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Hurricane Katrina HURRICANE KATRINA – MY STORY Hi, my name is Carol and this is my experience of Hurricane Katrina as I lived it. I am a nurse and I was scheduled to work when we heard on the TV about Hurricane Katrina coming. When you are on the schedule to work and something like that happens you can’t call in sick or request off because that is grounds for dismissal. I worked from 7a to 7p as I always did. When I got off of work and I had to drive an hour to get home it was an eerie feeling. The interstate that I drive was deserted. Can you just imagine an interstate that usually has a large amount of traffic on it to having none? The wind was already blowing but I made it home. My husband and I decided that we were going to a shelter for this one, as it was a stronger hurricane than the others. We hurried and packed some clothes, food, drinks, blankets and anything else that we thought we might need and went to the school where we took shelter. It wasn’t too bad at first when we still had power because it didn’t get to hot. You can hear the rain and the wind just beating down on the school. It actually made a hole in one of the classrooms. We didn’t know anyone there but there was such a feeling of togetherness with everyone because we were all going through this together. The power went off and got dark and hot in there and it was miserable. I tried to sleep but I just wasn’t able to so I stayed awake all night. Finally it was Monday morning and it was over and we can go home if we had a home to go to. On the drive home you can see all the destruction. There were trees and power lines down. There were several people going the same direction that we were that had chain saws along with the power company truck. Everyone worked together to get the road cleared so that we all could get home. I thought to myself that we probably wouldn’t have a house when we got there. When we got to our road to turn off of around the curve there it was. Our house was still standing. I couldn’t believe it. It stood off the ground on blocks so it didn’t get flooded or anything. We just lost some shingles, central air conditioner unit and some water damage seepage on the ceiling and down one wall in the living room. We had a house that we were having built and it just lost some shingles and those were replaced. We didn’t have power for a week and you just don’t know how much you rely on power until you don’t have it. The people that still had jobs to go to like I did there was another problem. Gas and getting it to get back and forth to work was an issue but we did manage. The aftereffects of the hurricane were a lot worse than the actual hurricane. Gas prices skyrocketed, housing where available doubled in cost and even now to get into a decent home you are looking at paying in the thousands. The amazing thing is that we come together as a community, we are rebuilding bigger and better. I am a native of the gulf coast, I was born here and I will always stay. Hurricanes are just a thing that we live and deal with. Will I leave when the next hurricane comes? It depends on how strong it is if it is like Katrina then yes I will until they get power back on. The worst thing about hurricanes is that when the communications go down and can’t get signal on your cell phone is not knowing whether your family is ok or not. In closing I will say that I was lucky that I didn’t have as much damage as other people who lost their homes and everything they owned. For that alone I am thankful my family and my home made it through. Carol McMillan

Contributed by ladyhawkcj on March 5, 2008, at 11:25 PM UTC.

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