My Katrina Story \r\n\r\n Prior to Hurricane Katrina, my life was consumed with school and work. I was a senior at the University of New Orleans and worked for J & L uniforms, a school uniform store in Gretna, Louisiana. In February 2005, long before anyone was really concerned about hurricane season, a co-worker of mine named Donna kept saying that there was going to be a really devastating hurricane hitting us this year. I asked Donna why she thought this and she replied “every time something goes wrong in my life there is always a major hurricane.” She proceed to explain what went wrong in her life when storms like Betsy and Andrew hit. Donna then explained to me that she had lost her family business only a few months ago. I took this prediction with a grain of salt. However, by the time hurricane season came around, Donna was again telling everyone what she thought was going to happen. By the time Tropical Storm Cindy rolled around, I jokingly asked Donna “Is this the big one?” She calmly said no and explained that she thought the “big one” was going to hit between August 20th and September 15th of this year. I was astonished that Donna would make such a brazen prediction and I was sure that she was going to look like a fool when she was proved wrong.\r\n On Saturday August 27th, I went to work concerned about the storm, but not yet planning on leaving. Instead, I planned to get off of work at 4 and go to a party for my two cousins. Throughout the day many of my co-workers teased me because I am always the first one of them to evacuate. No one in the office was really concerned about leaving, except for Donna. As we watched the news I remember Donna looking at all of us and saying “This is it this is the one I was talking about.” Her comments which I had laughed off in previous months had now begun to scare me. I was unnerved by the whole event and worried about not being able to get gas just in case I had to evacuate. I asked my boss if I could take a 30 minute lunch and gas up my car. While waiting in line for gas my dad called and said to get out of town now. Next my grandmother called and said that she was evacuating that night. After waiting in line for almost an hour I finally got gas. When I returned to work I apologized for my tardiness and asked to leave. I remember my boss saying, “Well darling if you think its that important you can leave.” With her blessing I grabbed my stuff and hugged my co-workers goodbye. I asked all of them where they were going and almost all of them said they were staying home because they wanted to avoid the fiasco of another false alarm. \r\n When I arrived home, my brother was watching ESPN and not really concerned with what was going on in the outside world. I told him to pack a few clothes because we were headed to Fort Walton with our grandparents. My mom was in a frenzy because she had to evacuate with the retirement home she worked for. We all worked to move things to higher ground (on top of our beds) and gather as much pictures and important papers as we could. When all was said and done I had packed enough clothes for a few days, some pictures, and my school books ( I was worried about having to play catch up with my assignments for the next week). My brother and I hugged my mom and told all of our pets goodbye. Little did I know that it would be a long time before I would see her or any of our pets.\r\n My brother and I arrived at my grandparents home in Plaquemines later that day. Their house was dead. It was supposed to be bustling with the 50+ people who were invited to the party for my two cousins. Instead, only about four people showed up. We sat around for awhile and ate all the barbecued ribs, jambalaya, hot dogs, hamburgers, and birthday cake we could stomach. My aunt, uncle, and three cousins were busy loading up their two cars because they had decided to evacuate with us as well. When everyone was packed and had their fill of party food we loaded up into our cars and got on our way. \r\n In order to get to the interstate we had to drive through St. Bernard Parish. We were all familiar with this route because almost our entire family lived in the parish for many years. In fact, some our family still lived in Violet and Chalmette. My grandfather was even the president and director of the Lake Borgne Levee District up until his recent retirement. All he ever did was talk about the levees. He had been trying to get me to read “Rising Tide” for a couple of years now. In some instances I think the book is his bible. Needless to say I knew from a very young age that the levees in the area were only built for a category three hurricane. He always told me about how bad it would be if one of the levees should break or become overtopped. \r\n Meanwhile, we drove on the interstate in our four car convoy for awhile until we got to Mississippi. Once there, we decide to drive on the road which runs along the beach. It was eerie to see areas like the Grand Casino still bustling with people or the giant guitar for the Hard Rock Café that was scheduled to open soon. It was getting dark and people were still jogging or playing with their children in the sand. It was like night and day. We were scared out of our minds and the people outside seemed like they didn’t have a care in the world. We continued driving for the next few hours, but by the time we hit the Florida-Alabama line we were all getting tired. My brother was in the car with me and he could tell that I was on the verge of dozing off, so he put in his favorite Metallica cd, screamed the lyrics as loud as he could, and head banged so hard that I think he hurt his neck. It was an odd way to keep me awake on the long ride, but it also created a fond memory in the midst of all the confusion and uncertainty.\r\n We finally arrived at the condo we were staying at in Fort Walton at about 1 am or so. The condo was owned by relatives and they said we could stay for free as long as we needed to. However, I was concerned because the condo was on the beach and the tide looked like it was getting high. On Sunday August 28th, that next morning, all nine of us stayed glued to the television waiting and watching to see what would happen . I think the only reason I peeled myself off the couch was to eat or use the bathroom. We stayed up all night like zombies. By the early hours of Monday morning, I had flipped channels between Fox news and CNN to see if there were any differences in reports. Both channels made it seem like a dooms day situation. I remember looking at the size of the storm and telling my aunt “Oh my God, the storm is huge...you can’t even see the state.” By the time my grandfather woke up, he went outside to smoke his usual cigar and he noticed the water was covering the dock below us. When we walked downstairs to see how bad it was a groundskeeper approached us and said “What are you guys still doing here? It’s a mandatory evacuation for this area.” We were so busy watching television that we hadn’t even ventured outside. So once again we loaded up our cars this time evacuating from our evacuation spot.\r\n On Monday afternoon we were driving around Florida with no place to stay. Finally, we drove far enough inland where high water was not a threat. We found an extended stay hotel and rented two rooms for all of us. Once again we turned on the television to see what was happening. Later on when reports started coming out, most of them said that “New Orleans had missed the bullet.” We were relived, but our relief quickly turned to panic with the news of the levee breaks. My grandparents worried especially because the only thing separating their home from the levees in Plaquemines was a small highway. They live right along the Mississippi River. We all became horrified when we saw what was happening in the city, yet we were still in disbelief. After a few days, I naively thought I would still be going back to UNO. My brother even got a text message from his friend asking him what school he was going to transfer to. He replied that he was still going to Brother Martin and that everything would be fine. I felt helpless seeing the despair that everyone was in. My grandfather, who is the toughest guy I know, had to leave the room when he saw what was happening. My grandmother later told me that he cried that night when he thought about everything that was happening. It was like our worlds were falling apart and I could not do anything to fix it.\r\n We spent much of our time in Florida trying to locate everyone and figure out what we would do next. My family was safe. My mom was in Houston , dad, sister, and boyfriend were in Baton Rouge. Our family in St. Bernard got out and my co-workers even left town so they were safe too. Everyone was safe and we decided that it was time to begin to pick up the pieces. I left Florida on September 12th (my 21st birthday) and I headed to Baton Rouge to stay with my boyfriend. I made trips to my home in Gretna. Thankfully we were spared any major damage. My home needed some repairs, but it was livable. My grandparents were allowed back to their home. Almost all of Plaquemines was flooded, however, a one mile strip in which their house was in had no flood damage. The Mississippi River overtopped the levee there yet they miraculously had no damage. As you drove down the highway near their home, debris littered the base of the levee where the water had come over it. Not many people new about this incident because there was so little coverage done on Plaquemines and its surrounding areas.\r\n With all our homes checking out, but no utilities, my grandparents and I went to visit family in Houston. I stayed with my mom for about two days or so and then Rita came. Once again my mom was going to evacuate with her work and I would go wherever my grandparents went. I gave her a long hug goodbye (again) and left for Baton Rouge (again). I took me 19 hours to get from Houston to Baton Rouge. It was a nightmare. The interstate was a parking lot. While I was sitting in traffic there was a large NBC van on the other side of the road. The reporter, Carl Quintanilla, was doing a piece for the nightly news or some news show. As he looked over the sea of cars, I started to get angry. Why can’t he do anything? Why can’t he help us? How did we get like this? I was angry at everything that had happened from Katrina to Rita. The truth was no one could help us because it was too late for all that. I wondered how we were going to bounce back from this and if we ever would. I guess that is the kind of thinking you get into when you sit in a car alone for 19 hours. Meanwhile, I was running out of gas and it was late. I was on a highway full of crop fields in the middle of nowhere. I started to pray as hard as I could for gas. Miraculously a gas station appeared out of nowhere. “Please have gas” I thought. Suddenly a cop walks up to my car at the station and says “ All these tanks have gas, all you need is a credit card.” I had never been so thankful for a piece of plastic.\r\n When I made it to Baton Rouge, I heard reports that morning that a nursing home bus from Houston had caught fire while in transit. The nursing home was Sunrise Assisted Living, which is my mothers company. Seconds after the report my phone rang. It was my mother. She was alive and not on that bus. In fact she had not even evacuated. The bus was from another Sunrise home in Texas. By that time, I had much more to be thankful for than just gas and credit cards.\r\n Overall, Katrina and Rita have made me a more resilient person. I am living back at home (alone for now). I am thankful that my family and property were spared. I pray everyday for those affected. I am hopeful that family and friends will return and that New Orleans will be better than ever.