It looks like these three feel trapped while visiting New Orleans.
Posted on 09/17/2005 8:56:34 PM PDT by World'sGoneInsane
Day after day, for more than two weeks, the 76-year-old man sat trapped and alone in his attic, sipping from a dwindling supply of water until it ran out. No food. No way out of a house ringed by foul floodwaters.
Without ever leaving home, Gerald Martin lived out one of the most remarkable survival stories of Hurricane Katrina. Rescuers who found him Friday, as they searched his neighborhood by boat, were astounded at his good spirits and resiliency after 18 days without food or human contact.
"It's an incredible story of survival," said Louie Fernandez, spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency search unit that carried out the rescue.
In recent days, search crews have been finding corpses by the dozens in the still-flooded neighborhoods of New Orleans, but not trapped survivors. The FEMA search-and-rescue boat navigating through the Eighth Ward didn't expect to find anyone alive at 6010 Painters St., but they planned to search the premises of a one-story wood house.
As the motor idled and the boat glided forward, they heard a voice. "Hey, over here."
Using a sledgehammer, a FEMA rescuer broke down the front door and went inside with another team member, struggling through a living room jumbled with overturned, sodden furniture.They found Martin sitting in a chair in the sludge-covered kitchen, partially undressed in an effort to keep cool. After 16 days in his attic, he had descended to the ground floor two days earlier when the floodwaters — once up to the ceiling — finally drained, even though the house remained surrounded by several feet of water.
Incredibly, Martin — who ran out of his gallon-and-a-half water supply on Thursday — was able to walk out of the house with just a bit of assistance."He was weak, very tired, but he was able to speak, able to stand," Fernandez said. "He was very relieved. He was very thirsty. He was in good spirits." Martin was given water to drink, then taken to Ochsner Foundation Hospital, where nurse Jinny Resor said he was treated for dehydration. She said Martin had taken medication while he was trapped, but she wasn't sure what it was for.
In a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press late Friday night, Martin said he was feeling fine."So far, so good," he said.As for his ordeal, his description was concise: "I was living in the attic for 16 days, and I was living off water."
The two rescuers who retrieved him are firefighters with a California-based FEMA team — J.D. Madden of Santa Clara and Eric Mijangos of Menlo Park."I don't know how much longer he could have went on without water," said Madden, 29.
Martin's family left before the storm, but he stayed to attend church, later took a nap and woke up to find that his home was filling with water, Madden said. Martin only had time to grab some water and get to his attic, which he described as feeling like an oven during day-after-day of mid-90-degree heat that followed the storm. Madden said the heat in the attic might have been even worse, perhaps fatal, except for shade provided by a fallen tree.
Staff Sgt. Jason Randor, a military police officer with the Massachusetts National Guard, watched the rescue from another boat that was helping provide security for the search team. He recalled jubilant yells from the firefighters when they realized someone alive was inside.
Martin emerged, wearing jeans and a shirt. "While they were putting him in the chopper, he asked if they could stop on the way at Taco Bell to get something to eat," Randor said.
Fernandez, of FEMA, was on scene when Martin arrived at a FEMA base camp before going to the hospital. "He had lost a lot of weight," Fernandez said. "He definitely had to hold his pants up with his hands."
Martin was the first trapped person found alive by Madden's California Task Force Three team in its 12 days of calling out to homes from the boat and peering into windows. "We've been in the rescue mode the whole time and haven't given up hope that there was someone out there alive," he said.
But officials overseeing the search effort said the discovery of corpses and the dwindling number of rescues has been taking an emotional toll on search units. "Our squad members are getting access to trauma and grief counselors," said FEMA rescue squad liaison Charles Hood. "It's becoming a very difficult task."
Fernandez said Saturday that Martin's rescue was a welcome morale boost for his colleagues. "Little victories like we saw yesterday help motivate people, who are facing one of the toughest jobs they've ever faced," he said.
Excellent story. Good news resulting from persistence and hope.
Taco Bell. LOL. There has to be a great commercial here.
"In recent days, search crews have been finding corpses by the dozens in the still-flooded neighborhoods of New Orleans"
Hey AP, I thought it was supposed to be in the thousands.
Hey, remind me never to take a nap after church if there is a hurriciane coming.ha.
I guess this old man--Black or White-- has been used to a life of responsibility way before the Welfare state.
Are the S&R teams using search dogs to go through the houses, looking for bodies? It could be that some people went up to their attics and died there. Are these teams, if they don't hear anyone, knocking a hole in every roof?
I'm not sure that taco bell is a great idea after not eating for 18 days. He needs to take things very, very easy with his digestive system.
He wanted taco bell but I'll bet he was taken straight to the hospial and being served jello and broths:')
A friend of mine and her SAR dog were sent a few miles north of NO. They came back a few days later. Apparently two dogs from Michigan died and another (don't remember from where) got real sick. Her dog (Jazzy) was tested upon return and is still doing well. She said they probably won't send any more dogs out because they have no protection (can't wear a suit or anything) and a sick or dead dog won't help anyone.
Wonderful story about the old man! That just makes my day!
It looks like these three feel trapped while visiting New Orleans.
You just gotta love this guy.
Can't you see it now? The New Orleans Diet. 1.5 gallons of water and 18 days in a New Orleans attic in 90 degree heat. I bet he lost at least 25 pounds.
Some folks are tough.
Maybe the thought he'd woken up in Los Angeles in 2032.
John Spartan: So let me get this right, Spacely Sprockets here, whose now the man in charge, the Mayor Gov who want to take me to dinner at Taco Bell, and Lord knows I could go for a burrito, is also one of the guys who built the God-damned cryo-prison?
He says he stayed behind so he could go to church.
God is with him.
~:-D
Not only was he alive, he was euphoric.
-Dan
Eighteen days without food and he didn't even have to eat corpses to survive. What's with the report of NO'ers eating dead bodies after two days. Don't they have any self control?
Thanks for letting us see this. Good story.
For at least a couple of months.
Some people will resort to cannibalism if stuck in an elevator for an hour.
Reminding me of the Twilight Zone episode, “To Serve Man”.
Now the media is adding the death toll from Mississippi and Alabama to the total in an effort to 'enhance' the NO numbers of dead.
God provided a fallen tree to shelter a man who was committed to going to church.
After church bump.
Right. They could have him sharing his taco with the little dog and patting him on the head saying, "God and Taco Bell, what more could a man ask for?" (Ah forget it, that would never fly.) I think Taco Bell should send him a case of tacos and a dog just for the good PR.
I'm sure. All I could think when I read it though was that they left, because he just refused to go. I've personal experience with older people. They're not leaving their homes without a fight. Unless, of course, it is to go to church.
It looks like these three feel trapped while visiting New Orleans.
Couldn't you just hear it:
"It's a disaster down here, all the fast food stores are closed. Send us in some Krispy Kremes, Taco Bell, and a pack of Bud Lite. Hold the fries, the surgeon general says they cause obesity."
Judging from the appearance of many of them, I don't think self-control was their strong suit. Some of those folks rescued by choppers looked like they could've snapped those drop lines right in two. And you gotta be mighty hungry to have to eat a TV. < /sarcasm >
Ping to some happy news.
His family left BEFORE the storm and left a 78 year old man there alone. They should be ashamed!
Quite amazing, especially for someone his age. Good news indeed!
It is well within an average person's ability to go without food for 30 days (many people voluntarily or involuntarily fast for 30, 45 days or more without harm), BUT you can only go a few days without water, and a few minutes without air.
I seem to remember an old survival saying: 30 days without food, 3 days without water, 3 minutes without air, so plan accordingly. (And no, I don't remember the rule on heat or cold exposure, which is obviously vital too, just on food/water/air sustenance.)
Great news about this man of faith! Taco Bell should consider him a goldmine of good PR and pay him well to be in some ads.
Those three sure would benefit from the diet this man went on. It looks like the camera person who got all those horrible shots of sKerry during the 2004 campaign has been busy (hee!). Maybe bloated Democrats really AREN'T very photogenic , LOLOLOL!
78 years old, no food for 18 days and only a gallon 1 1/2 gallons of water and he wants Taco Bell. That is one tough guy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DehydrationAt some point within five days to three weeks, the major organs, including the lungs, heart, and brain, would give out and the patient would die.
Read up on the Lady Be Good crash in the desert in WWII and how the bomber crewmen died (of dehydration); I think it was something like 8 men surviving for about 8 days on nothing more than a half a canteen of water, while walking for about 85 miles (IIRC) through burning desert sands, considerably further than Army survival manuals said they should have been able to travel under those conditions.
LOL. If I ever get stuck in my attic I'm not coming out until I lose some weight. Just drop me some tacos and diet coke and I'll stay there until the water goes down. I'm not going to have my big butt hoisted in the air where everyone can see:')
Excellent points, and thanks so much for posting the link to that story! I agree that the survival motto I quoted is probably a VERY conservative estimate, for people in poor health, excessively skinny, or in stressed situations. It may very well be the minimum "safe" interval rather than the maximum, since there are records of obese people fasting safely for 60 days (or more).
And I believe one's personal attitude and faith do have a LOT to do with it, too.
Yes and no. I've had personal experience with people like this. They are very tough and cantankerous. I imagine they fought with him to leave, and he wasn't going. He probably threw them out. He probably sat up in the attic and only thought they were "probably" right ten days in. He'd never admit to them they were right. When all is said and done, he'll probably tell them: "You see--I made it." They've lived with him for many years, and all they can do is shake their heads. None of them wanted to be stuck alone in an attic with him for that long. They probably would of jumped off the roof after one day. In any case, they love him...
I'm doubting the story. My attic gets over 130 degrees on a sunny day, and I'm not in the deep hot south.
Did you see this!
I remember the search dogs they used at the Twin Towers, and the little booties they wore on their feet because the site was still so hot.
I've been a distance athlete in marathons and triathlons. When I am that active for hours I begin to fantacize about and crave all manner of foods. I can remember the taco bell craving at 3 hours of the marathon and 4 hours of the (half ironman) tri. This guy has not been active but 18 days! I hope they get him his tacos soon. He's earned it more than I ever have.
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