with my car and my safety. It’s a bad situation when I don’t feel safe, even when police and military are sometimes standing near me on a street corner. There is no guarantee they can protect me.”

A special thank you goes out to Louisiana State Trooper Doug Pierrelee of Bossier City, Louisiana who watched over me while I was in New Orleans. He did his job well while still giving me access to important information and photo opportunities. I appreciate his time and felt completely safe knowing he and other troopers had my back. Thank you!

*Last two photos by Bart Boatwright/The Greenville News*