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Residents here fear for loved ones there

By REBECCA CATALANELLO and MEGAN SCOTT
Published August 28, 2005

Edwina Sylvester remembers the sounds of stranded babies crying.

She was 15, huddled with her grandmother in Iota, La., when Hurricane Audrey slammed into Louisiana's coast, killing hundreds and tangling babies in tree tops.

Those memories had her glued to the television all weekend and on the phone with loved ones in New Orleans, Lake Charles and Baton Rouge. Everyone was accounted for, but the dread remained.

"I feel so helpless," said Sylvester, 64, who moved to Thonotosassa in Hillsborough County in 1988.

It was a common sentiment around the Tampa Bay for residents with ties to New Orleans.

Louis Robert, a New Orleans native and Tampa restaurateur, feared for his 71-year-old father, who seemed determined to ride out the storm in his Metairie home.

"Anything of this magnitude is going to be devastating," Robert said from his Nola Cafe near Hyde Park, where he watched TV news reports and prayed for the best.

Les Harris of St. Petersburg was more than a little anxious about his daughter, Layci, a freshman at Xavier University in New Orleans.

Unlike nearby Tulane University, the school hadn't evacuated students by midday Sunday.

"The mayor made an announcement that there is a mandatory evacuation," he said. "Xavier University is doing nothing. It's ludicrous."

Layci, 18, who graduated from Boca Ciega High School earlier this year, lives on the fourth floor of a six-story dorm. She said she was told the building is safe and has been through hurricanes. She had her doubts.

"Yesterday, I wasn't really scared, being from Florida and going through hurricanes on a regular basis," she said. "It is like a category 5 now. Everybody's panicking. People are crying."

About 30 of the 360 students were left in the dorm by Sunday, she said. Even the resident assistants evacuated. She was holding out hope she could make it to the Superdome, which opened as an emergency shelter.

Almost as unnerving for folks with New Orleans connections was what might become of a town known for its architecture, history and culture.

"The whole city is a landmark in my mind," said Eugenie Bondurant of Tampa, a Metairie native.

Bondurant was visiting a sister in California and staying in touch with family. But she worried about an old pecan tree in front of the 1920s family home she owns with her sisters.

"Am I freaked out? Did I wake up with a hurricane headache out in California?" she said. "Yes!"

[Last modified August 28, 2005, 19:34:02]