Katrina Rescue

Bruce Chambers

Orange County Register

Specialist Alfredo Ramos, a National Guard soldier from a San Diego unit, center, lifts Edgar Hollingsworth, 74, onto an ambulance gurney in front of his home. New Orleans Medics, National Guardsmen and members of the FEMA California Task Force 5 Search and Rescue team of Orange County, Calif., surround the man who was rescued 15 days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged his New Orleans neighborhood. Tuesday, just before noon, the medical team from the California Task Force 5 Search and Rescue team responded to a medical call of a man found in his Broadmoor District home. They treated Hollingsworth on the scene for severe dehydration and transported him to the hospital. Members of the National Guard, 2-185 artillery, based in San Diego, Calif. spotted Hollingsworth through his front window and assumed he was dead but entered his home to check and found him barely alive. In doing so they violated a FEMA rule forbidding forced entry into private homes. Earlier in the day, a FEMA rescue team had knocked on Hollingsworth's door and moved on. Hollingsworth died two days later with his family at his beside at Ochsner Hospital.

Bruce Chambers, "Katrina Rescue," in POYi Archive, Item #35877, http://archive.poy.org/items/show/35877 (accessed June 8, 2025).