Family's ordeal illustrates woes

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Long after the last of the rain fell and the blasts of wind stilled, Hurricane Katrina continues to buffet lives in a drama that will not end. Among the thousands displaced, dramatic accounts of their survival continue to bob to the surface — like the story of Eddie Mixon and his wife, Karen.

The Mixons lived in Chalmette, La., about 15 miles southeast of New Orleans on the Mississippi River. They were with shared a home with her mother, a petite woman fond of her dogs and good at sticking to her own ways. As Katrina approached, the family stayed with her.

They took the extended family to the Chalmette Ward meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There, they weathered the fierce winds — but then the levee broke and water began to rush in. The group clambered upstairs to the mechanical room, but the water continued to rise. Mixon used a 2-by-4 to break a ventilator shaft and got them all to the roof, including Grandma. One of the ward members who was with them, Julie Attaway, was particularly frightened of water and could not maneuver to the roof.

They waited on the roof for an hour or two before a policeman or firefighter came by, distributing water from a boat. He didn't have room for them all, but he gave Mixon a ride to a 25-foot boat. That craft was hooked to a trailer, ready to be pulled away, but the owner had evidently drowned.

Mixon, a fisherman, used the boat to transport his group of eight family members to the old, abandoned Arabi School. It was dry there, and they felt they could be safe — shooting by looters had already started. Attaway, however, refused to leave the meetinghouse.

With his family safe, Mixon began to rescue others from roofs. Police had opened stores for food and water, so he transported supplies — water, soft drinks, canned food, even dog food.

"I would get them off the roof, give them supplies, bring them to the Chalmette slip," he said. "I dropped a few off at Chalmette High School — wherever there was a shelter near where I was."

He estimated he brought in about 30 people. He also took supplies to Julie Attaway.

"I had to make sure we had water, food and canned goods," he said.

Among those he rescued were two elderly people who were near death. When a military boat stopped, its occupants declined to take them in the dire emergency. So, Mixon and his wife, son Christopher Roberts and brother John Ryan held the boat until the old people were brought down and put into it. The military ended up taking the pair out by helicopter.