Vaccarella Family - Hurricane Katrina

[RavenLavender]

Poor puppy.

[matters9319]

I'm glad you kept good spirits, I know if there was a hurricane, and there was flooding, My dad would just be swearing at me, and finding reasons to scream at me.

[sydneyparra96]

this is like a horror movie its so sad

[teamfortress2222]

i live in galveston tx but im still scared it might us.

[msruckert]

My heart really went out to all the people of hurricane katrina.

[EsotericDesi]

I live in New York, and I remember talking to my math professor that afternoon that Hurricane might sink New Orleans... and, by midnight, city was gone...

[remimartine]

I never realised till seeing this vid how bad katrina really was... I would have been terrified. I just hope that gustav turns away and goes out to sea ... God bless

[tubevoyr]

Thank you for sharing your families loss with the world. I live in ocean springs were we didn't get the flooding but the wind. I just thought of today to look at Katrina home videos.

[andrewflip]

i live in chalmette and its bout to get flooded again by gustav... fuck

[BCMTJCAC]

I knew here in south Mississippi many swam during the storm to escape the surge. Your video brings three years of recovery right back to the day. You are a hero. I hope you are rebuilt and God Bless you!

[darkduke01]

I mean "i never thought about..." sorry ^-^

[darkduke01]

Here in south america we saw the TV news and everything but NEVER show that kind of videos.. i never though about the dimension of the tragedy untill i started watching home made videos here in YouTube.. specially this one. I don't know how could you be so relaxed seeing your neighborhood houses being swallowed by the force of water.. that was really scary, Please excuse my english, as i said, i'm from Latin America. Thanks for posting this (five stars)

[naruto2go]

rich white neighborhood or not ppl still died ur money couldnt save you

[alphawolf446]

WOW... 5/5

[slickchick9500]

wow you guys are really lucky

[kkgirl300]

brave people i wouldve been scared

[joshuakelly1]

thats some of the craziest shit i've ever seen!

[intentionalsound]

yay dog! If I was in that family I would have tried to use the boat that was across from them the whole time and gone around trying to find people and non-human animals that needed to be rescued. Come on the boat

[JIZAH69]

lol yeay they saved the dog

[zurrell]

hey just wanted to say glad you guys made it, and you did a nice job documenting this, took good nerve man

[triton115]

Was this video taken in New Orleans?

[askwestley]

The video was taken in Chalmette and Meraux, a suburb to the east of New Orleans in St. Bernard parish.

[hetasuzume]

I'm so glad for the dog.

[Imaginary114]

oh I know. that was really awesome of them to rescue the dog. :)

[kkc0161]

to think that that was the day before my bday (aug 30)

i am very sorry for evry1 effected by katrina. u r in my prayers (plz dont start an argument about the prayer thing...)

[jetsfan117]

u guys r very brave,

good job for helping those 2 people. god bless america!!!!!!!!!!

[justletuslive]

2 hours is all that it took for the water to come up enough to drown any human or house.

Thats terrifying, so its a note for all the people to understand that you only got just about 5-15 minutes to get out and not to stay. Unless you're living in a rich white city.

[1LSUredneck]

That's about the dumbest thing I've heard. Guess what? 10 feet of water did the same damage to my $380,000 house in my rich white neighborhood as it did to a shack in the poor area of town. I bet you believe the levee was blown up to save the white areas. If that were the case, then why did my house flood?

[goisles]

rich white city? You mean like Lakeview (over 10 ft of water), parts of Broadmore (over 10 ft of water), neighborhoods in St. Bernard (where I live and where the vid you are watching is). You're an idiot for making that statement. That water didn't give a damn about what color you are.

[suzannefromrotterdam]

Respect for this video

[RichUno1]

Just want to say thanks 2 the Vaccaella Family 4 sharing this vid.I know its so hard to watch your family House Go under water God Bless yall!!Stay strong

[lagginald18]

im glad u guys made thru this.

and the husky.OMG.

when i first saw it i was praying hard that it would be saved in the end and it looks like they did.atleast we humans are able to talk and relieve ourselves abit when we 're panicking but those animals are really so vulnerable.they are panicking and yet they cant sa a word.thats torture!

my condolences to victims of katrina.

[iceicepeegy]

wow...i went to school with luke...small world

[KMNKeybordValt]

Im Sorry that you guys had to go thru that.

[MJFan281096]

Cool, and sad.

Cool = It's a beautiful peice of nature, although destructive. It is an awsome sight.

Sad = Millions of people lost there lives, homes and valuble possesions. (Hope for everyone that was affected by the storm. *Note that I'm not praying. I'm not a Christian and I don't want to 'cause a big religonal desagrement or whatever*)

I don't know why but whenever I talk about tornadoes, hurricanes, nature or other simular situations I talk all technical and stuff. I'm only 11!

[ninanwk69]

geeeeeez!

[latefahsimmons]

for this family i am hope that everything is going well for you all god bless

[blackberrybunny]

HOLY CRAP~ That water came up fast. I used to live there, between the warehouse district and lower garden, on Orange St. It didn't flood at all, but I had long since moved away... My poor beloved city..... :*-(

[jchuask]

Must have been like that in the days of Noah, only much worst. (Genesis 6, 7, 8).

[casablancko]

wow...we don't see those in california..

[SergioMomarsh]

I will never forget how good of a job Brownie did down there. "Heckuva job your doin' down here Brownie." Heckuva job. 60,000 million dollar homes

[brujeriadiosa]

it is SO nice to hear the Yat on the internet! Ya'll back down da parish? Hope everything is better for your family. :)

[thedudeobbides]

God bless you all !!!!

[lptl081]

My heart goes out to those people but if you live below sea level you will get wet someday. It's the laws of physics. That is something that you cannot change.

[airmail1997]

Bite me...I guess you also believe tht if you live anyhere around and airport you should expect a plane to crash into your home and set your neigborhood on fire and distroy your life. Try checking out all the facts...You might just learn a lttle humility and soe interesting facts about our government at work. The next tradgety could be yours. I'll be praying fr you.

[TrustedPhayte]

That dog's a survivor. Lol.

It just struck me as amazing that people were still so light hearted when their homes were being destroyed. They managed to joke and that's how life should be. One step at a time. To everyone that had to live with this, I hope their lives have returned to normal or at least close to.

[DTakersgurl]

Thank God they were rescued. And they got the Dog to Boot! Wooo!

[12345vjd]

Excellent video

[SmartStoner420]

I'm with species,it is shameful we didn't help the Katrina victims until after the hurricane and even then we barely helped them.The help we did give them was pitiful,and when we really started to help we soon stopped because people took advantage of that help,but that doesn't mean the good people should suffer.All they needed was someone to help them stand. "You must learn to crawl before you can walk, and before you can walk you must be taught to stand."

[Luigi504]

this not far from ma house. we was lucky fortunately.

[pwenjing]

Fearful

[ELBproductions]

ugh that sucks, our country is really taking a turn for the worst on how we treat our citizens in it, we should of helped the majority of the people trapped there, i wouldn't expect all of them because we can't really control nature but, we could of saved some of them...

[nhare72]

no1 can swim that far with a strong current

[breezy503]

amazing footage - after my family and I went through '04s Ivan and all the way up to Katrina, we pulled tent pegs and moved to Oregon... man, I remember those days - wondering if the roof would ever let go... thanks for a great video - great courage... I hope all is well, God bless.

[cdltpx]

I had a history techer in Morgan City named Sammy Vacerella any kin?

[cmengfun]

It's scarry something related like Noah & The Ark story?

[JennaDarling87]

I love that you see in the very end that they saved the dog and he looks happy and safe! Great Video! Very moving when the man was talking about the Levys breaking.

[compassstl]

Aw, bummer about the brand new truck.

I went down to Mississippi to help with hurricane relief; you have to be there to understand.

[alfredhcy]

yeah the americans should really be embarassed. just look at how they treat their own people. how dare they say the chinese lack respect for human rights? tell me where were the human rights of the blacks, whites, asians and hispanics during katrina huh? hypocrites.

[puppylove104]

this is awful! i feel soo bad, god bless them

[speciesamused]

These people did not have the means to leave. Most of the population in this country live pay check to pay check, and still go hungry ever week. They where suppose to provide buses for these people to evacuate

but they never arrived. This is a huge stain on American history and we should be ashamed this is how we treat our own.

[christwannabee04]

That's not true. Our nation did provide a lot of ways for them to leave, and even warned them ahead of time. Many people just choose not to leave. And after katrina, our nation did a good job providing services to those people. At least a LOT better than other nations would have.

[DVincentW]

Well stated.

[UnknownSoldier73]

Just to let you know Speciesamused; the weather casters who were watching the hurricane told rescue teams that it would hit Florida. So when the hurricane hit New Orleans, all the rescue teams were in Florida, so they had to pack back up, and then move to Orleans, and not to mention it would take thousands of helicopters to get everyone out of the area's hit; which would still take to long, and to much money.

[mastersnort1]

If you recall, it did hit Florida first. It was a relatively minor storm when it did. Unfortunately, once it passed over and re-emerged in the gulf, it strengthened and then hit N.O. and Gulfport.

[umpalumpa101909]

omg, did you save the dog? i hope you did =[

[cloverfield911]

That is some scarey shit!!! Imagine your entire neighbourhood under 20ft of water!!!!!!!!!!

[EdwardoPlaya]

Kool, but sad.

[fakethetraumaforme]

Amazing..I used to live "down da road" in St. Bernard right past the junction, i went back to da parish in Oct of 06, and it seemed like nothing had changed since the hurricane, hope things have changed since then...

[KhmaiBodian559]

wow that was amazing, watched it on full screen

[marcsk87]

WOOT THE DOG IS ALIVE YEAH !

[littlemoroccan]

oooh that gives me shivers..I remember my first hurrican I was terrified!! I was on the Disney college program. I reember Katrina was supposed to hit us and it turned at the last second..It broke my heart to see what it did to everyone!!

[Comws]

where was this at? New Orleans?...new orleans didnt get anything..they got outer bands...mississippi coast got the worst..the eye ofthe storm passed over the town that i live in....there was nothing left

[bendmymind]

you're right.. we can tell by the footage at about 1:40 that they just got the "minor" outer bands. probably doesn't deserve any empathy, huh

[HitchensFanatic]

I agree. I was in Gulfport. MS Coast got the worst, and it wasn't a manmade levee failure. These people are in St. Bernard parish, in Louisiana. We got wiped out, they had a little wind damage, but they didn't get our wind speed.

[Purple12Bitch]

HitchensFanatic....I live in lower Alabama. The thing that always amazed me was MS kinda got lost with LA. Meaning Mississippi got the brunt of Katrina, and not much news coverage. But hey, start of a new season.

[bijeto]

That was amazing, terrifying, and sad all at the same time. You were all very brave and I hope you are all doing well.

[boberino333]

The crawfish are swimmin high but Bush is fishin somewhere else. Thanks FEMA. N.O. , leave when they say leave. You ain't riddin em all out.

[RICOH509]

Amazing video!

[slash71019]

woo

[AlreadyBuried]

Voicing what most Americans AND you know.

You elected politicians For Decades... who campaigned they were going to do something about the Levy ... and you saw year after year go by with nothing being done.

Now comes Katrina and you have the nerve to blame whoever else but your own selves? My hat goes off to the Vaccarella's for being survivors. New Orleans still needs to shoulder the blame for their blind incompetence - disregarding the fate that was laid bare years before.

[wac4zac35]

great footage

[poolkitty]

The sad thing is that so much of new orleans looks pretty much like it did just after New Orleans.

[Love2Sing74]

Thanks for sharing. It goes to show that anything can happen at anytime. We need to cherish the time spent here and our family members.God bless everyone who went through this ordeal..Make everyday count!

[stichyerick]

Why did they stay there?!

[sizzer33]

All this in around 3 hours!!

[windsister]

"He's a survivor, he's like a Vaccarella."

;D

[pusciferdom]

God bless you all and everyone else who was ignored by our government until it was obviously far too late to help.

[sexualpervert]

That was powerful! New Orleans get well soon!

[stolenbaby472]

i saw this footage on the news of a black guy crying because he couldnt take his dog on the bus with him to leave the city and he said his family was dead and his dog was his only friend it was probably one of the saddest things ive ever seen

[animevolution]

Wow amazing footage....i myself have been in a C5 hurricane i can tell u this its scary as shit...wind tossing stuff around the house...huge trees getting unrooted...just pure destruction all around ya

[samikaze]

holy crud... D:

[aliencrap]

Cool vid.

[tommycdachimpanzee]

wow....

[tanik1987]

big cheat

[treebark12002]

dang i forgot how bad that was.

[Kvivian]

God Bless you people - my heart breaks for that situation. But I know that you have gone on with your lives. My dear friend lost her home - but now has been fortunate enough to re-build and move back in her old neighborhood just last month. God bless you again.

[txstoryteller]

I can't even begin to imagine....God be with those affected by Hurricane Katrina!!

Powerfully heartbreaking, heartrending vid; thanks for sharing!

[GjpgrD]

Wow...no words.

[teruash]

An amazing video. Well done to the people who took it and thanks for posting it. It's one thing to see the photos and films on tv, taken by the journalists, but it's something quite different to have the first-hand, amateur images. It really brings home the horror of what people had to live through.

[blarfgaincentral]

This is why I live in california. But I still feel for you guys, what a disaster. But all we can do now is put katrina behind us, and look to the future while re-building out lives.

Cali also has it's fair share of disasters, though I have not personally felt the losses of going through one here, still kinda sucks. :(

[saberd1]

this next hurricane season is really gonna suck, supposed to be the worst ever =0

[neetsnook]

Im speechless.  I love your attitudes through such a horrific experience.

[TidePools]

Simply amazing. This video really brings us right into the midst of what it was like. Just remarkable.

[xanadu2113]

i hope the best for NOLA, i'm moving there soon!

[Purgatori303]

The experts are predicting a bad hurricane season this year :x

[INFOKRIG]

Real survivors .

[jpell225]

Best people in the world live in "the parish."

[uneedz]

Look like the days of noah. WoW!!!!

[lupejudoka]

damn......amazing video......poor people

everyone is ok?

[sweet4eva33]

this is sad..

[lavettaloca43]

thank you for sharing...

[dispozilla]

I'm glad you guys got the dog

[aces9876]

this scared the crap out of me, its just so unreal.

And to think in the future this will happen more often.

[lyo1984]

Among the many crazy things he says the best is at 8:20 or so when he says what I always think "Survivor" hmm the dog is a survivor your justa dumbass that wanted what you got.The dog didnt get the warning to get the hell outta dodge but ugh unless you dont have a tv you had at least one day

[nizzlenizzle1]

i love these guys! i am from st. bernard, and this shows how we are and think in our parish. we call shrimp boots "down the road Reebok's". lol! we're not scared of water, but we do respect it. and to correct realitycheck82 we had 121/2 feet for 2 weeks at our house in meraux st. bernard. i don't know rocky personally, but i know of him and he is awesome as is his family

[Billyomama]

That really sad. I think you would like my Hurricane Katrina video on my youtube homepage.Thanks

[DonVictor2]

The most amazing video I've ever seen. Thank GOd the Vaccarella family are safe and like he said...they probably should have packed up and left, but maybe this video was needed so in the future people will take these storms more seriously and leave.

[skybluetrades]

I met Rocky Vacarella a couple of days ago. Everyone did survive--and they live in the same rebuilt houses today. The water was 15-17 feet at that point. These people have heart and guts...and they are very lucky to be alive.

[Redclif101]

This is amazing video. I hope everyone in it is ok.

[bamadava]

If you guys didnt grow up in the bayous you did wouldnt have been able too laugh like you guys did .good diggin bra

[miltabib]

Most inportant thing about this video...

He said it at the end of the video..

We should have left like they told us..

Dont stay when hurricane hit..

[biny8]

to miltabib - yer, but no one, really expected that!

[monequmjord]

Oh my God, Chills just ran thru my body, I'm from the lower 9 and I just praise God I didn't stay, because I would not be writing this comment today, God Bless Yall for your help with those people.

[kmdelery]

no negative comments here... amazing... we need to forward this to many people... but, it's interesting... why no negative comments? st. bernard is like 2 seconds from the 9th ward and new orleans east... i was living in st. bernard... nobody really has returned

[ePhilosopher]

two years and a few months. the street cars are back on st charles ave. today. how about people's lives, Socrates? The difference between the Cali fires consumed is linear.

[ePhilosopher]

LOOKS LIKE WIND DAMAGE TO ME!

[trippinballsss]

when does wind make 20 feet of water

[ePhilosopher]

Is this the same Vacarella family of the famous Rocky V who went to visit G W Bush? This is the best Katrina footage I've ever seen. Gives me flashbacks. I was born in a crossfire hurricane named Betsy, then Katrina, next one i'll be 80.

[EsotericDesi]

WOW!... You should have sent this video to Bush... and his mother, Barbara... who said that black people are better off in Houston dome because they're enjoying higher living standards than they could havve had they been living in New Orleans...

[jrb281]

ok thats dumb. people in houston do not live inside a bowl #1. #2 why does bush need to see it and what does his mother's comments have to do with new orleans being better or worse for black people and did she actually use the term black people? lets not be stupid. its new orleans and louisiana politicians fault the levees were not secure enough to withstand a major hurricane. not the bushes.

[NativeOfAfrica]

what battery were you using ?. your camera did a good job, did the dog survive? and the old man?..

----------

A lot of people from Africa actually wanted a visa to come over and help out during catrina but, I dont know if they got any.

[wwwjohndiron]

Incredible! Bad day in the Parish!

[jaurena47]

Very sad ,but this video may help people to take hurricanes more serious.

Thanks for sharing.

[caseylove19]

after katrina, i do take hurricanes more seriously. i live in tampa fl. and every hurricane season my family has a party.but now i pack things up and prepare for the worst.

[imhungray]

im glad that yall made it through

where was this?

i had to go through the same thing "/

[souljaEXVOTO]

GYAWD DAAAYUM.

[bintalshamsa]

I'm very glad that you all made it through the storm with no fatalities. You and I were among the lucky ones.

[tbrewer99]

All I can say is dat was one hell of a hurricane party podnuh. WooooWeee dem Vaccarella's are some survivors, yeah.

I bet y'all evacuate next time, no?

[exquisite0514]

OMG! This video makes me sad. I can't believe its been one year. My heart still goes out to all the victims as I know they are still recovering...God bless.

[atomickilla]

2 years :)

[zladybug1]

It's been TWO years!!

[CalmRage1]

very painful to watch. the event inspired a selection that i'm posting on my channel called "USED TO BE by MR. PJ"

everyone is invited to view, rate, comment & post on your bulletins if you liked what u heard which was done from the heart. thanks.

[crazychicksrule]

its soooooooooooo sad i wanted to cry........in fact i did

[joezeppi]

some of the most dramatic footage I've ever seen of Katrina, and I've seen a lot!

[catsundown]

unfortunately I couldn´t understand the whole conversation, because my english is so bad.... But: very interesting and sad!

[khoshnaw123]

Mate you need to park a yakht instead of a truck oputside your house if you want to live there

[MissLLB2B]

Oh my God, that footage in unbelievable!

[Bennydyisraelite]

your Family was very brave. You showed great stability in the face of such adversity. I pray that this has only made you stronger. please pet that dog for me and give him a scratch.

[wolfenbreed]

Unbelieveable, i can't believe how high the water got.. Incredible footage!

[haden555]

its a shame it took FEMA 5 days to get water down to those poor people. i could ride my bike to new orlanes in five days

[jrb281]

it was a shame that there were people their period. get on the bus and get to houston. they knew it was coming.

[WuddupDoc]

Thats my dog, its actually siberian husky and i have it to this day

[stephencraig4442]

Where was this footage shot? I'm in Biloxi. God bless you all!

[gr8dale72]

im from meraux . :\ i wanna go home

[jordantaylor]

What a nightmare ... unbelievable footage.

[TheNoTown]

anderson cooper FROM CNN IS A SELLOUT!! Did you see his latest report about New Orleans? He didn't talk about the slow recovery & real issues. He talked about broken fema trailors being sold on auction websites,he didn't mention the school system or the slow recovery.

These kids in New Orleans are getting messed over by our government officials and fake ass anderson cooper doesn't really care. He said he was "keeping them honest" but he's all talk.

copy and paste this msg EVERYWHERE

[txrob74]

Awesome videos from this family..really brings tears to your eyes imagining the terror so many people experienced.

[redevette504girl]

this is so heartbreaking. It makes me cry . I just been able to return to new orleans . Katrina couldn't keep me gone for too long . There is no place like home

[liquidstl]

Where was that? Heroing video.

....... (speechless)

[CanadianPeamealBacon]

Holy Cow....chilling and unbelievable!!! Thanks for sharing....

[jasonlaredo]

This is an amazing video footage, I'm glad to see you guys made it out ok.

[starrynightz]

worst days of my life....

[impurestoned]

wow man...

i thought the guys right at the end came to loot!!

[sirrudeboy]

That's insane!!  Jeeze!

[londf1982]

I'm from violet

never seen this video it's crazy.

[RyonIsKey]

I am headed down to New orleans and st.Bernard to work. hopefully within the week. just dropped out of school and hope to get some rebuilding done. also are you the person who shot this video?

[askwestley]

This video was shot by members of the Vaccarella family. I just did the encoding to get it on the web.

[NaughtyMina]

Damn, this is heartbreaking... I actually cried watching the water rise.. ya gotta be from down there to truly understand the heartbreak..I miss the Nawlins accent.. I love to hear the guy in the recliner talk... I way out in Atlanta.. and miss home terribly. Katrina took away my city, but i hold my memories close at heart!

[lizardfellow]

Wow, how lucky that they didn't get hit by a tornado or washed away. Overall, a great video. Thanks for sharing!

[hardhead233]

Amazing footage man i'm from Arabi man, that shit looked crazy....