Under the direction of CEO Sigmund Solares, five employees of Intercosmos Media Group, a data center situated in the center of New Orleans, held vigil in the office through one of the worst natural disasters in American history, surviving what first appeared to be a nasty storm on Sunday morning but later evolved into a lethal Category 5 storm with 160 mph sustained winds and a torrent of floods that caused more than 10,000 deaths.
Resolute on keeping the company’s servers alive through the storm, Intercosmos' typical day-to-day activities were quickly reduced to a primitive struggle for survival, hygiene and the constant fueling of its diesel generator to keep the company’s roster of nationwide clients with uninterrupted web service.
But in addition to keeping its servers functioning, the employees of Intercosmos also served as Katrina’s official bloggers, chronicling the hurricane’s arrival and ugly departure on a live web cam feed with up-to-the-minute blog entries.
“We're on the 10th and 11th floor of a corporate high rise on Poydras Ave., right near St. Charles,” Crisis Manager Michael Barnett wrote Sunday before the hurricane hit. “We have generators and tons of food and water. I am not sure how the Internet connection will be affected. I have a camera and my gun.” – Barnett neglected to mention that other life savers in the office included a George Foreman Grill.
Sensing there was more to the storm than expected as the winds began to pick up by the afternoon, Barnett wrote: “The real danger is not the wind, though, it's the storm surge the wind will be pushing into the city from the Gulf through the lake. The city might never recover. Honestly, this thing could be biblical.”
By Monday morning, while maintaining a sense of optimism, Barnett ominously noted: “It's definitely a mess outside, as long as no flooding occurs. I'm telling you though, if there's no flooding, the city will be fine. This can't be any worse than cleaning up after Mardi Gras. So far. I'm hearing reports of an 18-foot storm surge, but who knows.”
Within hours of that entry, the mayhem began to set in: “People were seen using shopping carts and hand-held carts to haul off cleaning supplies, beer and other items…And then, there are looters, drug addicts who can't get their fix and opportunists.”
Other blog entries recorded people breaking into cars, assaulting ATM machines and raiding stores like Wal-Mart and Winn Dixie.
“They’re shooting at the police,” Barnett wrote. “They're upset that they're not getting help quickly enough. The firemen keep calling because they're under fire. They don’t understand why the people are shooting at the rescuers. Five days ago the mayor said get out of town and nobody went and now they're pissed… Over 30 officers have quit over the last 3 days…Dead bodies everywhere: convention center, down camp street, all over."
Barnett even described a local police precinct as being completely submerged in water.
“Their command and control infrastructure is shot,” he wrote. “They don't even know their own rules of engagement. The coroner's office is shut down so bodies are being covered in leaves at best or left where they lie at worst.”
Describing the city of New Orleans as a “wild kingdom” by Thursday, another Intercosmos blogger wrote: “… the rule of law has collapsed, there is no order, and property rights cannot and are not being enforced. Anyone who is on the streets is in immediate danger of being robbed and killed. It's that bad.
By Friday, as rescue workers arrived in full force along with military assistance, and President Bush conducted an aerial tour of Katrina’s damage from Air Force One, Intercosmos, now famous among a fleet of web fans for surviving the storm and keeping its servers alive, became an overnight media darling.
In one of the last entries on Friday afternoon, however, despite the company’s professional triumphs, the sentiment on the Intercosmos blog was one of despair over the loss of New Orleans as it was once formerly known.
“I think it finally hit me when I was on our roof 27 floors up looking down at my city,” Barnett wrote. “This place will never be the same – and I don't mean in that ‘can't step into the same river twice’ philosophical sense. I mean in the ‘we won't even recognize the place’ sense. This place is completely coming apart. The hopelessness on the street breaks the heart. The old, the tired, the sick seem resigned to their presumed fate. Death.”
On Intercosmos’ official website Friday, Solares and Barnett thanked all of the company’s directNIC.com customers “for the overwhelming support and inquiries into our wellbeing.”
“Our staff is safe and well – some have been working around the clock in New Orleans to keep clients running smoothly, and other employees have left to safer locations to keep an eye on the network from afar,” they stated. “We are pleased to announce that we haven't lost service once during this entire disaster, and we have three weeks of backup power secured, and more resources are on the way.”