A Family's Path from Ruin to Rescue

By Nathan Thornburgh

The floods hit the St. Bernard housing project in New Orleans' Seventh Ward with a determined fury. In desperation, says Randy Nathan, 20, trapped residents screamed at passing helicopters and set off firecrackers to attract attention. But no rescuers came. "We had to make a move," he says. "The water was rising. We had too many babies and my grandma."

In a week that heaped torment on top of tragedy, the deck seemed especially stacked against the Nathans. The 20-member extended family, including a newborn, a great-grandmother and a pregnant 22-year-old, fought its way out of the swamped housing project, only to languish for days on dry ground. A harrowing bus ride took the Nathans to Texas--and more disappointment. But when all seemed lost, grace arrived in the form of a stranger who offered her home, and with it, the space to be a family again.

To save their family, Randy, his brother Laurence and cousin Rydell, both 18, had to jump from a third-story window into the 8-ft.-deep waters of the flooded city. The cousins, none of whom are strong swimmers, swam several blocks to get an abandoned boat and then spent nine hours ferrying family members to higher ground, helping others when they could.

Surviving the flood was just the first challenge. The Nathans then spent two days searching for food and water and being turned away from checkpoints.

When they finally boarded a bus for Houston, one of them was threatened at gunpoint by a thug from a rival housing project. They arrived at the Astrodome 16 hours later, only to be told they might not be able to stay. But in the milling crowd, Cheryl Graves, 47, stepped forward to invite all 20 of them to stay at her three-bedroom house in northwest Houston. Why would she take in total strangers? "Humanity," she says. "They can be here as long as they want." --By Nathan Thornburgh. With reporting by Deborah Fowler/Houston

With reporting by DEBORAH FOWLER/HOUSTON