Not Just the Levees Broke

Leblanc, one of the Hurricane Katrina survivors featured in Spike Lee's HBO documentary When the Levees Broke, offers her own extended recollection of the destruction of New Orleans' Ninth Ward. Leblanc details the decision her family made to stay in their apartment and ride out the storm and the preparations they made for what they thought would be just another hurricane. Leblanc, her husband, Ron, her mother, and a young nephew with autism were among the Ninth Ward residents mired in filthy water and inhuman conditions following the storm. Leblanc recalls, in very human flashes of selfishness, not wanting her more altruistic husband to risk his life helping others. She, a more reluctant hero, plotted to punish political figures she held responsible, as she struggled along atop the levee, overcoming her own fears to help strangers and try not to judge those who took advantage. All the while, Leblanc wondered about the politics of the city and the nation that would allow such a tragedy. A very plainspoken and personal look at a tragedy with national consequences.