Federal agent recalls his rescue efforts during Katrina

after the storm, evacuees were either bussed or flown in to el paso. the mayor said he expected anywhere between 500 to 5 thousand evacuees. now – 10 years later new orleans is not the same city it was. parts of the city are thriving restaurants and businesses booming other parts still have far to go. following the storm, el pasoans also assisted in the relief efforts in new orleans. today we spoke with one el pasoan who was sent to help victims of the disaster. he describes the aftermath and how painful it was. abc-7’s jerry najera is live with the story open … evan josie many of us got to see the devastating images of thousands of people in need of assistance during katrina’s aftermath on television. but homeland security investigations agent oscar hagelseib was sent right after the hurricane struck. tonight he shed’s some light on what he saw. “the closer and closer you go to new orleans there was nobody around. we got there at night there was no one at work no street light no power whatsoever it was like an erie feeling” assitant special agent in charge for homeland security investigations oscar hagelsieb-along with a team of other agents were called out once the hurricane hit. hagelseib and the team were immediately put to work. “w got into boats. we got into high water rescue trucks and we would actually go to the adresses of people that called 911 and actually attempted to enter the residents and rescue those individuals” hagelseib says it was overwherlming to witness such mass destruction in person and thousands of people in need of resecue “the people that we did fin alive because unfortunately many had succumb to drowning or died from heat exposure or people that were already ill but the look on the face of those we were rescuing had a look of disbelief like they couldn’t understand that this would happen in modern america” h says as equally as disturbing, was the looting that took place. he says it was everywhere. “it was total lawlessness i got a glimpse of what would happen if there was an earthquake in a major city” hagelsieb tells m while tring to aide people, he saw many people die. but there was one incident he will never forget. while sweeping homes to make sure people weren’t trapped, he ran into a home only to find a family of 8 had died. “they had a generator that they had bought and they had the foresight to know that they were going to need electricity after the hurricane, this area hadn’t flooded but they didn’t have electricity and fearing the looters they put it inside the house not knowing they fumes would cause carbon monoxide poisoning and they perished.” hagelsieb tells me there was several lessons learned through the catastropy. hsi wich normally handles investigations has created a rapid response team wich trains in air and water rescue as well as emergency repsonse. evan josie. jerry thank you. although it was a firly