Priest worries about aunt who was in storm’s path
Every time his phone rang Tuesday, the Rev. William Lechnar’s heart began to race. Lechnar, a Uniontown native, has been waiting for information about his elderly aunt, who was inside an assisted living facility in Belle Chasse, La., when Hurricane Katrina came ashore early Monday.
As of Tuesday evening, he and family members who live in the greater New Orleans area have been unable to determine whether his aunt, 88 years old, her caregivers and other residents in that building made it through the powerful storm, which caused widespread destruction over much of the Gulf coast.
“My cousin is worried that she left her mother in the path of a killer hurricane,” he said. “We haven’t been able to get any information about whether that building is still there.”
The facility is located in one of the hardest hit areas in the region, Lechnar said, only adding to the family’s concern.
He said families all over the country are living out similar situations, awaiting word on loved ones caught in the storm’s fury.
“There are so many people out there that are experiencing this same kind of uncertainty,” Lechnar said.
In sporadic reports Lechnar has received from his family, he said the destruction has reached horrific proportions. He said pictures being shown and stories being told by the national media cannot begin to describe the devastation in the area.
“Bodies have been seen floating everywhere. There are caskets with long-deceased bodies just floating,” he said. “A 50-inch water main broke and all the water is sewage, so there is no potable water for people. The death toll will far surpass the initial estimates.”
He said crews have yet to recover people trapped on rooftops, in attics and other areas where people attempted to flee rising waters. Diseases like dysentery could become widespread as the water system remains contaminated, he said, which will likely cause more deaths.
“So many people have said that they were grateful because New Orleans was not hit so hard, but it’s far worse than anyone could have imagined,” Lechnar said.
Lechnar said his cousin took some important papers, some money and clothes before filling up her gas tank and picking up her uncle for the drive to Baton Rouge, a 2 1/2-hour trek that he said normally takes about 70 minutes.
In Baton Rouge, Lechnar said he’s heard the damage has been widespread and people are cramped in hotel rooms without food or electricity.
His cousin, a teacher in the Jefferson Parish school system, said schools will be closed for at least two months and likely longer while the area attempts to recover and rebuild.
Lechnar said his cousin was remodeling her mother’s house while living in a condominium until she could move in, but now both are likely destroyed.
“Every heirloom, every photograph and every piece of furniture my grandfather made is gone,” he said. “And if it was not taken by wind or water, looters likely have gotten to it.”
He said while New Orleans is under mandatory evacuation, that order is optional for hotels, hospitals and nursing homes.
A priest in the Diocese of Greensburg, his parishioners at St. Thomas More University Parish on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania have offered words of support while he awaits word on his family member.
“They’ve already told me to go if I need to,” he said.
Lechnar is not unfamiliar with a hurricane’s power, having weathered through Hurricane Ivan with his family in Baton Rouge while he was in New Orleans at a conference last September. The hotel where he stayed last year has been seen with most of its windows blown out, he noted.
Over the years, he’s tried to visit his family there a few times a year. He was planning another trip to the area later this year.
He said he’s found it hard at times to keep his composure as pictures and information from the area comes in.
“That’s half of my family there,” Lechnar said. “It just really hurts to see so much pain.”
He said many people were praying prior to the storm that New Orleans would be spared from Katrina’s wrath, and those prayers are needed now more than ever for the deceased and the families like his who still await word on missing loved ones or the homes they were forced to leave behind.
“Something like this teaches us we’re all vulnerable and shows us what’s really important in life,” Lechnar said. “Your faith and your family help you through what seems insurmountable.”