Third Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
Recovery and then ...
Recovery and then ...
was in Madison visiting relatives to see if her life has returned to normal three years out.
“My house was scoured out down to the studs,” Broadway said. “I had to get it sprayed for the mold and insects. After that, we started putting the sheet rock
and insulation and all of that in the house. I had to start from bottom to top. I had to get a new roof and everything because my roof caved in in the back.”
In the days following Katrina, bogus contractors were everywhere, collecting money from unsuspecting homeowners to purchase supplies and then disappearing
with the down payment. Broadway acted as her own contractor and hired someone to do the work. “One of my daughters had a friend who had been a
contractor,” Broadway said. “He built his house down in the Lower Ninth Ward years ago. He stopped being a contractor and went out on the road as a truck
driver. He got off of that and got back in to contracting. How I worked it out was I asked him how much he was going to charge me first. Then I told him I would
buy my own materials and I would pay him for his labor. That way my materials didn’t get marked up.”
Broadway used her insurance money — she was fortunate to have flood insurance — to finance her housing construction until the government funds
started flowing. And with the savings on eliminating the contractor, Broadway was able to extend her living room where her carport had been.
Others weren’t so lucky. “There was a woman who paid out $40,000 to start with and the contractor didn’t do anything. Then the contractor went back and got
another $70,000 from the lady. When they showed it on TV that the contractor was a scam, then she wanted to cry. It was too late. She had taken all this lady’s
money and didn’t do anything to the house. So people came in to fix the house up for her, but she died before she got into the house.”
While she repaired her house, Broadway lived in a FEMA trailer, one that ended up having a formaldehyde problem. “If you locked up the trailer and didn’t put
on the air conditioning, you could smell it,” Broadway said. “So we would put the air conditioning on for awhile before we went in and then we couldn’t smell it.
When the formaldehyde issue came up, we had to go take tests. I had to take my granddaughter to the doctor because she got an upset stomach and her eyes
started itching. The doctor told us that was what it was from. I didn’t see any mold. We just had the scent. They gave us a patch to place on the wall to see how
high it was. And we had to mail it back to the company. Otherwise, it was okay.”
Broadway is currently part of a group that is considering a class action suit against the trailer company.
While Broadway finished most of the repairs to her house by May 2007, she still had to stay in the FEMA trailer at night because there was a shortage of
heating and air conditioning systems. Hers was finally installed by Christmas last year.
One of the most difficult things to deal with is the lack of services. There are no hospitals in East New Orleans now. And the large Plaza Shopping Center
was ton down and a Lowe’s was built in its parking lot. She has to travel over to Jefferson Parish west of New Orleans to do most of her shopping. Outside of the
rim of the Mississippi River where the French Quarter and Garden District are located, Broadway feels a lot still needs to be done and there is no housing for a
lot of people who are dying to move back.
After we talked in mid-August, Broadway went back home only to face Hurricane Gustav. Broadway gathered up her loved ones once more and was one of
the 1.9 million people who evacuated. She headed for Atlanta. But knowing Broadway, she was probably one of the first people back and no matter what
condition she finds her house in, one knows she will just deal with it. You just can’t keep a good woman down.
“My house was scoured out down to the studs,” Broadway said. “I had to get it sprayed for the mold and insects. After that, we started putting the sheet rock
and insulation and all of that in the house. I had to start from bottom to top. I had to get a new roof and everything because my roof caved in in the back.”
In the days following Katrina, bogus contractors were everywhere, collecting money from unsuspecting homeowners to purchase supplies and then disappearing
with the down payment. Broadway acted as her own contractor and hired someone to do the work. “One of my daughters had a friend who had been a
contractor,” Broadway said. “He built his house down in the Lower Ninth Ward years ago. He stopped being a contractor and went out on the road as a truck
driver. He got off of that and got back in to contracting. How I worked it out was I asked him how much he was going to charge me first. Then I told him I would
buy my own materials and I would pay him for his labor. That way my materials didn’t get marked up.”
Broadway used her insurance money — she was fortunate to have flood insurance — to finance her housing construction until the government funds
started flowing. And with the savings on eliminating the contractor, Broadway was able to extend her living room where her carport had been.
Others weren’t so lucky. “There was a woman who paid out $40,000 to start with and the contractor didn’t do anything. Then the contractor went back and got
another $70,000 from the lady. When they showed it on TV that the contractor was a scam, then she wanted to cry. It was too late. She had taken all this lady’s
money and didn’t do anything to the house. So people came in to fix the house up for her, but she died before she got into the house.”
While she repaired her house, Broadway lived in a FEMA trailer, one that ended up having a formaldehyde problem. “If you locked up the trailer and didn’t put
on the air conditioning, you could smell it,” Broadway said. “So we would put the air conditioning on for awhile before we went in and then we couldn’t smell it.
When the formaldehyde issue came up, we had to go take tests. I had to take my granddaughter to the doctor because she got an upset stomach and her eyes
started itching. The doctor told us that was what it was from. I didn’t see any mold. We just had the scent. They gave us a patch to place on the wall to see how
high it was. And we had to mail it back to the company. Otherwise, it was okay.”
Broadway is currently part of a group that is considering a class action suit against the trailer company.
While Broadway finished most of the repairs to her house by May 2007, she still had to stay in the FEMA trailer at night because there was a shortage of
heating and air conditioning systems. Hers was finally installed by Christmas last year.
One of the most difficult things to deal with is the lack of services. There are no hospitals in East New Orleans now. And the large Plaza Shopping Center
was ton down and a Lowe’s was built in its parking lot. She has to travel over to Jefferson Parish west of New Orleans to do most of her shopping. Outside of the
rim of the Mississippi River where the French Quarter and Garden District are located, Broadway feels a lot still needs to be done and there is no housing for a
lot of people who are dying to move back.
After we talked in mid-August, Broadway went back home only to face Hurricane Gustav. Broadway gathered up her loved ones once more and was one of
the 1.9 million people who evacuated. She headed for Atlanta. But knowing Broadway, she was probably one of the first people back and no matter what
condition she finds her house in, one knows she will just deal with it. You just can’t keep a good woman down.
Above: Maxine Broadway in
2008
2008
| (Above)Maxine Broadway with her home and FEMA trailer in East New Orleans in 2006. |
By Jonathan Gramling
Maxine Broadway is a sturdy, forbearing woman. As Hurricane Katrina
began to descend upon New Orleans on August 29, 2005, Broadway
gathered up her father from his Lower Ninth Ward home and fled her East
New Orleans home. Broadway and her family wandered through Louisiana
and ended up in Canton, Arkansas before they could find refuge. Through
the magnanimity of a church — they also lived in a fire and police trainees’
barracks for a while — they stayed in Canton until October and went back to
East New Orleans to find that a broken levee on Lake Pontchartrain had
flooded her home.
The Capital City Hues did a story on Broadway a year after disaster
struck. She was living in a FEMA trailer next to her home, which was
completely gutted on the inside. She spent the best of the past two years
getting her house in order. The Hues caught up with Broadway when she
Maxine Broadway is a sturdy, forbearing woman. As Hurricane Katrina
began to descend upon New Orleans on August 29, 2005, Broadway
gathered up her father from his Lower Ninth Ward home and fled her East
New Orleans home. Broadway and her family wandered through Louisiana
and ended up in Canton, Arkansas before they could find refuge. Through
the magnanimity of a church — they also lived in a fire and police trainees’
barracks for a while — they stayed in Canton until October and went back to
East New Orleans to find that a broken levee on Lake Pontchartrain had
flooded her home.
The Capital City Hues did a story on Broadway a year after disaster
struck. She was living in a FEMA trailer next to her home, which was
completely gutted on the inside. She spent the best of the past two years
getting her house in order. The Hues caught up with Broadway when she