The story behind me going back to New Orleans for Katrina

Unforgettable Story

John Gumm, a meteorologist at WWL-TV in New Orleans, Louisiana… Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

He is now at WKRC in Cincinnati, Ohio 

Originally posted 9/5/2005
Birth and Death August 29, 2005

During the past 48 hours, I have seen both sides of life. I have seen nearly simultaneously the beautiful and the horrible. The beginning of life and the end of life. And I don’t think it was any coincidence. The birth of my son Connor and the worst natural disaster to hit the US ever have shaped my life in ways I could have only imagined. Let me preface by saying I have been up about 47 of the past 50 hours. It all started on Friday afternoon. It became apparent Hurricane Katrina was likely to make a direct impact over the area my TV station serves. So I knew I had one job – present the facts and strongly suggest to people they get out if they could. So I was up and on air early on Saturday doing just that.

During the course of the day, I got an email from a guy named Brad Panovich at WCNC in Charlotte. Brad used to work at WWL and in fact, I got his job when he left. He asked me if we needed any help. I thought he may be joking, but I explored it even more. I asked him if he would come assist us for the storm since we were already short handed. He agreed. I called my boss who called his boss who made it happen.

I was on air from 11 am until 9:30 pm basiclly telling people the nightmare of all nightmares was coming when I got a call from Jennifer – she was headed to the hospital to deliver! I stayed through 10:30 – when I gave my last update on the Hurricane Center’s new track – one which took the storm directly over New Orleans. I also talked to Brad who just arrived at the airport. Having him in town was like having a big weight pulled off my chest. Now I knew I could go take care of my family. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as I prepared to go back on camera, but I was happy Jen was going into labor now as opposed to during the storm.

So I did my update and rushed back over the lake across the roughly 6 mile Twin Span Bridge to the hospital…a bridge, by the way, which is no longer standing. When I got there, Jen’s contractions had begun. And they got stronger. It wasn’t too much longer and we had our baby. Connor Jacob was born agt 3:20 am Sunday. At this point, I decided we would stay in the hospital and ride the storm out. But what ended up happening would have a major shape on the future of us and our baby. I will write more on that after I get a little sleep.

How My Son May Have Saved My Life August 30, 2005

So, here’s the rest of the story: Leave or stay? That was the question on my mind. At the very least, I had to get away from the hospital for a while to prepare the house for a hurricane and to grab some supplies. So I left Jennifer and Connor at the hospital and went back home.

When I got there, I knew I had to do some sandbagging, a little boarding up, and turn off the water and power. I also had to grab some clothes, and baby items. Thankfully Jennifer already packed up some pictures and other important things and left them at a friend’s house further inland. So at this point, I was running around the house trying to figure out what to bring. Mostly what I brought were things for the baby. And I brought as much as would fit.

In the time I was packing the car, I also talked to three of my neighbors and hopefully convinced them to leave. I then locked up the house and left, knowing I might never see it again intact or dry. I had to go back to our friend’s place to pick up Calvin (our dog) and get some other stuff Jen left there. After wishing them best of luck in their evacuation, I headed off to the hospital. They live 2 miles from the hospital, but it took nearly two hours to get back.

Traffic was gridlocked for the evacuation. I had to drive up the shoulder and in the center turn lane, or else it would have been 3 hours. But when I got to the hospital, I got some very bad news. Jennifer had Group B Strep…not harmful to her, but harmful to Connor. To combat this, they give medicine before delivery. But since hers was so fast, they couldn’t give it all. And the doctor was seeing signs Connor could have this…something that could potentially kill him. In fact, the doctor recommended against us leaving.

I almost decided to stay based on this info, but I called Brad Panovich – a great meteorologist who flew into New Orleans to help us out since I just had a baby and we had a short staff. He told me the hospital would be in the eyewall and there was no way I should stay. So I decided to go. I was in constant contact with the wonderful management at WWL and my boss, Sandy Breland, even offered to try to get a helicopter to airlift us to another hospital.

I decided against that, but instead told her we would rather leave by car and she was 100% supportive. Anyway, in my talks with the doctor, she explained everything to me and tried to get us to stay. Connor COULD have this. Connor COULD be sick. COULD was the key word here. I asked her how she could expect me to stay because something COULD happen to Connor…something that was not definite….when I knew the hurricane WOULD happen and was a definite threat. I ended up winning this argument hands down. The doctor did give him an IV antibiotic treatment as a preventative but advised me he could get sick during the trip to Nashville. I said we would rather take our chances with this than the hurricane.

It took them until 7pm before we were able to leave. By this time, the outer bands and squalls were starting to move in. So we hopped in the car and headed up I-59 not knowing what we would run across. It was stressful. Especially when we hit gridlock 6 miles north of the hospital. At that point, thoughts went through my mind on whether or not I did the right thing or put my family at even greater risk. But we had three guardian angels that were looking out for us. Their names were Dan, Christina and Zachary.

They had hopped in their car earlier that day and headed due south into the hurricane from Nashville. Since Jen and I had been up for the birth and me for both the birth and storm coverage some 36 hours, we wouldn’t have safely made it to far driving. But the Shafer family came in like superheroes and made it all the way to south to Laurel, MS…typically a 3 hour or so drive from the hosptial…but a drive that took us 5 hours this night. I was so tired driving, I barely made it to Laurel, but when I did, Christina took over driving my car so I could get some sleep.

We eventually made it to Northern Alabama and found a hotel room at about 6:30 AM that would allow us to stay until noon so we could get some naps in. After our naps, we loaded up again and took off for Nashville, arriving in the early afternoon. Still concerned for Connor’s health, we decided to take him to the nearest ER. But the news was good. If he were stick from this Group B Strep, symptoms should have shown up already. He was eating just fine and everything else was fine too. So the doctor deduced there was no problem.

Tonight, as I sit here writing this, I realize that my son may have saved my life. New Orleans is filling up with water tonight and the town of Slidell in which we lived was pretty much leveled. My son came into the world at the exact time that set in motion a serious of events that propelled the three of us out of harms way. If he had been born earlier, I may have still been there, sending just him and his Mommy away. Any later, like during the storm, I either could have been killed covering it, or more likely, killed coming back home during it to be with Jennifer during labor. In our case, this baby came into the world at the exact right time. He has only been with us 3 days, but is already a blessing. A true blessing that helped us to ultimately stay safe.

We do not know if our house is still intact, or what, if anything, we will find when we return. But this baby has already taught me that none of that matters. What really matters is family and friends since all of that stuff is replaceable. And so far through this experience, our family and friends have been with us 100%, so for that we are grateful. As I write this, Connor is sleeping and Jennifer is watching TV. My house and one of my cars may be gone, along with all my stuff, but I am truly the luckiest man alive. It took a little boy to show me that. It took a little boy to save my life.

Posted via email from Brad Panovich (a.k.a. wxbrad)