This is the true story of the storm that attacked Louisiana as seen from my eyes and the way I remember it.
I sat in a chair facing the open door to my house staring at our van parked in the driveway. Just three days before, I had been watching mechanics use their air tools on the van. The impact wrenches sounded like they were jack hammering holes into my van. But this… this was different. This was five or six limbs laying on the top of my van. Not little limbs that would break off during a normal storm, but thick limbs from the trees that surrounded our house.
The sky was a scary shade of gray with very small amounts of natural light allowing me to see it. The power was off on our street, so no safe, secure artificial light to block the true horror of that sky. The rain was not falling nearly as much as I thought it would be. This was a hurricane. “Where’s the water?” I asked myself. It’s not like we needed it. The wind was a fear unto itself. Trees in the distance bent over as if to tie their shoes. I listened as one very large tree cracked across the street. I watched as it fell on the power line behind the house directly in my sight. The boom made my chair vibrate.
“So this is a hurricane?” I had always wanted to see one for myself. Guess it was my curiosity. But now, I never wanted to see one again. Another tree fell. The next thought was my daughter. She was in the top bunk of her bunk bed, close to the ceiling. I imagined a tree falling and going through our roof to hurt her. I got up out of my chair and rushed into the room to have her move into our bedroom with my wife. After she quickly fell back asleep, I headed back to the door. Katrina was calling me, wanting to show me her strength, wanting me to bow to her power. I couldn’t help myself. I obliged her every whim.
>BOOM<
Another tree had fallen. This one was much closer, but I couldn’t see where it fell. I raced to the back door to look out. There it was. A pine tree. It had been beaten by the angry woman and was lying still about two meters from the back of our house. It’s bark was being ripped away by the harsh winds. I could almost hear it scream as it was being skinned alive.
>BOOM<
This one didn’t land in the back yard. So again, I rushed to the other side of the house. Lying there in front, about the same distance as the one in the back, was another victim of the storm. This one was oak. The wind forced it to lift its shallow roots out of the ground. But it would live for a while longer. Its roots would not go thirsty because the rain began to fall harder.
(To Be Continued - Comments will make it come sooner than later)
Related Posts:
By woobie on Apr 3, 2008 |
I feel this story very much as if it were mine. We have hurricanes like this 5 to 10 times a year. I forgot how many times we had to huddle together as a family to pray the Holy Rosary inside a lightless house (for some reason electricity is always the first one to go when there’s a storm), while our roofs feel like they’re gonna give at anytime. I hope the victims of Katrina are getting the help they need.
woobie’s last blog post..Why Marriage Counseling is Not Popular Among Filipinos
By Patsy (Patricia Sawyer) on Apr 3, 2008 |
I feel that the victims of Katrina were failed somehow by the rest of America. I am not a real political person but I hated the image Of un-caring Americans that I felt was being shown during the aftermath of Katrina. All the images to me said Abandonment. Maybe I’m wrong.. I’m told often that people could have left before ect.. I have been poor. OH so very poor. Leaving would have been impossible for some and yet to stay was death for many. Even what was supposed to be a safe haven wound up being everything but safe. I think also that Katrina brought out both the worst and the best in people. If I had survived that.. I wouldn’t go back. I have an Aunt there in New Orleans. She even re-opened her dance school. The Martha Mayer School of dance. Her late husband was my Mom’s youngest brother.. I went there with my family to visit when I was seven.. whoa that was a long time ago.. All 9 of us in a ford falcon and that was before interstate highways.. It took us three days to get there. Of course we stopped at night since my Dad was the only one who could actually drive. But I remember the trip. I always wanted to go back.. now after Katrina.. I don’t really care about going now.. I bet it is very different than I remember.
Great story telling as always. Have a great night.
Patsy
Patsy (Patricia Sawyer)’s last blog post..Taking a Dare!
By shanker Bakshi on Apr 3, 2008 |
So you are no more a Entrecard guy Haan’
shanker Bakshi’s last blog post..WIN 5000 Entrecard Credits
By Karen on Apr 4, 2008 |
It must have been horribly frightening.
South Texas gets it’s share of hurricanes, but for some reason you guys (along with Florida) have been bearing the brunt of them for the past few years. We have evacuated for one, but it turned south, and missed us. They scare the sarcasm out of me, which is quite a feat. I’m either really impressed or possibly disbelieving that you stayed in your house. Wow. Before next year I’m hoping to have the roll down storm shutters on the windows and glass doors, but we still won’t stay. We are setting up a minivan to evacuate the cats, and though I might stay and take my chances, I can’t stay and have a bunch of helpless animals take my chances with me. So we’ll all travel and sleep in the van and hope for the best. The best being a serious lack of hurricanes this year!
Karen’s last blog post..Fecking Bathtub
By JoLynn Braley on Apr 4, 2008 |
Hi Michael,
I can’t imagine experiencing a hurricane, I think it would be a tad scary. I used to live in central Florida but wasn’t there during any inland hurricanes, but even high winds and rain can be intimidating. I prefer having a basement but you don’t have many of those in Fla.
I’m interested to hear the rest of your story (at least we already know you survived the storm!
), and also to read more about your weight loss journey!
JoLynn Braley’s last blog post..The Fit Shack Is One Year Old and Has a New Look!
By Sharon on Apr 4, 2008 |
Sometimes people don’t know how to write out thier experiences in a way that draws people in. What I’ve read so far makes me want to come back for more. I used to want to experience hurricanes and earthquakes, but not anymore. I’ve come too close to the one natural disaster that plagues my area, tornadoes, to want to put myself in harms way. I’d always felt trapped in the middle of no where, but as I’ve grown up I realize that here, NW, Ohio, is a great place to be.
Sharon’s last blog post..Where I’ve Been
By vhiel on Apr 4, 2008 |
love your site..
would you like to trade links with me?
Thanks
Vhiel
Can of Thoughts
Anything and Everything in Between
By Ruthie on Apr 4, 2008 |
Yep, I remember that day. Although, I wasn’t in New Orleans, and our experience was by no comparison to theirs, our little town on the Mississippi River felt quite a bit of Katrina’s wrath. It was one of those hot summer days, and the first thing you think when those lights go out, and there will be no sign of them coming back on for several days, is, “OMG, it’s gonna get really hot”. And it did, for 5 days we were without electricity (and again, by no comparison to what some had to endure). I remember loading the kids up, it was just the two of them then, I hadn’t had the twins yet, and we would go riding around in our van to just get cool, but we couldn’t really do that very much, because, you could barely get into a gas station to gas up your vehicle. I’ve never experienced anything like that. Enormous lines of cars waiting to get there gas, and then when you would finally get there, they would run out. It was crazy!
Saphrym, thanks for sharing the first part of your story, I had no idea how close you and I lived to each other (unless you are no longer there), guess I’ll have to wait and find out when you post the rest of the story!
Ruthie’s last blog post..I Just Pre-Ordered the New Hungry Girl Book!!
By Ruthie on Apr 4, 2008 |
Oops, forgot to click comment notify!
Ruthie’s last blog post..I Just Pre-Ordered the New Hungry Girl Book!!
By Saphrym on Apr 5, 2008 |
I agree that the United States really dropped the ball when it came to Katrina. I’ll stop there though, as I might start an hour long rant that could cause eye strain.
Thanks for the comments. I will continue the story in a few days.