Bristol resident recalls Hurricane Katrina

By Kirsten Glavin

kglavin@abc6.com

@kirstenglavin

"I got up Sunday morning at 4 o’clock, and I never slept in that bed again,” said Edward Strong, an Associate Dean at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI. 
Strong said he and his wife, Laurie, bought water and batteries with the intent of staying at their home in New Orleans, right before Hurricane Katrina hit.  That is, until the Mayor warned everyone to evacuate immediately.

"We got up at four o’clock in the morning, checked the weather forecast, and it was still just as bad. So we threw some stuff in the back of my vehicle, and we took off,” he recalled.

Strong and his wife dodged the hurricane just in time.  Katrina, with it’s 174 mile per hour winds, took down flood walls, left 80 percent of the city underwater, and claimed more than 1,800 lives.

"We consider ourselves very lucky compared to a large number of people who lost everything,” he said.

Strong moved to Bristol with his wife in pursuit of a job at Roger Williams University.  He said there will always be a disconnect in his life…
he misses his old home, which was damaged but did  manage to survive the storm.  But overall, he said he is happy with his new life in Rhode Island.

“In the last ten years I’ve recreated my life, our lives, back here in Bristol. So it’s always there, at one point I unplugged.. but I’m reconnected,” said Strong.