KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, LouisianaMickey Brown reunited with family

Mickey Brown reunited with family

September 2, 2005
Reported by Pam Dixon

The father of former KPLC anchor Shelley Brown has been reunited with family after being trapped in his hurricane ravaged home near New Orleans. Mickey Brown and two brothers-in-law stayed behind to take care of his elderly in-laws who wouldn't leave.

When hurricane Katrina hit Chalmette just east of New Orleans the storm surge sent 15 feet of water into Brown's two story house. It was so quick, Brown, his mother-in-law, father-in-law and two brothers-in-law only had time to grab life jackets and head up to the attic. "I heard this crunching as my garage door began to collapse and I could hear things going and I moved away. The door just exploded and we rushed upstairs and the water's pouring in," said Brown.

After the water stopped rising, they settled in the second floor, still trapped with no food and 15 feet of snake filled flood waters below. Several times neighbors swam or boated by giving them a gallon of water, some crackers and a can of Vienna sausages. Tuesday Brown was spotted by a news crew flying over.

Thinking he was safer in the house, he stayed put when neighbors boated by, until he realized he may never see a rescue crew. Wednesday Brown and his family climbed out of an upstairs window into a neighbor's boat. "I don't know what to say it's just like it puts you in shock. I still feel like I'm in shock. Everything's gone and you don't know what to do," said Brown's brother-in-law Emile Barbe'.

Brown and the others in the boat spent the night on a Chalmette dock. Thursday they were transported to a staging area on Interstate 10. He got his elderly in-laws and a brother-in-law on a bus headed to Houston. Brown and Barbe' hitchhiked to Alexandria where Brown's sons picked them up at one o'clock Friday morning.

Brown is staying in Oakdale with his two sons and other relatives. His mother-in-law and father-in-law are being checked out in a hospital in Lake Charles. Shelley, along with her mother, is still in Ohio waiting to start a new job with our sister station WTOL. Mickey Brown says he's not sure when he'll be reunited with Shelley and her mother.

Brown is still concerned about other people trapped in his community. He says John Polk of 3703 S. Rocheblave which crosses Delachase Street in Chalmette is trapped sitting outside on his roof. Polk's wife is passing out because of dehydration.