The day before Hurricane Katrina destroyed their New Orleans home, the Silvermans were painting their unborn baby’s nursery.
The couple never expected that the child wouldn’t see it.
They didn’t think they would be packing up their SUV on Sunday morning – defiantly painting ‘Kat missed this’ on the windows – and finding refuge in Littleton, where David Silverman’s father lives.
The Xavier University communications professor and his wife, Olga, are happy to be alive.
They say they are worried for their neighbors, sad about losing their home and angry that officials back home were lackluster in warning people and preparing for the storm.
“I think they dropped the ball all the way around,” Olga Silverman said.
As late as Saturday, the Silvermans said, they did not feel a sense of urgency to leave Louisiana because no one indicated until Sunday that they might lose their lives.
Many neighbors didn’t leave because they have lived in New Orleans for generations, David Silverman said.
The couple has too many roots to leave the city behind, but nothing to go back to, he said.
The Silvermans, and their 9-year-old Labrador Zaphod, are staying in Littleton until they figure out how they are going to survive financially and where they are going to raise their new child.
Olga Silverman is two weeks away from delivering her baby and found new doctors in Colorado on Thursday who were more than happy to help her prepare for the birth.
“I don’t think there is a city left,” she said. “Some stuff we saved, but we decided to say goodbye to everything mentally.”
They catch each other crying, thinking about mundane things such as replacing toasters, coffee makers and pots and pans.
“People who survived as we did will never be the same,” Olga Silverman said. “But all things important are with me – my husband and my belly. All these possessions are meaningless.”
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
