LSU football coach Les Miles was driving home from work Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005. He decided to fill up his gas tank.
Miles saw long lines at gas stations. People were pumping gas, preparing for Hurricane Katrina, a phenomenon Miles was not familiar with having moved to Louisiana in January of that year.
“The closest I had gotten to a hurricane before was a Midwest forecast where they put that circular thing in the Gulf, and I’m going, ‘What does that mean?'” Miles said.
Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans on Aug. 29. LSU’s home opener, scheduled for Sept. 3 against North Texas, was in jeopardy in the hurricane’s aftermath.
LSU provided a haven for hurricane victims. The PMAC was crowded with survivors needing medical attention, and the Carl Maddox Field House was designated as a Special Needs Shelter.
The North Texas game was postponed until Oct. 29.
LSU’s Sept. 10 contest against Arizona State was moved to the Sun Devils’ home stadium, while the PMAC served as the largest field triage unit in U.S. history.
Miles was proud to see volunteers stepping up to the plate.
“I saw [former LSU basketball player Glen Davis] with a volunteer tag on, and then there were people like [strength and conditioning coordinator] Tommy Moffitt who would work there until 10 p.m. and stay to volunteer until two and three and four in the morning,” Miles said. “There were men and women who stood up and were accountable to their responsibilities.”
Miles’ wife, Kathy, remembers the piercing noise of helicopters that hovered in the Baton Rouge skies to bring aid to victims.
“Rescue teams [landed] on the track area to bring all the people into the PMAC to take care of their medical needs,” she said. “The fact that people pulled together and really tried to help each other was a nice thing.”
The Miles children — Kathryn, Manny, Ben and Macy Grace — were 11, 9, 7 and 2 years old, respectively, when Katrina hit. Kathy Miles said Hurricane Gustav, which ravaged Baton Rouge in September 2008, helped the children understand the impact a hurricane can have on a city.
The Miles family witnessed New Orleans one year after Katrina on a drive through the city. Les Miles said it was poignant to see the damage that pervaded the city even after much time had passed.
“I took my family as far east as I could and came into New Orleans from the West Bank. We went back into St. Bernard and came across the bridge,” he said. “It was heart-rending to see all the devastation … signs on houses, thousands of cars stuck places and under overpasses. It was absolutely amazing.”
Kathy Miles said she and other LSU coaches’ wives put together a video for the coaches’ convention the following January that chronicled Hurricane Katrina’s impact.
She said the presentation showed how people banded together to help however they could.
“When you think back about it now in the fifth anniversary, you realize how devastating it was for everybody,” Kathy Miles said.
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Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]