New Orleans Native Who Fled Hurricane Katrina Reflects One Year Later

Author comments on Hurricane Katrina's one-year anniversary and how he incorporated his evacuation experience in newly-released novel.

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. (PRWEB) August 24, 2006 -- Bill Branley traveled with his family to his native New Orleans late last August to say goodbye to his ailing mother. After her passing, a storm we all remember, hit, and his family was forced to evacuate the region. Branley’s mother’s funeral was finally held one month later.

As the one-year anniversary of a storm that devastated a community, economy and in some cases, spirit, approaches Branley, whose family’s history in New Orleans dates back to the 1700s, said that he and his family thought that Katrina was the "Big One."

“We all felt ‘this is the big one,'" Branley said. "When you grow up in New Orleans you always hear about the ‘big one’ that's going to wipe out the city and that’s what we thought Hurricane Katrina might be.”

Like Branley and his family, the main characters in his novel, 'Sea Changes' (One Sock Press, ISBN 0-9778561-0-0, July 2006, $14.95)also traveled to New Orleans last August and were forced to evacuate. The book also reveals thoughts on how the environment and global warming may have affected last year's storms and those to come.

“Much of New Orleans is built on reclaimed swamp land," Branley said. "As you go out from the city, the marshes and bayous have experienced tremendous development. This has affected what happens to storm runoff. You can only pump out so much water through mechanical means.”

In an effort to assist the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, Branley is donating one dollar for each book purchased from its first printing, to Book Relief.

“Besides personally helping those family members who needed it, I am donating one dollar from the sale of each book in my first printing of ‘Sea Changes’ to the Book Relief program, which is designed to help restore libraries," Branley said. "Each dollar that is donated buys two books; therefore my contribution of $5,000 will buy 10,000 books, which is enough to stock a small library.”

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