TAMPA, Fla. — The most grim depth chart of Leonard Fournette’s life measured the rising water levels of his hometown. A decade and a half ago, Hurricane Katrina left his New Orleans neighborhood submerged.
Fournette, then only 10, had to flee with family to an elevated stretch of Interstate 10, the only higher ground available to thousands.
“We had to go loot and get (food). We stole, like, a barbecue grill and was barbecuing for everybody on the bridge,” the 26-year-old Bucs tailback said.
“It was crazy. You’re young, so you don’t really realize what was going on. But as you get older you realize the things you went through as far as a lot of dead bodies in the water and really having to start looting to try and survive.”
Spurred by those memories, and the fresh images of more storm-caused destruction, Fournette has donated $100,000 to several charities supporting relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Ida.
“I went through Katrina,” Fournette, who was born in New Orleans, said Thursday. “I want to use my platform to help out my city and everyone that’s around Louisiana.”
The former LSU standout said he would meet with teammates Friday to try and solicit more donations, all with the hope of sparing current New Orleans residents part of the trauma he endured 16 years ago.
Hurricane Ida, which tore through south Louisiana on Sunday, has left much of New Orleans in a virtual blackout as the daily heat index reaches triple digits. As of Thursday morning, only a tiny portion of residences and businesses had their power restored, the Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported.
“Having lived in New Orleans for a year myself, it’s devastating to see this happen to the city again,” Bucs coach Bruce Arians said. “It could’ve just as easily turned and hit us, and we’d be in that same shape. So any of us that live in the hurricane alleys, it ain’t over, either. Our hearts are out to all of them.”
Raised in the Seventh Ward of New Orleans, Fournette and his family spent four days on that overpass before relocating briefly to Corpus Christi, Texas. They returned home several months later, and Fournette evolved into a Parade and USA Today prep all-American.
“Right now, I know there’s a lot of people homeless right now out there,” Fournette said. “I’m just trying to do the best I can do to help them and whatever they need.”
