August 23, 2010 From the Parish President:

St. Tammany Hurricane Katrina 5th Anniversary Community Service At 9:45AM on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made its final landfall in St. Tammany Parish. On the fifth anniversary of the hurricane, this Sunday, at 9:45AM, I am asking for a minute of silence across St. Tammany Parish to remember Hurricane Katrina. I ask that each of us take a minute at that time to remember those who were lost because of the storm and to give thanks to the first responders who came to our aid. If you are in church, at home, or making groceries, please keep 9:45AM in your mind. The parish will hold a community service at 262 Debbie Drive, between Clara and Evella, in the Slidell Carr Drive area, beginning at 9:30 AM with the moment of silence at 9:45AM. All members of the community are invited to attend the lakefront gathering. It is important to be together as a community. It is my hope that those citizens who cannot physically be at the lakefront service will join us in spirit. In St. Tammany Parish, Hurricane Katrina damaged 48,972 homes, almost 20,000 with flood waters. Flood waters surged as far north as Interstate 12.First responders rescued approximately 3,000 citizens from their flooded homes.

HELP WRITE THE STORY OF ST. TAMMANY AT http://www.stpgov.org/katrina: During the coming week, there will be many media stories about the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It is likely that few of them will recount the events in St. Tammany Parish as they weren't gathered into a cohesive whole. St. Tammany Parish Government is changing that. I invite you to look at www.stpgov.org/katrina. On this site, we are recording the story of St. Tammany Parish during Hurricane Katrina to ensure that it is permanently available to citizens, students, and future researchers. Please add your story to this site so that we can form a full picture of St. Tammany Parish during that time period. Permanent records are important on many levels. We want our children and grandchildren to study and learn from the events that happened here. We need the acknowledgement of our collected exeriences. Collected on this website are bulletins from the National Hurricane Center, excerpts from the Times Picayune and other media, excerpts from the 13,000 'missions' entered into the St. Tammany Parish Web Emergency Operations Center log, as well as information from first responders, the 9-1-1 system and personal accounts from the storm. The story section allows residents and those who aided St. Tammany in the aftermath of the storm a chance to tell their accounts in their own words. It also allows the rest of us who lived through this event the opportunity to read those stories. A photo section displays pictures from St. Tammany Parish, official media sources, and St. Tammany Parish citizens.

I invite you to read the timeline and submit your photos and stories. The threads of this story have been woven together as they unfolded. Except for the removal of personal information, the emergency entries have not been edited; they are shown as entered by the emergency call takers. Journals and comments from individuals contain their personal opinions, thoughts, and ideas as conveyed at that time. Time may have proven some of the comments inaccurate, but they were believed to be true at the time and are included here for a richer telling of this story. We were in the eye. Over 48,000 homes were damaged, almost 16,000 by flood waters. We not only survived, we triumphed.