I can remember being stunned by the indelible images — people dead in the streets, the dispossessed sleeping in refugee-like camps, a region submerged like “Water World” — that Hurricane Katrina left in its wake. These images were brought back to me when I read Dave Egger’s latest nonfictional novel “Zeitoun.”

While trolling for a story, as the consummate good-doer Eggers often does, he found a short version of Abdulrahman Zeitoun’s story in a collection titled “Voices from the Storm.” 

From this, he immediately pens “Zeitoun,” the legend of one man’s experience after Hurricane Katrina. And in relating this account, Eggers carefully disentangles the skein of the Bush-era crisis management that was stranger than most fiction.

“Zeitoun” begins two days before Katrina hits with Abdulrahman, — known to everyone as Zeitoun — the successful Syrian-American owner of a painting and contracting business, deciding to stay in New Orleans and hold down the fort while his wife and four children flee the city at the urgency of Mayor Nagin that people move inland.

Kathy, his wife, takes her children to her sister’s house in Baton Rouge to wait out the storm. However, ever since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, her family incessantly beleaguer Kathy about her hijab. 

Having been born in America and brought up Southern Protestant, her family cannot fathom how she has found peace in Islam and happiness with Abdul.

Stressed by her inability to persuade her dogged husband to evacuate their home and fed up with her family, Kathy drives with her kids to Phoenix to stay with her longtime friend, Yuko.

Morning, Aug. 29, Katrina makes landfall as a Category 3 storm with winds up to 115 mph breaking windows, causing leaks and relocating peoples’ possessions. 

But Zeitoun, an experienced storm survivor and more concerned with his company’s properties, manages to patch up holes and cover windows as best he can. And with his 16-foot aluminum canoe that he had purchased for $75, Zeitoun worries little about his fortune. 

For the first post-storm day, with only about a foot of water on the ground, his suspicions seem correct. Yet, day two proves drastic as Zeitoun wakes to a sea of water, after the faulty levees break.

After the deluge, Zeitoun is limited to paddling his trusty canoe around New Orleans in this post-apocalyptic setting where roof tops look like lily pads floating just above the surface. 

While touring the city, he rescues elderly and dehydrated denizens stuck in their soon-to-be former homes and feeds neighborhood dogs left behind by their owners.

With a sense of accomplishment and purpose, Zeitoun rows his way through oil, garbage, and disease infested water, while at night mulling over the day’s events in his provisional tent atop a flat portion of his roof.

The longer Zeitoun stays in New Orleans the bleaker his surroundings become. And when a group of officials show up at one of his properties, Zeitoun assumes they are there for aid. But when he is arrested by the armed squad and swept forcefully away, he finds that is not the case.

Now, Zeitoun, off the map in some makeshift prison and not permitted to contact the outside world, he worries that after a week his wife will assume the absolute worse. And when a guard accuses him of being a member of Al Qaeda, he sees that the color of his skin and very appearance may be the reason for his plight.

Eggers, with his sharp journalistic skills wove “Zeitoun” from threads of interviews with Mr. and Mrs. Zeitoun. Eggers has a way of bringing his subjects close to readers and establishing a relationship that is cemented in the end; meanwhile, refreshingly eschewing from the tired tirades and diatribes that have been published since Katrina.

“Zeitoun” indirectly comments on the once-flawlwss FEMA and the age of Bush’s presidency, allowing Zeitoun’s harrowing tale to speak for itself. 

His prolific storytelling is on display as readers will feel sympathy and an emotion in Zeitoun’s thoughts. As readers, we are thrown into prison with him. We feel the absurdity of it, feel the humiliation endured. And we, perhaps, ask isn’t this the country with laws that protect against this?