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Family flees New Orleans area before storm hits
By Lynn Hotaling
Unlike many of the south Lousiana residents uprooted by Hurricane Katrina, one family with local ties opted to leave town before the storm hit.
Barry Nicholson, a 1987 Sylva-Webster High School graduate, left the New Orleans area with his wife and baby daughter before the monster storm came ashore.
“We left Sunday morning (Aug. 28),” Nicholson said. “We had planned to come up here for Labor Day anyway, so we just left a few days early.”
Though the couple had left their home in Kenner, La., which is located west of New Orleans before Hurricane Ivan hit last year, Nicholson said the fact that they now have an 8-week-old baby played a part in their decision to leave this time.
Kenner, which is located near Metairie and Louis Armstrong Airport, is in “better shape that the rest of the city,” Nicholson said.
“We’re west of the levee break,” he said.
Also unlike many impacted by the storm, Nicholson said he and his family will go back, though he may not take his family with him on the first trip to survey the condition of their home.
“We’re getting conflicting reports as to whether there’s power and water in our neighborhood,” Nicholson said.
He knows Kenner experienced some flooding, but said it was nowhere near as bad there as in other parts of New Orleans.
“We’re in the north part of Kenner, and the levees held,” he said. “We’ve seen some aerial photos and have reason to believe our house is OK.”
One thing Nicholson won’t lack is work when he settles back into the storm-ravaged area – he’s in the business of restoring homes.
“We’ll have plenty of work if we can find people with money to pay for repairs,” he said.
The Nicholsons have found help while stranded in Western North Carolina, he said. Sylva Pediatrics took care of the baby’s 2-month shots, even though the family had none of the child’s medical records, and the Red Cross has also provided aid, he said.
Nicholson, his wife Kristen and baby daughter Jennie are staying with his mother, Delores Nicholson, in Webster.
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