Katrina makes landfall

I had to wait for a day off of work to continue this. It's been crazy otherwise too. I am only 28 weeks pregnant and my doctor wants me to have non stress tests twice a week from here on out.
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I guess it was about 2am Monday morning when the wind really started to pick up. A couple hours later after the rain started falling hard the power went out and the generators kicked on. Keep in mind that the huge generators used to power this hospital were located outside of the hospital on the GROUND. At 7am, just as I was getting off work the wind was blowing harder than I had ever seen in my life. I went to my room to try to lay down and the first of several panic attacks began. The wind must have blown part of the roof off because the ceilings in the two rooms adjacent to us caved in. Sand, dust and who knows what else permeated the air and I started freaking out to say the least. I dug through my handbag frantically for my inhaler. I had been dealing with chronic bronchitis for a year and the last thing I needed was to feel like I couldn't breathe. I was almost to that point anyway. The next hour felt like an eternity as I was begging God to just let me fall asleep so I could get some mental relief. I could only describe the tension as this: you know when you go to the doctor and you get a shot. You close your eyes, wait for the burning to subside and you let your breath out when you feel the needle removed. Well, the needle was never removed and the burning wouldn't subside. The wind kept getting harder and louder. There was no breaks. The intensity just kept building like it was feeding upon it's own energy. The windows were boarded up and it was so dark. My boyfriend made me lay down with him beside me. I was terrified, I cried and cried. He didn't flinch. He just held me tighter and hushsed me quietly until my prayer was answered and I passed out.
I woke about 11am. The wind was still strong but not nearly as bad. I could hear the rain and smell the still lingering dirt in the air. Voices from the hallways streamed into my room. Nothing good or bad being said that I could tell. Just people waiting and sitting. My boyfriend smiled at me, circles under his eyes, hair a little disheveled but no less an angel in my eyes. He told me to come and take a walk with him. Apparently he had left a couple times while I slept to look around. He kept his arm around me as we walked up the hallway toward the new wing. I stopped when we came to the windowed passageway and, as I took in the view outside, the seriousness of our situation started to sink in like a branding iron. The first floor of the hospital was completely submerged. The parking lot and the surrounding neighborhood was a violent ocean. I looked to the left of me and saw a young woman standing with an infant in her arms. Both of them with life vests on. She appeared to be in a trance. As the fear in me started to creap, I forced it to stop for a moment as my heart broke for her. As scared as I was for my own safety, I could not imaging having my children with me to fear for also. OH GOD! MY CHILDREN! I had to believe they were safe along with my family. I couldn't allow my mind to create any thought otherwise. I was on the verge of snapping as it was. My immediate concern was if the water was done rising because the roof was the only place left to go, at least for those of us who could be transported upstairs. I looked up and saw a small riverboat headed toward us. There was a few adults and a woman holding an infant that couldn't have been more that 4 months old. They drove up to the window frantically waving their hands obviously trying to find out how to get in. A security guard who had seen them yelled and motioned to them to go around to the other side of the hospital to the balcony. They did so and the small crowd that had gathered to watch went there also. Now I get to introduce you to a person I will never forget. I'll call him Randy. He was one of the biggest, burliest, sweetest black guys I have ever worked with. He was a Patient Assistant. He would help the nurses with patient needs such as walking, eating or getting in and out of bed. Everyone loved him, and we loved him even more now. He began to reach over the balcony rail and started pulling these people out of the boat. I looked up and saw more boats headed our way. And so began the long afternoon of rescuing about 300 refugees from the water. Randy didn't quit for a single moment. He was amazing.