When the Water Came: Evacuees of Hurricane Katrina

University of New Orleans Press, 2010

When the Water Came gathers the intimate recollections of 11 Louisiana and Mississippi residents and the unforgettable details of their lives during and after Hurricane Katrina.

Poet Cynthia Hogue and photographer Rebecca Ross convey the experience of a cross section of evacuees, their journeys from the Gulf Coast to the Arizona desert, and their efforts to make new lives.

Praise:

“What a moving and disturbing book! Hogue and Ross have managed to get to the core of loss, emptiness and survival in a way I can’t remember anyone doing before. Ross’s black and white photographs and Hogue’s distillation of the interviews into “found” poems complement each other brilliantly. Through these people When the Water Came gets to the heart of displacement, to the waste and sadness brought about by Hurricane Katrina. Through straight talk and simple images at a time when compassion seems in pretty short supply.”

Ron Smith, Founding Editor, Oolichan Press