Back to the Iowa State Cyclones Newsfeed

Football: Why Hurricane Katrina saved Cliff Fernandez’s life

Related Topics: Hurricane Katrina, Ames Tribune

Iowa State tight end Cliff Fernandez is a Hurricane Katrina survivor and lived all across the south, including on a fishing boat, before his family settled down in Sandy Hook, Miss. Photo by Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune

On came the television and out jumped a living hell. Wind, rain and a seemingly never ending storm creating a scene out of an apocalyptic movie with flood waters overtaking a city, submerged homes and people screaming for rescue.

Devastation. Death. Destruction.

The images of Hurricane Katrina could be too much for adults to take, let alone a 10-year-old whose hometown of New Orleans was unrecognizable from a Texas home, unsure what occurred during an 18-hour drive out of town and what happened to those he cared about most.