Worldandnation: Exit from Big Easy wasn't that hard

Exit from Big Easy wasn't that hard

As the situation grew more dire, a Times photographer found a way out of New Orleans.

By DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD, Times Staff Writer
Published September 1, 2005

NEW ORLEANS - Even with floodwaters still rising Wednesday, it was possible to drive out of New Orleans if you got lucky and asked the right person.

2 I have been covering the hurricane and its aftermath and had stopped on Interstate 10 to make a picture when I was approached by two reporters with the New York Post, Queens bureau reporter Jeremy Olshan and photographer Robert Miller, who were also documenting the rescues and refugees. They had lost their vehicle to the rising water downtown and were walking the city.

I was unaware that the situation in the city had grown desperate. Police armed with automatic weapons and shotguns were enforcing martial law while looters ransacked Canal Street.

The police were commandeering fuel from reporters to gas up their cruisers. Gov. Kathleen Blanco said it was becoming clear that there was no choice but for everyone to leave the flooded city.

Plans were under way for evacuations using buses, boats and helicopters. Fatigued and concerned, my two new friends and I agreed to try to drive out.

I asked an NBC news reporter, who knew of no way out. I asked several police officers for a route. One said there wasn't one. Another said U.S. 90 was passable south of the city. "The road is good," he said. "Take everyone you can with you."

It was a gamble, so with a half tank of gas, we gave it a shot.

The directions were simple: Tchoupitoulas Street south to the Crescent City Connection, east across the Mississippi River. Link to U.S. 90 West (via the West Bank Expressway), 25 miles through Jefferson Parish. Take I-310 north 9 miles to I-10, then West to Baton Rouge.

With the air conditioning off and the windows down to save gas we had an uninterrupted run to I-10. Not one puddle to drive through.

The roadway was eerily empty, but that didn't ruin the mood of relief as we sailed into Baton Rouge to fill up our gas tank and eat our first square meal in days.