Iraqi war veteran flees hurricane disaster to be with parents in Bristow

A week before Hurricane Katrina hit, Phillip North was hoping for some much-deserved rest. He had just returned to his navy base in Gulfport, Mississippi after a long tour in Iraq. He didn't get

Friday, September 2nd 2005, 10:11 am

By: News On 6

A week before Hurricane Katrina hit, Phillip North was hoping for some much-deserved rest. He had just returned to his navy base in Gulfport, Mississippi after a long tour in Iraq. He didn't get to stay long. Luckily, he and his wife and his new baby had fled from the rental house on the beach to a friend's apartment that was 10 miles inland, but their troubles weren't over.

News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says they had no electricity, no definite food supply, and no gasoline to escape. So he called his dad in Bristow. â€œWe didn't even have enough gas in the truck to get out. He got gas in Bristow and drove it down to us. Y'know, if he hadn't done that, we'd still be down there and I don't know what we would have done."

Now everyone is safe in Bristow, but North says he'll be going back in a couple of weeks to help the people who are still there.

Phillip says he actually worked many times with the navy in disaster relief for "other" hurricanes in Florida and elsewhere, and he says he never thought it would happen to him.