Man, Trapped 18 Days, Is Rescued

New Orleans Resident, 76, Survived With No Food, Little Water

(CBS/AP) 
In a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press late Friday night, Martin said he was feeling fine.

"So far, so good," he said.

As for his ordeal, his description was concise: "I was living in the attic for 16 days, and I was living off water."

The two rescuers who retrieved him are firefighters with a California-based FEMA team — J.D. Madden of Santa Clara and Eric Mijangos of Menlo Park.

"I don't know how much longer he could have went on without water," said Madden, 29.

Martin's family left before the storm, but he stayed to attend church, later took a nap and woke up to find that his home was filling with water, Madden said.

Martin only had time to grab some water and get to his attic, which he described as feeling like an oven during day-after-day of mid-90-degree heat that followed the storm. Madden said the heat in the attic might have been even worse, perhaps fatal, except for shade provided by a fallen tree.

Staff Sgt. Jason Randor, a military police officer with the Massachusetts National Guard, watched the rescue from another boat that was helping provide security for the search team. He recalled jubilant yells from the firefighters when they realized someone alive was inside.

Martin emerged, wearing jeans and a shirt.

"While they were putting him in the chopper, he asked if they could stop on the way at Taco Bell to get something to eat," Randor said.

Fernandez, of FEMA, was on scene when Martin arrived at a FEMA base camp before going to the hospital.

"He had lost a lot of weight," Fernandez said. "He definitely had to hold his pants up with his hands."

Martin was the first trapped person found alive by Madden's California Task Force Three team in its 12 days of calling out to homes from the boat and peering into windows.

"We've been in the rescue mode the whole time and haven't given up hope that there was someone out there alive," he said.

But officials overseeing the search effort said the discovery of corpses and the dwindling number of rescues has been taking an emotional toll on search units.

"Our squad members are getting access to trauma and grief counselors," said FEMA rescue squad liaison Charles Hood. "It's becoming a very difficult task."

Fernandez said Saturday that Martin's rescue was a welcome morale boost for his colleagues.

"Little victories like we saw yesterday help motivate people, who are facing one of the toughest jobs they've ever faced," he said.