A 1988 graduate of Hampton High school helped save hundreds of lives as a rescue swimmer with the U.S. Coast Guard in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Today, William Jeff Johnson is enrolled in the Electricity-Electronics Training Program at the Tennessee Technology Center at Elizabethton after a disabling shoulder injury cut short his 13-year Coast Guard career.
Katrina came ashore near Buras, Louisiana the morning of August 29, 2005 with sustained winds of 145 mph, a Category 4 hurricane. As the eye passed over the city of New Orleans, levees gave way, flooding overpasses, homes and buildings and trapping thousands on roof tops.
U. S. Coast Guard: "Rescue operations commenced as the hurricane moved inland. Cutters had trained the hurricane as closely as they could and began rescuing those offshore while the helicopters, HH-65 Dolphins and HH-60 Jayhawks, were launched as the hurricane's eye passed over the city of New Orleans." Source: www.uscg.mil/history/katrina/karthistory.asp.
Thousands of New Orleans residents were plucked from rooftops in a wire basket lifeline connected to Coast Guard helicopters hovering above. It was a six to 18-hour day for many rescue helicopter crews, who dodged hanging power lines in high winds. In some cases, rescue swimmers used axes to chop through the roof to free residents trapped in their attics.
Johnson recalls Katrina rescues in New Orleans were among the most difficult the elite team of U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmers had faced. "There were hundreds of thousands of people on roofs and the water was up to three stories on apartment complexes. We would just drop down in the basket, basically be involved in crowd control and let them know we would get them off the roof and to safety. On one mission, I was on the roof with 300 people," Johnson said.
During the rescue, swirling helicopter blades would often stir the tepid floodwaters below, spraying both rescuers and the rescued with the murky water, as temperatures hovered around 100-degrees Fahrenheit in high humidity. Coast Guard search and rescue operations during Katrina, reportedly, saved 24,135 people from imminent danger, mostly from roof tops.
Coast Guard rescue swimmers receive 19 weeks of "rigorous" training at Elizabeth City, N.C. "There is a lot of swimming and running. The most difficult part is getting through the school itself. Every day you went to school, you didn't know if you were going to make it through school or not. The attrition rate was over 50 percent," Johnson said. Rescue swimmers are also trained as Emergency Medical Technicians.
Memories of Katrina are bittersweet for Johnson, who suffered a career-ending shoulder injury in the process of saving the lives of others. After receiving a medical discharge from the U.S. Coast Guard, Johnson returned home to ponder his next career move.
"I have always been interested in the electricity-electronics fields. Once I got in school at the Tennessee Technology Center at Elizabethton, I got to reading about alternative energy, solar panels, and things of that nature. That peaked my interest quite a bit. I think it would make quite an impact on the environment if the whole country could move in that direction," Johnson said.
Editor's Note: Green energy is a term used to describe sources of energy that are considered to be environmentally friendly and non-polluting, such as geothermal, wind, and solar power. Web site address: http://www.green-energy-news.com.
The Electricity-Electronics Training Program at TTC-Elizabethton, which may be completed in 12 to 16 months, prepares graduates for the state exam to become a Licensed Electrician.
"My goal is to obtain my electrical license and continue my education to prepare for a career in the field of alternative energy. I had a wonderful time in the Coast Guard. I would have stayed 20 years if I hadn't got injured. It has opened up some doors for me. I am looking at it with a positive attitude," Johnson said.