The unexpected provides opportunity as well as challenges, as W. Anderson Baker III can attest firsthand. The president of Gillis, Ellis & Baker Inc.–an independent agency in New Orleans founded in 1933–went fishing on Friday afternoon, Aug. 26, 2005, after hearing a National Weather Service report that Hurricane Katrina was heading for Tallahassee, Fla.
When the eye of the hurricane hit the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts and then New Orleans on Monday, Aug. 29, Mr. Baker was at his new country home in Poplarville, Miss., with his extended family of 14 people as the eye of the hurricane flew right past.
While his new home didn't lose a screen, it wasn't until Tuesday that he learned the levees in New Orleans had broken, and some parts of the city were inundated by up to 20 feet of water. His office, directly across from the Superdome, had taken enough water to damage the basic workings of the building–a fact Mr. Baker said he didn't learn for two weeks.
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