Hurricane Katrina scarred me..I hope I'm never that broken again

Twenty years ago, one of the US's worst tropical storms devastated New Orleans. Now, ahead of a new documentary about the national tragedy and the Bush government's woeful response, survivor Lucrece Phillips shares her incredible story of rescue and resilience

- James Rampton

THE MEMORIES of Hurricane Katrina continue to haunt Lucrece Phillips like the most stubborn, malevolent ghost. But there is one particularly heartbreaking recollection of the category 5 storm that devastated New Orleans 20 years ago next month which the poet, singer and community organiser finds impossible to forgetand it involves a baby.

When the hurricane, described as "the worst natural disaster ever to hit the US", smashed through the levees and tore up the city, Lucrece, now 62, was unable to escape from her home as a result of a recent operation to repair a broken back and neck. As the flood waters rose menacingly, her house was shaken free from its moorings and started to bob like a cork on the waves.

Speaking exclusively to The Express from New Orleans, Lucrece recalls: "There was so much water. It was like opening a faucet. It was just pouring in and the house was knocked off its foundations. It was teetering.

"So we were all signalling to each other: "Wait, wait, don't move. You stay on that side because we're level right now'. Then the water would move and we'd all have to adjust. Everybody added their own portion of something to that recipe of survival." Lucrece's terror only increased when she noticed that train carriages from the railroad opposite her house were now floating down the street. When the noxious water sped up to the second floor of her house in just 20 minutes, she and six family members (includ ing a two-year-old) sought refuge in her attic.

After many hours of utter panic, they fortuitously found an old mobile phone. They were finally rescued, five hours after dialling 911, by an emergency worker in a boat.

But then, just as their fears started to subside, the nightmare really began. As the rescuer guided them towards safety on the bridge of a nearby highway, Lucrece caught sight of something near the boat.