On call for the duration: code gray: a resident's personal account from Children's Hospital of New Orleans.

WE KNEW THERE was a storm coming. Its name was Katrina, and it was headed straight for Florida, which was unfortunate for those having just endured a recent hurricane. Katrina lulled the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, to sleep, and that night she swerved. In an unusual and ultimately devastating turn of events, the hurricane literally cut west and traversed the state of Florida to find itself brewing with room to grow in the Gulf of Mexico. Despite this, no one panicked. There still existed a wide area of uncertainty for its landfall, and New Orleans had been spared from a direct hit numerous times before. We had just been lucky, I suppose.