I’ve just returned from a few days in Baton Rouge to cover the flooding. I’ve talked to people who were wandering around outside their flooded neighborhood, waiting to go home to survey the damage. Several would remark that last month, three Baton Rouge officers were killed. An additional flood seemed like a bit much to them.
Despite the serious nature of the floods, many people started cracking jokes when they saw the reporter walk up.
“I always dreamed of owning waterfront property,” one guy would tell me.
Another looked across the street and said, “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.”
I can only imagine how much control one must have over his emotions to lose everything he owns (the same guy would lament that he only had time to grab some clothes and his phone. He had to leave family pictures in his house) and still have the wherewithal to quote lines from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
That’s one of the things that sticks out to me when I’m covering a disaster: many of the people affected still want to joke around. A few years ago, I was covering tornado damage near Oklahoma City. A woman walked up to me, shook my hand and offered to give me a tour of her house, which had been reduced to a pile of rubble.
“Sorry, it’s a little messy,” she said.
As a member of society, I was willing to offer whatever help I could in Baton Rouge. One woman was complaining about how she couldn’t find anywhere to get food.
“Even Wal-Mart’s closed!” she wailed.
Some stores and restaurants had to shut down because employees couldn’t make it to work. I felt it would be too hard on her to learn that I’d passed a closed Waffle House on the way to this neighborhood.
I did, however, stop at a Buc-ee’s on my way out of the Metroplex last night, so I went back to my car and offered her some Beaver Nuggets. She’d never had a Beaver Nugget before. And she was pleased with them.
Another gentleman started yelling at this guy in a canoe.
“You’re paddling against the current! It’ll take you forever… wherever you’re going!”
He looked at me and raised his hand for a high five. He would then offer me a ride in his canoe to get closer to the damage.
He explained that he doesn’t have anything else to do because his house was back there and he can’t go home.
I politely declined but offered him some Beaver Nuggets before I left.
