USCG PHOTO BY PETTY OFFICER RUSS TIPPETS


Above: An HH-65


Dolphin from Coast Guard Air Station


New Orleans takes a break from


search-and-rescue


operations to land on the Boston-based


USCG cutter Spencer to refuel.


Opposite: Working at their Mobile,


Alabama, base, USCG Petty Officers 2nd


Class David Villarreal (left) and Steve Fruzan work to


loosen a bolt on the tail rotor driveshaft


of an HH-60 Jayhawk used in the


post-Katrina response.


Coast Guard C-130s. Operations ran 24/7, and briefings were held in a makeshift ops center using whiteboards. From the air, New Orleans resembled an immense flotilla


of houseboats, with 10- and 20-block stretches of neighbor- hoods submerged beneath muddy waters. Many of the storm’s survivors who’d been unable to evacuate had climbed to high points in their homes to escape the flooding. Te stranded were visible everywhere, waving frantically


from the roofs of houses, apartment buildings, and isolated high-rise balconies, huddled in trees, or standing atop their submerged vehicles. Tousands were rescued by USCG helicopter pilots hovering “danger close” to active high-power electrical lines, pushing rescue crews to their physical and mental limits. While the sun was shining, survivors waved anything that


would attract the attention of rescue crews, scrawling des- perate pleas for help on sheets of plywood or any large surface they could find. When night fell, pilots reported seeing “thousands of twinkling lights” in their night-vision goggles as survivors used flashlights to draw attention to their positions. Rescue swimmers faced some of the most difficult and


challenging conditions during these missions: navigating steep, slippery roofs of flooded houses and buildings and


28 ROTOR 2020 Q4


hidden or submerged objects in muddy water, likely con- taminated by sewage, chemicals, or fuel oil. Te engine roar and the constant downward pressure of the rotors were familiar to the swimmers who had trained to work under these harsh conditions. Te flying shingles and other debris added a new level of threat. Rescues were conducted by lowering a basket or “strop,”


a stainless-steel–reinforced web harness that goes under the arms, with a crotch strap to prevent the survivor from slipping out. Te rescue swimmer would hook his or her own harness plus the rescue strop to the lowered steel cable and signal for the hoist operator to winch them up. Some evacuees, gripped by sudden fear and panic, would yell and scream as the ground fell away beneath their feet before being delivered to high ground, dry land, or a nearby temporary safe zone.


A Husband Waits With the rescued wife now safely aboard, the pilot of Sayers’s helicopter flew them directly to a nearby staging area where a local fire truck was waiting. Having radioed their request ahead, Sayers dashed to the fire truck, grabbed a much heavier ax, and darted back to the waiting helicopter, which imme- diately lifted off and returned to the cloth-marked house, an anxious wife still aboard.


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