90. The Relief (Hurricane Katrina)

Thank you for talking about the prison! I have watched probably 20 hours of documentaries about Katrina and nobody covered this, not even Spike Lee in his 8 hour HBO series. So I guess Swindled is more woke than Spike Lee. I appreciate you recognizing that prisoners are people too!! <3

I know this is an older episode but I just have to say: I have listened to this a handful of times now, it's very well done & unfathomable to listen to - I get chills every time. I was much younger when this hurricane made landfall and remember it on the news and NOTHING prepared me for the reality of what really happened. The truth was so far from what was portrayed on the news, a literal eye opening bone chilling episode.

Revisiting this as recovery efforts in GA are being completely mishandled and all I could think was “thank God it’s not as bad as Katrina”

Definitely my top 5

One of my favorites

Amazing work. You made the horror and desperation of these neglected Americans so real.

That emergency broadcast is so chilling. Those poor folks. I was not aware of how horribly the folks there suffered. Great episode.

There are so many evil people here. Should be legal to erase them on the spot when they act up like this.

The automated voice warning 😬 nothing gives me the chills more than that. Reminds me of tornado warnings 😨😰

Took me a while to write bc you did an incredibly good job capturing the horror of the time... I'm from Baton Rouge, but lived in Gretna, LA for 10 yrs - just across the Danzinger Bridge from Nola proper. I moved from there for work a few months before Katrina hit. What happened there and in months to follow was horrifying, completely predictable (by geography and politics) and soul crushing. Anyway, you truly captured that feeling, which is amazing 🙏

I was a teenager during this, and I didn’t understand how catastrophic this was. I just remember my school holding a donation drive to help people. It’s fucking tragic how many lives were lost.

I absolutely live for ACC's delightfully droll and targeted barbs. Not done listening, but this one at 16:01 is my favorite thus far: "After presumably writing down the word 'levy' in 🖍️, President Bush . . . before resuming his 27-day vacation." And Republican presidencies only went downhill from there.

Another outstanding episode. Thank you for another great season. Looking forward to more swindling in 2023. Happy Holidays, all!

Great season!!!❤️

Brilliantly presented and narrated, as always. The wounds from this disaster have never completely healed.

Excellent. So much I had forgotten about this debacle. The swindle is so disturbing in this one because it was just a shrug and finger pointing by organizations that controlled the structures (both government and physical) that failed American citizens. Already started listening a 2nd time.

Oh my god

This was fascinating and miserable to listen to.

miserable fucking country. and that national weather service alert is analog horror in its purest form.

If you want to see some very sincere human examples of this, go watch the A&E show “Nightwatch” about EMTs and 1st responders in New Orleans. Those real EMT workers were all in that storm either as kids/teens or working emt adults. They interview and ask them on the 10th anniversary of Katrina episode. It’s an important bit of humanity to witness esp if you keep in mind the potentially new info you’ve learned about just how bad it was.

This is your finest work, ACC. Considering I have said that multiple times before, wow. Man did that get swept under the rug from the viewpoint of the rest of the country. Enjoy vacation. Great work as always, deformr.

I grew up and lived in central Arkansas during Katrina. I was in 6th grade at the time and the human loss was incomprehensible. It was the first real tragedy that happened within my direct bubble of life since 9/11 and that didn’t really affect “Arkansas” anymore than it did the rest of the country. But Katrina happened all around us. The news, the weather, the people streaming in even before the storm. We got the leftover storms in AR. We always do. Hurricanes turn into bad thunderstorms by the time the reach Little Rock. It was all the displaced refugees afterwards that stuck with us. Every school was focused on food clothing toiletries drives and fundraising. Everyone knew someone that had lost everything. Plenty had family that left to go help. Texas was something else. they sent so much, at least it appeared that way to us (subjective for the sake of this comment) Listening to your story brought all that fear back. I hadn’t realized how much it affected me until I started crying at the hurricane severe weather warning, brought back memories id kinda forgotten about. Thank you. Of all of the people who does this kind of recent history reporting, you do some of the best and most honest, accurate reporting I’ve ever seen. I’ll end it with, sooooo many of the people that came to Arkansas to evacuate, left with the intention of returning. And when that became impossible they stayed. And were some of the saddest and most burdened people (adults and children) that my privileged sheltered life had ever shown. They stayed. But they stayed the same way War refugees stay, like my stepdads Palestinian family that refugee immigrated to Jordan after the British took Jerusalem the first time. They stayed because they had no other choice, it’s better than hell but that won’t stop the heartache of having your home wiped away. My art teacher lost everything in an outlying parish. She loved Arkansas, but still had this heartbreaking look sometimes when she talked about family and homes, in 2012 when I graduated. 7 yrs later and it might of been only 1 based on how the hurt could still be seen on those that had survived it. Prove me wrong of course. I mean I was 12 I only remember so much. I think, this was the first time I ever had the thought that help might not come and we’d be on our own. 15 yrs later in the middle of a toxic 450 AQI hell scape in 2020 Portland OR and I had the same feeling times 1000 now that i was actually experiencing a natural disaster with no support. Oh, we’re on our own. Lesson learned. Made my grief for the survivors of Katrina take on a new meaning. Ur episodes the first time I’ve thought back on it in so much detail since the 2020 COVID&Wildfire combo essentially anarchy pilled me.

Enjoy your break!

What a whopper of a ending for the season, thank you for another awesome season... keep up the good work. "You're doing a heck of a job, ACC.. " lol

As a teenager in CA when this happened, I never grasped the impending doom and complete systemic failure. I knew it was bad, but…this is mind numbing.

This was heartbreaking

This is going to be a tough listen.

Definitely a prime example failure on every level of government.

Thank you for another great season. Cannot wait to m for the next one!!!

Thank you for another great season. Please take care of yourself and get a good mental break! Watch some funny pet videos!

It’s very rare that I cry from podcast episodes but this one sent me over the edge.

Fuck. This is heavy. Jesus CC, hope you managed some brain bleach for yourself.

Don't think I'm ready for this one!

This episode is going to be amazing!!!

Ooooh! New Swindled! .......oh, new Swindled 😟 This is gonna be a rough one

Oh man....I don't know if I can handle thissss