Charlie Melancon: “in closing, the days immediately following the storm in Katrina, before Rita even came and devastated southwest…”

“in closing, the days immediately following the storm in Katrina, before Rita even came and devastated southwest Louisiana and eastern Texas, the only way I can get to Chalmette and St. Bernard Parish was by boat on the river. And when I got there, I met the sheriff. And they were organizing people they were lifting off the roofs at the port facility referred to as the Chalmette Slip. And all of these people, they had lined up about 200 people putting life jackets on them, putting them on a barge to bring them across the rivers to what is known as Algiers Point in hopes that there would be buses there could take them to a good place, because nobody really knew whether the buses would come and where they would ultimately end up. But we gave them two MREs and we put them on the barge and we sent them out to Algiers Point, one we said for supper tonight with a bottle of water, one for breakfast in the morning with a bottle of water and let's just hope that the buses will get there. And as the sheriff and I said goodbye to these folks, the first guy that was in line looked at the sheriff and looked, and he said, Sheriff, you know me, told him his name. He says you know my brother, Joe. You know where we live. Joe drowned. Do not forget him. The next person in line was a lady who just burst into tears and hugged the sheriff and she was excited. She thought she was going somewhere. I do not where that lady is today.…”