Meet Hurricane Katrina’s ‘Youngest Survivor’, Eight-year-old Noah Benton Markham is known for his powerful imagination and storytelling prowess. However, Noah himself may be the most breathtaking story of all: born 16 months after Hurricane Katrina to a mother who evacuated and a police officer father who stayed, from a frozen embryo that underwent its own dramatic rowboat rescue.
“I’m Katrina’s youngest survivor!” Noah proudly tells people. “I’m famous!”When the winds began to rise, back in 2005, physical therapist Rebekah Crosby, then 30, wasn’t thinking about her frozen embryos, stored at the Fertility Institute in New Orleans. A gulf hurricane named Katrina was gathering speed. Her first concern was her family’s safety.Rebekah lived in Covington, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, in a home surrounded by old-growth trees. She had a 1-year-old son, Glen Witter “Witt” Jr. Her then-husband, Glen Markham Sr., was a New Orleans police officer. He would ride out the storm on duty in the city. She and Witt would be on their own.She made the choice of so many mothers: She evacuated to ensure the safety of her son.
Her parents lived an hour north in Angie, La., a rural village of 200 people. Assuming the town was far enough away to be safe, she packed three or four days of clothes and supplies in her car, including milk in a cooler for Witt. “Nobody thought Katrina would be what Katrina was,” Rebekah tells Yahoo Parenting. “We had no idea how hard it would hit.”
But the storm shook the small village. Her parents’ windows shattered. The power flickered, then failed. Rain pounded the roof. The family hunkered down inside, three generations huddled around a transistor radio, waiting for news to cut through the dark, dank heat and uncertainty. Witt stuck by his mother like a shadow, scared of the dark, miserable from the heat. There would be little sleep for anyone.
“The next morning we heard that New Orleans was flooded,” Rebekah remembers. “My husband was a first responder. I didn’t know where he was or if he was safe.” The last thing he said was that his squad was to hunker down on the West Bank of New Orleans. The building they planned to stay in was all glass.
“I’m Katrina’s youngest survivor!” Noah proudly tells people. “I’m famous!”When the winds began to rise, back in 2005, physical therapist Rebekah Crosby, then 30, wasn’t thinking about her frozen embryos, stored at the Fertility Institute in New Orleans. A gulf hurricane named Katrina was gathering speed. Her first concern was her family’s safety.Rebekah lived in Covington, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, in a home surrounded by old-growth trees. She had a 1-year-old son, Glen Witter “Witt” Jr. Her then-husband, Glen Markham Sr., was a New Orleans police officer. He would ride out the storm on duty in the city. She and Witt would be on their own.She made the choice of so many mothers: She evacuated to ensure the safety of her son.
Her parents lived an hour north in Angie, La., a rural village of 200 people. Assuming the town was far enough away to be safe, she packed three or four days of clothes and supplies in her car, including milk in a cooler for Witt. “Nobody thought Katrina would be what Katrina was,” Rebekah tells Yahoo Parenting. “We had no idea how hard it would hit.”
But the storm shook the small village. Her parents’ windows shattered. The power flickered, then failed. Rain pounded the roof. The family hunkered down inside, three generations huddled around a transistor radio, waiting for news to cut through the dark, dank heat and uncertainty. Witt stuck by his mother like a shadow, scared of the dark, miserable from the heat. There would be little sleep for anyone.
“The next morning we heard that New Orleans was flooded,” Rebekah remembers. “My husband was a first responder. I didn’t know where he was or if he was safe.” The last thing he said was that his squad was to hunker down on the West Bank of New Orleans. The building they planned to stay in was all glass.
About JULIA
Blogger Comment
Facebook Comment