FRONTLINE | The Old Man and the Storm | Clip 1 | PBS

http://www.pbs.org/frontline/katrina Herbert Gettridge became known as "The Wizard" among the elite craftsmen who built and maintained New Orleans' distinctive architecture. In "The Old Man and the Storm," FRONTLINE follows Mr. Gettridge and his family as they struggle to rebuild their homes and their lives after Hurricane Katrina. Watch on air and online beginning Tues, Jan 6, 2009.

Six months after Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, producer June Cross came across 82-year-old Herbert Gettridge working alone on his home in the lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood devastated when the levees broke in August 2005. Over the next two years, Cross would document the story of the extended Gettridge clan--an African-American family with deep roots in New Orleans--as they struggled to rebuild their homes and their lives. Their efforts would be deeply impacted by larger decisions about urban planning, public health, and the insurance industry, by the decisions of policymakers about federal funding for rebuilding the Gulf, and state and city plans for dispersing those monies. The moving personal story of Mr. Gettridge and his family reveals the human cost of this tragedy, the continued inadequacies of government's response in the aftermath of Katrina, and how race, class, and politics have affected the attempts to rebuild this American city.

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News & Politics

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[DevinMiller72]

Mr. Gettridge, you are a real American. Tough with tenacity and you haven't given up. I'm proud to live in the same country as you. Thank you Frontline for the wonderful program. I am so ashamed of our Federal Government's response -- where were/are you?

[csrobinson123]

I love this story. Frontline always does a great job. But I gotta be honest, when his wife finally comes home and starts complaining about everything - I was rollin' LMFAO

[noblinger]

Seaman

[DEEPTHROAT36]

@csrobinson123 Me Too!!  LMFAO

[MrGrevy]

@DevinMiller72 He duped you too, huh? He SAID he had insurance...do you not get that he was lying? Freaking silly moron.

[DevinMiller72]

@MrGrevy Your point that he had no insurance is wrong ... re-watch the video, maybe watch the entire program. Knee-jerk comments from angry douchebags are are as thick as flies on youtube. I guess you can count yourself in that majority.

[MrGrevy]

@DevinMiller72 If you're not able to refute my points, don't. However, spouting some party line nonsense about the Tea Party is just absurd. I have no affiliation with them my angry, presumptuous friend.

[DevinMiller72]

Add something useful to the conversation then being some obvious fake Tea Party holocaust denier troll.

[MrGrevy]

Well, welcome to life Mr. Gettridge. This is what happens when you don't buy insurance and live in a goddamn flood zone you delusional black moron. I do give him credit for not looting however.

[MrGrevy]

@DevinMiller72 Oh yeah - what a great american - too irresponsible or stupid to buy insurance, and now can't figure out why the government won't give him a handout. God you're sick and delusional.

[SEATTLEGRL1]

I love this documentary and the City of New Orleans.

I went there in 2006 for the 1st Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and have a permanent bond to the city.