After Hurricane Katrina, family thankful for heartfelt help

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Orville F. Desjarlais Jr.
  • Air Force Print News
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AFPN) --  While many people wish for big-screen televisions, money and electronic games this holiday season, one Air Force family here would be content with sleeping in their own beds, in their own bedrooms, in their own home.

When Hurricane Katrina ravaged Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., it displaced many Airmen, including the family of Staff Sgt. Herbert Hayes Jr. While he was, and still is, stationed at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, his family had to flee the largest hurricane to ever visit the shores of America.

So the story begins
The same day Sergeant Hayes, an air traffic controller, left for South Korea last year, his wife, Diane, and two children evacuated Keesler to dodge a hurricane that eventually never struck.

Later, the same thing happened. They left. No hurricane.

When authorities advised Mrs. Hayes to evacuate the impending doom of Hurricane Katrina, she thought she might not leave right away. It could just be another false alarm. She thought she would stick it out until she felt certain the storm would strike.

Her husband felt differently. Concern for his family’s safety kept him awake at night.

“Diane wanted to wait another day and I told her no, leave. She left with the kids and a friend,” Sergeant Hayes said.

So she packed a week’s worth of clothes and diapers, grabbed some milk and moved into a Memphis, Tenn., hotel Aug. 28, the day before the Category 4 monster slammed into the coasts of Mississippi and Louisiana. On Aug. 29, the storm surge flooded the Mississippi Gulf Coast region.

With 1-year old son, Kion, and a 3-year old daughter, Kiera, Mrs. Hayes stayed in Memphis until Aug. 31.

By then, the Internet was alive with photos from Keesler. One showed a submerged commissary and base exchange.

“I felt overwhelmed. We lived right behind the commissary and I just knew we lost everything. I didn’t know what to do -- for a place to live, what to do about our home, what to do about our kids. I was a mess,” Mrs. Hayes said.

Little did she know then, but the final tally would be 1,000 base homes lost of the 1,800 on Keesler.

“I didn’t have my husband to pick up where I was failing, to be strong where I was weak,” she said.

So she moved in with her mother here and called the Red Cross to assist in getting her husband back to the United States for a short time to help.

While Sergeant Hayes’ unit approved his emergency leave and bought him a plane ticket to the states, his wife carried her daughter everywhere because she had left all of Kiera’s special equipment at home, including her wheelchair.

Kiera has cerebal palsy, a medical condition caused by a permanent brain injury that occured at birth. She is unable to speak or walk properly, and she has muscle stiffness.

After a week of waiting, Mrs. Hayes knew she had to do something. She could not continue to carry Kiera everywhere and her daughter needed to resume her physical, occupational and speech therapy. Fortunately, she found a school that could help her daughter.

By now, the media was also getting involved. Her aunt told them of her niece’s plight, and soon clothing and diapers and money donations started coming in. Her church loaned her a wheelchair, but it was so big a car seat had to be used to allow her daughter to use it.

Fortunately, she only had to use it once. When Kiera arrived for her first day of school, the school loaned her a wheelchair that fit her just right. She still uses the chair today.

“Diane had her hands full,” Sergeant Hayes said. “I love her with all my heart and really appreciated the job she did with the kids without me being there.”

By the time Sergeant Hayes returned Sept. 9, the day before his son’s first birthday, his wife had pretty much taken care of the family’s basic needs. The couple dreaded what they had to do next -- visit the devastation that was once their base home.

Journey home
Although they had lived in the Gulf Port, Miss., area for more than two years, as they drove through the city on their way to the base, nothing looked the same. Landmarks were missing.

“It was weird,” Mrs. Hayes said.

“When I saw all the damage, I really couldn’t believe it,” Sergeant Hayes said. “My heart completely went out to all those people with no place to go.”

As they drove past homes speared by trees, butterflies stirred in their stomachs. They delayed the inevitable by checking into a hotel first.

When they finally made it to their base home, the first thing they saw was that the hurricane had twisted her car at an angle.

When they opened the front door, it looked like a crime scene.

“It was unbelievable,” Mrs. Hayes said. “It was like someone had came in and threw everything around.”

The refrigerator laid titled face-first against a wall. The 4 feet of floodwater scattered chairs about like a bad western movie’s bar-fight scene. When Mrs. Hayes ventured into the garage, her heart sank. A jacket had somehow draped itself over Kiera’s wheelchair. It looked OK, until she lifted the coat and saw the chair ravaged by mildew.

“I was doing good until I saw my baby’s wheelchair,” she said. That was when she cried.
“We lost everything downstairs,” Sergeant Hayes said. “The things we did save from upstairs were mostly clothes, a computer, two televisions and bedroom furniture.”

Road to recovery
They salvaged what they could, put it in storage and continue to try to get back to where they were before the storm. Renter's insurance will replace all of Kiera's special equipment, and with both their parents living in Savannah, they receive a lot of help from friends and family.

Sergeant Hayes has since returned to finish his remote tour in South Korea. It ends in July. After the hurricane, the Air Force canceled his follow-on assignment to Keesler because the base could no longer provide care for Kiera. He still anxiously awaits his next assignment.

Receiving a helping hand
So far, they have been on television four times and on the radio constantly. A radio station picked them for a 12 days of Christmas promotion, which will include gifts and a certificate for clothing. A Savannah hospice adopted the Hayes for Christmas. Instead of exchanging gifts among employees, they are all going to buy something for the Hayes. Since the storm, they have received help from the Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and various other local churches and agencies.

“The attention has been wonderful because now I don’t have to worry about what to get the kids for Christmas,” Mrs. Hayes said. “Everyone has been so good to us. There’s no place like home.”

All the gifts and money are fine, but the Hayes said the only thing they are truly thankful for is their health and well-being.

“We’re just thankful to God that we got out,” Diane said.