The following is a recounting of the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita upon the USS KIDD Veterans Memorial and some of its employees in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“On Sunday, August 28, 2005, the employees of the historic destroyer USS KIDD (DD-661)—now serving as a museum in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana—began an emergency shutdown in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina. As is standard procedure, all loose articles were either collected and moved to the interior of the ship and the museum building or were lashed down in place. Hatches were dogged down aboard ship and extra tie-downs were placed on the P-40E Warhawk fighter plane on display in the south courtyard. Towels were placed under doors to soak up windblown rainwater and electronics were unplugged for fear of electrical surges. Once everything was secured, all of the museum employees were sent home to their families. Traffic on Interstate 10 and all of the major traffic arteries in town were severely congested, turning the drive home into an epic adventure.
That evening and all throughout the next day as Hurricane Katrina came ashore, news reporters from CNN broadcast from the levee fronting the KIDD here in Baton Rouge. By about 5:00 p.m. that evening (Aug. 29), the worst of the storm had passed. I joined a friend of mine in surveying some of the damage around town—which was remarkably light—and we headed downtown to see how the ship and museum had fared. I had lost power around 6:00 a.m. that morning and cellular service was down except for text messages, so I did not know the true extent of the damage caused by the storm.
Once we arrived downtown, we were greatly surprised to find all of the roads leading toward the museum completely blocked by emergency vehicles. We rerouted and took a back way into the area. At a glance, the museum appeared to be undamaged—the ship, both aircraft, and the building. We also learned that the Baton Rouge River Center, located across the street from the museum, was now housing approximately 6,000 evacuees from the New Orleans metro area. All of the streets accessing the museum were completely shut down with the exception of emergency vehicles accessing the emergency evacuation center in the River Center.
Upon arriving to work on Wednesday morning, we found the grounds of the museum and the immediate vicinity of the River Center covered in people as the evacuees had spread out from the center in order to get a little breathing room. With the museum cut off from outside access still due to the street closures, it was decided that we would remain closed. It was an act of self-preservation, what with no income occurring during a time when utility bills alone average $9,000 or more per month. The DELTA QUEEN riverboats, which called on the city and the KIDD regularly, were all evacuated upriver. With the hotels in town being completely filled with evacuees, military reunions which had been months and years in their planning were forced to cancel. Baton Rouge’s population rose from 400,000 to 600,000 over night and a 15-minute drive to work for some staff members suddenly expanded to 1½ hours. For a facility that receives no state or federal funding, admission is everything and suddenly no one could reach us.
As electricity began to be restored throughout the city and cell phone service stabilized, news began to flow more freely and word of the levee breaks in New Orleans spread. Unfortunately, so did the rumor mill. The rumor of a riot in the River Center caused many local citizens to avoid the downtown area for the entire month that the evacuation center was in existence in spite of news reports to the contrary. The area also became filled with trash and graffiti what with 6,000 people milling about a confined area for 30 days. Many groups and individuals scheduled to visit from as far away as Dallas, Little Rock, Canada, and even Peru were hesitant to do so due to the “rioting” that was allegedly going on in Baton Rouge and to the “health crisis” which purportedly included cholera outbreaks. Of course, the landfall of Hurricane Rita on September 23 in the western part of the state did not help matters.
So for the entire month of September, with the exception of a few hours each morning spent on grounds-keeping and answering phone calls and e-mails, our staff stayed at home . . . and waited.
One bright note was our ability to contribute in some small way to the relief efforts. The KIDD served as a barracks ship for approximately 150 out-of-town electrical line repairmen from Entergy who helped to bring power back to most of southeastern Louisiana. The Pete Maravich Assembly Center at Louisiana State University, located about two miles down the street from us, was used as a shelter for many of the medical evacuees from the New Orleans area and tour guide Jonathan Alford—a pre-med major at LSU—volunteered there until classes resumed. Other staff members were also involved in the effort: Will Kurtz volunteered with the Red Cross at a shelter on the campus of nearby Southern University; James Landry was a member of the National Guard and helped with relief efforts in New Orleans; and Fred Beach, having worked in the past at nuclear power plants, was recruited to help repair the pumps that drained the floodwaters of New Orleans. We were also able to host the men and women of the 134th Military Police Company of the Connecticut National Guard and the 192nd Military Police of the Nebraska National Guard for tours when they had a few free moments during the relief efforts.
Amidst all of this, we spent a lot of our time tracking down friends, family, and associates. Happily, all of our staff and volunteers came through the hurricane just fine. Some of our friends and colleagues weren’t so lucky, however. The USS ALABAMA (BB-60) museum in Mobile, Alabama, saw triple digit winds and a massive storm surge that shifted the battleship in the mud in which she rested for the first time in 40 years. The 3rd USS KIDD (DDG-100), under construction in Pascagoula, Mississippi, was slammed against the docks of the shipyards and tore a hole in her portside, resulting in limited flooding and setting back the date of her commissioning into the fleet. The USS ORLECK (DD-886) museum in Beaumont, Texas, received similar treatment at the hands of Hurricane Rita. The museum at historic Jackson Barracks in Chalmette, Louisiana, outside of New Orleans was under 12 feet of water for 3½ weeks, leaving mud and silt all about its first floor.
For the KIDD in Baton Rouge, the streets—and the museum—reopened on October 3 following the closing of the evacuation shelter. And though they went without work for a whole month, every single one of our part-time employees was able to return.
But the economic impact of the hurricanes is still affecting us almost a year later. Tourism was the 2nd largest industry in the state; past tense. Through the generosity of organizations like the City-Parish of East Baton Rouge, Tin Can Sailors, the Southeastern Museums Conference, ROCO Rescue, and the USS FULLAM (DD-474) and USS BENHAM (DD-796) reunion groups, we have received monetary grants and contributions which have helped to see us through the immediate aftermath of the storms and the standstill in tourism. New Orleans and Biloxi drew hundreds of thousands of people to the Gulf Coast each year. Tourists would stop in neighboring cities like Baton Rouge en route to or from the Crescent City and visit museums, attractions, restaurants, etc. Since the devastation of both areas, though, that has stopped. Just as an example, a local plantation home (which, like us, saw no damage) averaged 750 visitors per day prior to Katrina. Since the hurricanes, they now see about 90 people daily, and as a result, they have been forced to reduce their staff from 75 employees to 21 and slash their operating budget to the bare minimum. Volunteers and resources normally accessible to local museums have vanished; lost in the storm itself, in the evacuation both before and afterward, or in the recovery efforts that are still ongoing nearly a year later.
We here at the USS KIDD are happy to have contributed in our own small way to the recovery efforts. We have adjusted to the new reality and will continue to do so with each passing hurricane so that we may continue to honor the men and women of the Armed Forces.”