Katrina still makes home feel haunted
01/12/2008 13:33
Katrina still makes home feel haunted
New Orleans native Nader Abdallah, an Ohio State defensive tackle, still feels the harrowing effects of Hurricane Katrina.
Posted on Mon, Jan. 07, 2008
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BY JEFF SHAIN
jshain@MiamiHerald.com
ROB CARR / AP
Nader Abdallah, right, hopes his Buckeyes can finish off their season with a victory in his native New Orleans.
This homecoming has something of a bittersweet tinge for Nader Abdallah.
On one hand, the Ohio State defensive tackle has a chance to win a national title in front of family and friends. But it also meant a glimpse of what has become of his old haunts.
Some 2 ½ years after Hurricane Katrina, the disarray remains.
''It really hit me when I went back there,'' Abdallah said of returning to Sixth and LaSalle, where the family's general store once was a hub of the Magnolia Projects neighborhood.
``That place right there, that was a very hot spot. Every Sunday you were packed -- you couldn't even move with all the people. That was a very hot spot.''
LaSalle Street Market, known to locals simply as Hulio's, offered groceries, clothing -- even a lunch counter where one could order up some gumbo or a roast beef Po-boy.
Rappers Lil Wayne and Juvenile grew up in the area and were frequent visitors. Abdallah and three brothers all worked in the store, stocking shelves and running the cash register.
But like it did to much of New Orleans, Katrina's wrath left a permanent scar on Hulio's.
Floodwaters wrecked the store, and looters took whatever was salvageable.
Abdallah's brother, Wesam, had a harrowing escape after first staying to protect the store.
Exhausted and dizzied by fumes from a leaking gas pipe, he lay passed out in the attic until the flapping wings of a bird that had come in through a hole in the roof somehow woke him up.
''A gift from the sky,'' Nader Abdallah marveled.
As night fell, Wesam began swimming for higher ground, along the way passing corpses broken free from from New Orleans' above-ground cemeteries. He didn't dare stop until he reached the bridges near the Superdome, a mile and a half away.
Even then, it would be nearly two weeks before he could find a working pay phone far enough from the damage to tell evacuated family members he was alive.
''All the fumes, all the nasty stuff in the water -- a lot of disease came from that,'' Nader said. ``Thank God my brother never got any of that.''
These days, the Abdallahs have few ties to New Orleans except memories. The family home in nearby Metairie, La., was rebuilt and sold -- ''We didn't get half its worth,'' Nader said.
Hulio's wasn't even that fortunate, forever wrecked as the building owner decided it was too costly to rebuild. A fire gutted the place last weekend.
Abdallah's parents -- Palestinian emigrants who came to the United States in 1980 -- moved back to the Gaza Strip. Wesam, brother Mazen and sister Linda now live in Houston.
This week, all came together again in New Orleans for Monday's game.
''It means everything,'' Abdallah said. ``Being able to be here all at one time is very special. Right after the storm we were together, then everybody split off.''
OSU coach Jim Tressel said: ``I know there are a lot of emotions for him in this week that we've been here.''
And even though the city is LSU territory, there would be a sense of propriety if Abdallah could win a title just minutes from the corner he once knew.
''My story is just one of a million stories,'' he said. ``There are people that have been through a lot worse than me. I'm out here playing for all of them, really.''
New Orleans native Nader Abdallah, an Ohio State defensive tackle, still feels the harrowing effects of Hurricane Katrina.
Posted on Mon, Jan. 07, 2008
Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY JEFF SHAIN
jshain@MiamiHerald.com
ROB CARR / AP
Nader Abdallah, right, hopes his Buckeyes can finish off their season with a victory in his native New Orleans.
This homecoming has something of a bittersweet tinge for Nader Abdallah.
On one hand, the Ohio State defensive tackle has a chance to win a national title in front of family and friends. But it also meant a glimpse of what has become of his old haunts.
Some 2 ½ years after Hurricane Katrina, the disarray remains.
''It really hit me when I went back there,'' Abdallah said of returning to Sixth and LaSalle, where the family's general store once was a hub of the Magnolia Projects neighborhood.
``That place right there, that was a very hot spot. Every Sunday you were packed -- you couldn't even move with all the people. That was a very hot spot.''
LaSalle Street Market, known to locals simply as Hulio's, offered groceries, clothing -- even a lunch counter where one could order up some gumbo or a roast beef Po-boy.
Rappers Lil Wayne and Juvenile grew up in the area and were frequent visitors. Abdallah and three brothers all worked in the store, stocking shelves and running the cash register.
But like it did to much of New Orleans, Katrina's wrath left a permanent scar on Hulio's.
Floodwaters wrecked the store, and looters took whatever was salvageable.
Abdallah's brother, Wesam, had a harrowing escape after first staying to protect the store.
Exhausted and dizzied by fumes from a leaking gas pipe, he lay passed out in the attic until the flapping wings of a bird that had come in through a hole in the roof somehow woke him up.
''A gift from the sky,'' Nader Abdallah marveled.
As night fell, Wesam began swimming for higher ground, along the way passing corpses broken free from from New Orleans' above-ground cemeteries. He didn't dare stop until he reached the bridges near the Superdome, a mile and a half away.
Even then, it would be nearly two weeks before he could find a working pay phone far enough from the damage to tell evacuated family members he was alive.
''All the fumes, all the nasty stuff in the water -- a lot of disease came from that,'' Nader said. ``Thank God my brother never got any of that.''
These days, the Abdallahs have few ties to New Orleans except memories. The family home in nearby Metairie, La., was rebuilt and sold -- ''We didn't get half its worth,'' Nader said.
Hulio's wasn't even that fortunate, forever wrecked as the building owner decided it was too costly to rebuild. A fire gutted the place last weekend.
Abdallah's parents -- Palestinian emigrants who came to the United States in 1980 -- moved back to the Gaza Strip. Wesam, brother Mazen and sister Linda now live in Houston.
This week, all came together again in New Orleans for Monday's game.
''It means everything,'' Abdallah said. ``Being able to be here all at one time is very special. Right after the storm we were together, then everybody split off.''
OSU coach Jim Tressel said: ``I know there are a lot of emotions for him in this week that we've been here.''
And even though the city is LSU territory, there would be a sense of propriety if Abdallah could win a title just minutes from the corner he once knew.
''My story is just one of a million stories,'' he said. ``There are people that have been through a lot worse than me. I'm out here playing for all of them, really.''