http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/02/asb.01.htmlFriday, September 2, 2005
BROWN: So much of the focus for all of understandable reasons has been on New Orleans, Saint Bernard Parish to the east of New Orleans saw flooding as heavy as any on the map. Many perished in the rising waters. Survival has been difficult. The area is rich with heartbreak. Here's David Mattingly.
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DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first thing you notice is their eyes. Back in the flood-ravaged St. Bernard Parish east of New Orleans, they saw the horror of flood-covered communities and floating bodies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good-bye Tina.
MATTINGLY: Some of them now barefoot, they come off a Coast Guard ferry clinging to each other or a pet or what little they can carry with them.
JUDY ROME, SURVIVOR: Believe me, this is the most wonderful moment.
RONALD ROME, SURVIVOR: It's a permanent exit of New Orleans. We are not coming back.
J. ROME: We won't be back.
R. ROME: I've been here 55 years, and I'm not coming back.
MATTINGLY: Ronald and Judy Rome and their family, all nine of them, survived for three days stranded on the top floor of their flood home. It wasn't until floodwaters to started to recede, and an empty boat came into view that they all made their escape.
J. ROME: We all loaded in the boat yesterday morning and paddled. We had no way to start the boat, so we paddled the boat as far as we could. And then we got out and we walked the rest of way up to the Mississippi levee.
MATTINGLY: The Rome's refused rescue two days earlier because the boat was too small to take them all. They believe so deeply that they needed to stay together that they were willing to take the risk. But the commitment they made to each other would prove hard to keep.
When they finally reached a shelter, Ronald Rome was the only registered nurse among thousands of refugees. It was more than he could take.
R. ROME: I -- they told me I had no choice, but to work in the medical center that was set up. I worked 22 hours straight with no sleep.
J. ROME: It's all right. It's been hell.
MATTINGLY: The children were affected as well. The oldest two will hardly talk or eat. The youngest has measles.
LINDSEY BOHNE, MOTHER: This is -- my child has -- this is what he owns, a pair of shoes he's got on. That's it. He owns not a single piece of clothing. I don't know whose clothes he even has on.
MATTINGLY: With all of them nearing the breaking point and just minutes away from a bus ride to Texas, the family that had been through so much decided they can't stay together any longer. A daughter and son-in-law were left at the buses while the children were evacuated in a medical helicopter.
This was as far as we could go. The Romes say they will reunite, not knowing when or where. And all vow to never return to the place that brought them so low.
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MATTINGLY: At least two members of the family are on their way to San Antonio tonight about just another example of how this entire process is making it difficult for anyone, Aaron, to stick together.
BROWN: Do they -- do they welcome, in a sense, being plopped down in some shelter in San Antonio. Do they believe that their lives will be a little easier, better?
MATTINGLY: You could hear how anxious they were to leave here and to never come back. So in that respect, yes, there is some relief where they're going to be going to some place that's going to be dry, they will possibly sleeping on a bed, possibly be sleeping in air- conditioning and getting regular food again.
That is very encouraging to them. They're already thinking about that next step and that's what's so discouraging at this point is that how do they get back together? And what life do they start together again?
BROWN: I mean it's unimaginable. David, thank you. Nicely done, as you have all week. You've been terrific. Thank you, David Mattingly tonight.
Erica Hill joins us from Atlanta with some of the other news of the day. I worry, I'll be honest, that there's something like disaster fatigue that's -- sets in on all -- on viewers, on the country that you watch this all of this unfold over the week and your heartbreaks again and again. And at some point it's -- it's almost too much, and too sad. And I worry we're reaching that point.
HILL: Well, hopefully -- I don't think you're far off, Aaron. Hopefully there -- the good news is that there also -- as depressing as so much of the news can be, there are those small, little glimmers of hope and some of the stories that our colleagues, and our correspondents have been bringing us have just been these little glimmers of hope to restore your faith in humanity. And so hopefully those will keep everyone interested.
BROWN: We'll latch on to them. You give us the other news. Thank you.
HILL: All right. I'll do that.