Through Hell and High Water: New Orleans, August 29-September 15, 2005

Abstract: In October of 2005 the Historic New Orleans Collectioninitiated an oral history project entitled "Through Hell andHigh Water: New Orleans, August 29–September 15, 2005."The intent of the project was to capture the stories of firstresponders who worked in the New Orleans metropolitan area duringthe storm and the weeks that followed. The interview processhas been linked with the after-action studies done by some ofthe local first-responding agencies and has provided a much-neededoutlet for first responders. To date over three hundred subjectshave been interviewed, and our work thus far has shown us thattop-down methods of documentation do not work with an eventlike Katrina. The almost total loss of communications made itimpossible for high-ranking members of the different agenciesto control or even know what lower-ranking members were doing.As a result it will be necessary to cast a wide net in our documentationeffort.