Eye of the Storm: Inside City Hall During Katrina

By Sally Forman

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When Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States, hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, few people could believe the horror and destruction that would unfold in the days that followed. As Communications Director for the City of New Orleans, Sally Forman went to work two days before the storm approached with no indication that she or the city were in harm's way. But within 72 hours, hurricane force winds were shattering windows throughout the downtown hotel where she had bunkered down with other members of the City Hall Executive Staff. The next ten days, chronicled here, became an unforgettable time in our nation's history. With almost 2,000 deaths, destruction covering four states and a million and a half people needing shelter, the world responded quickly and fiercely. Over 75 countries and 80 percent of Americans contributed to the relief of hurricane survivors and aid workers. Throughout the world, Katrina raised questions of humanity and exposed the vulnerabilities we still face as a nation. Through this personal and historical journal, Forman offers an insider's view of life in a disaster zone where communications and resources were practically non-existent. She also examines her own role and the role of other officials as wide-ranging disaster struck a major American city.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1434329984
• ISBN13: 9781434329981
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

honest and balanced

sure, Sally is a rich uptown girl in NOLA and uptown people are a breed of their own (as another reviewer points out). But don't let that stop you from reading this very balanced and intelligent book. In the future, this book will be cited as THE most reliable source for the truth about the storm. If only other writers/journalists/historians were this honest...

Fun and Fantastic Read - Like being a fly on the wall!

The Historic Northwest Passage and the CGC STORIS: The story of a young man growing up in the Coast Guard in the 1950s Our hearts go out to those who lost so much. I don't personally know Sally. I do know New Orleans and like Sally, I love our city too. Sally and I have one thing in common and with likely lots of New Orleanians in that we've taken our time to self-publish our thoughts so you too might enjoy. Certainly we're not perfect - but we are sharing folks. Sally is to be thanked for all she's done! Sally's book is a nice, friendly, easy to read and a well-written story. It tells the New Orleans Katrina story as true as most of us knew it to be. She has just confirmed what we suspected. While the Superdome and the Convention center was loaded with refugees, my son and I were able to get back into the heart of the city early on. Actually I was about three blocks from the Convention Center when the National Guard turned me back and now I well know why. THE QUESTION IS, WHERE WERE THE BUSSES TO PULL THESE PEOPLE OUT? Sally's book explains the sadness of this as best she can. If I could easily get downtown as an individual, so could have busses on the day after the storm. Absolutely incredible there wasn't a caravan of vehicles to evacuate these stranded folks. The Coast Guard and all the many first responders and others were rescuing people but the problem was there was no means to evacuate them. Hopefully the USA has learned something here. Sally did a marvelous job of painting her picture as honestly as possibly and with out being ugly. In fact, it appears to me she did all she could to not point fingers. It is wonderful that folks like she are willing to give her time to her city in the capacity she was in before, during and after Katrina. Sally didn't need that job - she just was trying to help New Orleans be the best it could be. And that is true of so many other folks, including Mayor C Ray Nagin. My hat is off to all of them. They are the giving people. Incidentally, if you read between the lines of the negative reviews you will easily see that these remarks are biased from several standards. - political, race, poverty or what have you. Hopefully they will feel different in time. New Orleans is headed for a new beautiful day. DICK JUGE

Fast read

Couldn't put this book down. It gives a great run-through of the days right before, during, and after Katrina. Have to give the author credit - she sounds like a trooper. The book could have actually been longer and provided more details, but it does confirm quite a few things that had been brought up before: the problem with bureacracy and red tape while people were suffering and dying. That is a scary thing. Things will always go wrong when such a large disaster takes place, but to hold things back cause of rules and regs and politics at a time like that is unconscionable. Also now know why the Hyatt has still not reopened. Yuck. I don't know why the previous reviewer had such a bad take on this book. Sounds like they have something personal against the author. I would recommend this highly.