Survivors of Katrina relive fears

Now Bay Staters, they watch as storm aims at La.

Evan Richman/Globe StaffDaniel L. Gillard Jr. and his wife, Pamela, moved to Newton from Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Pamela Gillard lost contact with several friends after Katrina and fears that they died. (Evan Richman/Globe Staff)

Hurricane Gustav's probable march toward the Gulf Coast is causing deep worry among some former Hurricane Katrina evacuees who now live in the Boston area but still have relatives and homes in New Orleans.

National Weather forecasters say Gustav could strengthen to a Category 3 hurricane - the same strength Katrina packed when it swept through New Orleans three years ago yesterday - by the time it reaches the US mainland. Katrina caused more than 1,400 deaths and billions of dollars in destruction in the Crescent City. The local, state, and federal preparation and response to Katrina was largely regarded as a failure. Tens of thousands of residents were evacuated to other states, including Massachusetts.

Patrick Wooten said he was one of the first evacuees to arrive in Massachusetts three years ago. He now lives in Plymouth with his wife, Terrial, who is on vacation in New Orleans but was attempting yesterday get a flight out before the tempest arrives. Her original return flight was scheduled for Tuesday, around the time Gustav is expected to arrive.

Patrick Wooten, 44, said that he and his wife have been chatting over the telephone and that traffic going out of the city has dramatically increased since Thursday evening. Patrick Wooten said he is also trying to persuade his four children, mother, and brother to leave. Those family members are residents of New Orleans.

"This is opening up old wounds," Wooten said, recalling how he waded through waist-high waters and past bloated corpses three years ago. "If I had known the storm [Gustav] was going to come in, my wife would have never gone down there. My relatives who live down there, they don't want to leave their homes because they remember what happened the last time they left. They came back and their homes had been looted and destroyed.

"They've fixed up their houses really nice, and they just don't want to see that happen again. But I've told them, those things can be replaced."

Pamela Gillard relocated her family to Newton after their New Orleans home was heavily damaged by flood water. She said yesterday that the impending storm has brought back a lot of bad memories.

"It brings back the whole episode, from first hearing the name Katrina to having to evacuate," said Gillard, 56. "I have a mother-in-law who is 90, and she had to be taken out by force last time because she didn't want to leave, and she is planning to stay through this one, too."

Gillard also talked with her 23-year-old son in the past week, and he told her he plans to stay and ride out the storm. Gillard said she lost contact with several friends after Katrina, and fears that some of them may have died in the hurricane.

She said that she has talked in recent days with friends who lived through Katrina and still reside in New Orleans and that they worry they may see a repeat of Katrina and the aftermath.

"They are fearful of" the Federal Emergency Management Agency, she said. "I'm in prayer mode right now. We just got our house to the point where we could either decide to go back and live there or sell it and stay here."

Gillard said she grew up in Boston's Bromley-Heath Housing Development, but moved to Louisiana at an early age. "For the most part, I've adjusted here; we're planted in a good church and have gotten a lot of support from my family and church members. My stay here has been comfortable."

Her mother lives in the area, and she attends Morning Star Baptist Church in Mattapan. Her husband, Daniel L. Gillard Jr., is a native of New Orleans.

She said: "Once you live in New Orleans, you just want to go back because there is no way to duplicate that city. I just hope that everyone down there doesn't have to go through the nightmare all again."