Arena football

First survival, then a reunion

New Orleans native Lynaris Elpheage got caught up in the hurricane when the levees gave way.

By FRANK PASTOR
Published September 14, 2005

TAMPA - With downed trees littering his yard and floodwaters rising around him, Storm receiver/defensive back Lynaris Elpheage left his home in New Orleans' Ninth Ward for the last time on Aug. 31, wondering if he ever would see his family again.

After a frantic few days during which he rode out the storm before seeking refuge at the Louisiana Superdome, then the Astrodome in Houston, Elpheage and eight family members were reunited in Temple Terrace on Monday.

"Everybody is safe, everybody is together," Elpheage said. "At first, I wasn't sure where we were going to go. I didn't know how anything was going to turn out. Now, we've got a place to live, which is going to make everything so much easier."

Elpheage, 23, was born and raised in New Orleans and attended Tulane. His parents evacuated to Baton Rouge, but he stayed behind to wait for his brother, Charles, who was moving from California. Phone service was lost and his brother hadn't arrived when the streets closed, so Elpheage was left alone in the storm.

Other than the toppled trees, his home appeared intact. Power and water were out, but he had plenty of bottled water.

But when a large portion of the 17th Street Canal levee broke, water from Lake Pontchartrain poured into Elpheage's house and rose quickly until everything was under water.

"That's when I knew I had to leave," he said.

Elpheage got out of his house and swim to a nearby boat crammed with people from the neighborhood. They paddled to the interstate, where he hitched a ride to the Superdome.

"It was just unbelieveable, because everybody was panicking," Elpheage said. "They didn't know what to do, because the Superdome was the only place you could go because water was 20-30 feet above the houses."

The dome was crowded, so Elpheage stayed outside for a few hours until he caught a ride to the Astrodome. The situation in Houston was safer but equally uncomfortable. The stadium was packed, and Elpheage had to wait in long lines for showers during his two-night stay.

While at the Astrodome, he called Storm coach Tim Marcum. The coach wanted to get his player to safety as quickly as possible, but Elpheage insisted on going to Baton Rouge first to check on his family, which was staying at a shelter.

Marcum paid Elpheage's airfare from Lafayette, La., to Tampa the next day. Elpheage's brother's family arrived three days later, and his parents joined them on Monday night.

Through Web site hurricanehousing.org, which offers free housing to hurricane victims, Storm football operations assistant Chrissy Deeb helped find a six-bedroom home in Temple Terrace where owner Nick Hall welcomed Elpheage, his 2-year-old son, Lynaris; his parents, Judy and Russell; his brother, George; George's wife, Charlotte; and George's children, Jackie, 16, Gloria, 8, and Zaria, 8 months.

Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel has provided food for the family, and neighbors have donated other necessities.

Elpheage soon hopes to give back by joining teammates in distributing donations to other victims. Shane Stafford, Lawrence Samuels, Jonathan Ordway and Nyle Wiren were to travel to Gulfport, Miss., on Sunday, but the trip was postponed because the plane they planned to use was needed to airlift victims.

"Whenever that does happen, I will be going," Elpheage said.

[Last modified September 14, 2005, 09:30:56]