Blogging from New Orleans: "They Were Telling Us To Get The Hell Out"

It's hard to imagine anyone riding out Hurricane Katrina from inside New Orleans, but blogger Ernest "Ernie" Svenson did it, from his father's 10th-floor condominium near the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. His blog, Ernie the Attorney, emerged as one of the major sources of hurricane-related information in the first few days after the hurricane hit and the enormity of the damage, including the levee breaks in New Orleans, became apparent. View the blog's BlogPulse profile here.

Through an email exchange and interview via a friend's cell phone, BlogPulse caught up with Ernie in Kansas City, where he ended up with family and friends after leaving New Orleans on Tuesday.

On leaving after Katrina hit
"My dad has a condominium right next to the Audubon Zoo, next to the levee, which is one of the highest points in New Orleans. He had stormshutters that were supposed to be safe in winds up to 140 mphp or something, and, in fact, turned out to be safe, as predicted. After the hurricane went through, I surveyed my house nearby...checked roof damage and did some minor repairs...checked out friends' houses nearby. Then we kind of gathered all of our stuff and tried to figure out the best way out of the city. We ended up in a caravan with some other drivers who seemed to know where they were going, so we followed them."

How he blogged from New Orleans without electricity, Internet connection
"I could do it from my cell phone, and while we were driving to Kansas City, I could post from my phone. When we stopped at a hotel, it had wi-fi connection and I could blog from there. I was also sending text messages to a friend in Orlando and she would post them for me. The only way to communicate with people, if they're in the city, is to use a cell phone to send a text message, because cell phone service for voice and Internet data doesn't work at all. By now, I'm sure people's phone batteries have run out."

On the enormity of the damage to his city of birth
"You really can't grasp it unless you grasp it piecemeal. We didn't have a TV, and only heard bits of news on the radio. We heard from other people that it was really dire and they were telling us to get the hell out, and now that I look back, I would have moved a little faster if I'd have known how bad it was. I don't consider myself to have a great window into what's going on now. I look at the damage on TV now, but I don't have a sense of that at all. I was in a fortunate part of the city."

On thoughts of rebuilding New Orleans
"I was listening to somebody on the TV -- maybe it was (President) Bush-- about rebuilding, and he said something about not only rebuilding New Orleans but making it better. Make it better? I can't relate to that. It's not going to be better. It's going to be different. Whatever it becomes, it's going to be so different from what it was -- from what gave New Orleans its character -- that I don't know how it can be better."

Is there a positive side?
"Looking at the images and the horrors is the negative side. The good side is that I've gotten all these emails from people who are offering to help, collecting money, offering a place to stay for me and my family. One guy emailed and said he has a farm, and extra room, and if people could help him with farm work, he could take in two families. It reminds me of what happened after 9/11...people are expressing a willingness to help and are reaching out. That's the thing I find most endearing and most touching. I know the news is covering some of that..."

On the future of his blog and law practice
"I'll keep the blog going. I just haven't had a chance to post things because I've been on the road. I was driving all day Thursday and I'm still getting settled. My tendency isnt' to blog little chunks of information. I'm thinking about larger-scale things and need to process it now."

His 55-lawyer firm, with about 100 total employees, plans to conference by phone on Saturday to discuss plans to open a new office in Baton Rouge or Lafayette. Their New Orleans office is apparently destroyed.