Nearly five years ago, on Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the lives and livelihoods of the people of New Orleans and resulted in some of the darkest days in the history of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Scott Drumm, associate professor of theological and historical studies at Leavell College, the undergraduate college at NOBTS, felt that the story of how the seminary weathered Katrina should be preserved. His book, Providence Through the Storm: The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Hurricane Experience, is a compilation of the photographs and stories that make up the seminary’s own Hurricane Katrina story.
“I realized at some point that the Katrina event was so large that we were living in a truly historical moment. I wanted to be able to capture everyone’s stories while they were still fresh on their minds. I did not want this major event to pass us by without capturing some kind of historical record,” he said.
Every person who went through Hurricane Katrina has his own personal Katrina story. The stories all have similar themes of grief and loss, yet each differs when it comes to what the storm cost them, whether it was possessions, a loved one, or time spent away from home. Recalling those days and weeks is still difficult for many, though there is a triumphant air about those who have persevered in returning and rebuilding.
In the same way, members of the seminary family who were a part of NOBTS during that time, which has become known as the “Katrina Event,” also have a story to tell. The stories of NOBTS faculty, staff and students make up the larger story of how the seminary weathered, survived, and triumphed over Hurricane Katrina.
Drumm wants future generations of NOBTS students, faculty and staff to better understand what their forebears went through in order to keep the seminary afloat during the most trying time in its history.
“I knew that the school’s present and its future were going to be shaped by what had happened. Essentially, I wanted to give a lasting view of the events for generations who come after, so that 100 years from now, New Orleans faculty, staff and students can look back and better understand what the school experienced by listening to the voices who lived through this life-changing event,” Drumm said.
So Drumm began putting together a book of photographs and stories. Using many of the 5,000 pictures he received, Drumm illustrates the story of the seminary campus as it looked before, during and just after the hurricane and flood that ravaged the Gentilly campus. The stories, gleaned from interviews with more than 100 people, capture the wide range of emotions experienced by everyone connected to and associated with the seminary. They are told by everyone from the president to the students to the small band of people who actually rode out the storm in a dorm on campus and barely escaped the city.
Together, these stories chronicle the days leading up to Katrina’s landfall from the time when everyone in Louisiana thought that Katrina was someone else’s problem, to the moment it seemed that the city had dodged a bullet, to the devastating realization that the worst had happened.
Since that terrible August day, much has been done in and around New Orleans to bring restoration and healing to those affected by the storm. It has been a long and difficult process that is still far from over. For those who went through Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath, life is divided into two periods of time: pre-Katrina and post-Katrina. What was normal before the storm is now a memory and people have had to forge a ‘new’ normal for themselves and for their families.
When asked about the overall message of the book, Drumm says, “I wanted to communicate that this was a very traumatic event which has both affected the city and the seminary. It wasn’t just a storm; it changed things. But God used it and was there in the midst of it. He is continuing to work and he has a plan for the school and the city that the storm was just a part of.”
Drumm spent months gathering photos and interviewing those willing to share their stories, compiling them in an archive that is now located in John T. Christian library on the seminary’s campus. The book, called Providence Through the Storm: The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Hurricane Katrina Experience, is available at the NOBTS LifeWay Store or at www.amazon.com.
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