This is the true story of the storm that attacked Louisiana as seen from my eyes and the way I remember it. Continued from Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
When last we left the family that was escaping from the aftermath of Katrina, they were near Texas. Ok. Not they. Us. We found a hotel. We got lucky. Sprint’s information randomly gave us a number for a motel off the main road that was one of those “pay-by-the-week” types of motels. You know the ones. Well, it was actually kind of nice. Had three beds and a kitchen area. We rented two rooms. If it wasn’t for this motel, we’d have not gotten a room until the middle of Texas. Again, we were lucky.
We spent the week in the motel and went back home. Well, to our house. Trees lined the roads like natural gravestones. Our house stood amidst the river of debris. So did the other houses. Our area just hadn’t been hit that hard. My in-laws, however, did not share our fate. Their oak tree fell into their house. It was a gigantic oak tree. It demolished the house. So they moved in with us.
Now imagine this: A 3 bedroom house with a family of 3 living in it. Then 9 people move in with that family. Are you starting to see the full picture? Sanity ran from the house as if it was on fire. Too many people.
So, we started looking for a new place to live. We had planned on doing so in about two years. Katrina moved up the plan by a year. Amidst the jobs in Los Angeles that we looked at, the possibility of Toronto, or even the possibility of maybe getting jobs within the Philadelphia school system, we chose Maysville.
(The End)
So there you have it. A shortened version of the story of Katrina as it happened to us. I’m working on a longer version. If this gets enough comments, maybe I’ll extend the version on the blog.
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By Gary R. Hess on Jun 11, 2008 |
Katrina changed a lot of peoples plans. After the storm happened, there were many coming up through Kansas looking for places to stay. I lived in a small farm town (well, actually large corporation farms surrounded by those who own farms but can’t afford to use them other than keeping a few animals/gardens and make hay). The entire county had only around 14,000 people (two towns, the rest townships… one had 2,000 the other around 8,000). So you can imagine someone coming to an almost all white town, with several racists, but still many asking them to stay even for free for several months. Some were even offered jobs and asked to stay longer; while thers were ridiculed and almost forced to leave before their free period was up.
Citizens were scared of what had happened. Stories crept through the state about how cars being sold were from damaged (repaired) cars from New Orleans and how the murderers and rapists are coming.
The situation was laughable. It was almost doomsday for people in Kansas… freaking Kansas. Even after F-4 tornadoes these people don’t freak out. They just go on with their daily lives. I laughed. Others cried for fear.
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By Saphrym on Jun 16, 2008 |
The city we lived in (Hammond, LA) swelled to over twice it’s normal size after Katrina. Guess it was because our city did ok after the storm and was only about 60 miles from New Orleans.
By Janna on Sep 1, 2008 |
I’ve just finished reading all four parts to the story.
Wow.
Here’s the part I don’t understand, though: If it was YOUR house, why did YOU move?
Why didn’t the other people move and find somewhere else to stay instead of driving you out of your own home?
What happened to the house you had? Are they still living there?
I seem to be missing something…
Help me understand.
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By Saphrym on Sep 1, 2008 |
@Janna: We planned on moving anyway. My in-laws’ house was destroyed. So they stayed in the house we were renting in Louisiana and we moved to Kentucky. Real estate prices had skyrocketed, so the insurance from their house would never have covered getting a new house.