Hurricane Katrina (It's a looooong one)

Our families journey through Katrina......

August 28, 2005 - We went about our normal weekend activites. Drew had to go up to work to help get the paper mill ready for the hurricane, and I took the kids to McDonalds. Yep McDonalds. Those of us that acutally lived in the New Orleans area were not evacuating. No one was telling us to, and almost everyone was planning on riding out the storm. Later that night, we watched TV and noticed things were getting worse...but yet NO ONE was telling people to leave...so we went to bed. This is where I believe the breakdown in communication began....

August 29, 2005 - We woke-up to what sounded like people talking with bullhorns. Policemen were driving up and down the streets in our neighborhood in Mandeville and saying, "You need to evacuate now..please get in your cars and go!!" Not the best way to wake-up, right? Apparently the storm had gone from a category 2 to 3 overnight and it was gathering more speed as it crossed the Gulf. Drew and I went into crazy, hyper-mode and began throwing clothes and food into bags. It is the weirdest feeling to walk around a place you call home and know you can only grab the necessities. C, G, and M were 4, 2, and 14 months at the time. All the stuff required to take of 3 children alone could fill up the car. Plus we had Buddy at the time (our black lab). I walked around the house and looked at all the things I wasn't sure I would be coming back for. Things that made our house a home. It was really hard. We loaded up the Tahoe with me, the kids, and buddy, and Drew's car with all the other "stuff". Drew's car (my old green jeep!) had NO air-conditioning. No air. I felt horrible for him. And it was at least 90 degrees.

We began the usually 1 hr. trip to Baton Rouge to stay with Pete (Drew's brother). We arrived 8 hours later. 8 horrible, hot, cry-filled hours later. The kids were amazing for their ages. I know they could sense the desperation in the air, and thank goodness for DVD players in cars is all I have to say. I had to reserve the gas I had in the car and not run the air or DVD player too much because all the gas stations were closing down since they had run out of gas. We got to Pete's and it was actually enjoyable the rest of the evening. We had air, TV, electricity. I put the kids to bed knowing the storm would be hitting sometime that night. I finally feel asleep next to them and Drew and Pete stayed up. We lost power around midnight. I then woke-up to the sounds of a thunderstorm times 100. It was so loud. We had no power, which means we had no idea how bad the storm was or where tornadoes were touching down. I remember my brother calling me from MINNESOTA to give me the details. Nice. Pete had a radio that we would listen to, but even that was hard to get reception. So we sat and sweated it out, literally.

August 30, 2005 - The next morning we decided we would try to go back to Mandeville to see if we could get back to the place we were renting, and try and drive to the place we were building to see what damage was done. It was heart-breaking. I mean horrible devistation like I have never seen. Trees that were uprooted and strew about like matchsticks, and homes with pine trees right through the middle of them. We somehow made it back to our rental property (thank goodness for 4-wheel drive!) and the owner was there in tears. At least 2 feet of water was in it, and more was coming. I started to cry...for her...for us...for all these poor people whose lives were never going to be the same. We tried to grab a few more things to bring with us, and had to let the rest go. Thankfullly the place we were building was far enough along to have a roof, but not far enough a little water wouldn't ruin it. We drove back to Pete's in silence. Not sure what to do. Should we stay. Should we leave. Did we have enough gas to get us out.  Cell phones were not working very well since almost every cell phone tower in the area had been knocked down. We stayed at Pete's the rest of the night and after sitting in 90+ degrees with no air and one deck of cards to entertain 3 children, we decided we would chance it. We had nowhere to live for the time being, which meant we had to crash one set of grandparents house. :) We choose mine, because it was an area I knew I could navigate around once Drew had to go back to LA. So we began our journey at about 3:00 in the afternoon. We were headed to Illinois which meant we had to drive straight north. That also meant we had to drive through most of Mississippi...whom also had been hit equally as hard as us. We prayed as we began. Prayed there would be gas or food sometime in the next couple hours, prayed the kids would handle another major road trip, prayed for Drew and the fact we knew he would basically be dropping us off in Illinois and then heading back to LA to handle all the devistation there, prayed my mom would adjust to going from no grandchildren to three 24-hours a day, and prayed for all those we were just finding out were stuck in New Orleans at the Superdome and the Convention Center. Horrible. As we made our way through Mississippi we began to notice, with a sinking feeling, that every exit ramp was completely vacant. No lights, no people, no food. We drove for 3 hours and our car said we had less than 40 miles to go until we were on empty. 40 miles. My stomach was in knots. And then I swear, it was like Las Vegas appeared on the horizon. One of the last exits on the Mississippi border was OPEN! There was a Wendy's and a gas station. Hallelujah. We waited over an hour to get food for the kids. They were starving and had been living on granola bars since we left. I swear we ordered everything on the menu because we could. It was wonderful...frosty heaven. And we made our way to Illinois. And, of course, once we got to civilization again, with power, we began to realize the total devistation that happened when the levee's broke in New Orleans. The 17th street Canal levee breach and flooding of the lower 9th Ward happened right as we arrived. Broke my heart to see all the images like this.

And this picture has ALWAYS stuck with me. Always. I remember this woman. Seeing her on TV, and seeing her in People Magazine. Maybe it was her red hair that made her stand out. But, I think for me it was the look of complete fear and helplessness while holding her baby that was born 2 weeks before Katrina. As a mom I can absolutely relate to this women on so many levels. The fierce feeling of protection you feel as a new mom for your child is so very real. And then to be put in a situation where you are running out of diapers and food, and water and NO ONE is coming to help you or your child, and the place you were told you would be safe has now become one of the most unsafe places on the planet. I prayed for this women so many times. I knew nothing about her, but I just felt so helpless for her.

So we made it through. And compared to most, I have nothing to complain about. We learned a lot through our Katrina journey. I learned how much I can do as a young mom of three children 4 and under, how thankful I am God provided for us in so, so many ways. I didn't sleep much knowing Drew was back in LA, with no cell phone coverage. We talked once a week in the beginning, and in the 8 weeks we stayed in IL, we saw him 2 times. It was so hard on the kids and me, but him getting back to IL meant either driving the whole way, or driving to an airport at least 6 hours away since all the airports in LA/MS were not functioning. And he need to be in LA to help all the employees whose lives had been completely torn apart. We knew that was the best place for him at that time...hard as it was.

And now 5 years later we are back! Back in Louisiana. Almost back to the same town. And this area holds such a spot near and dear to us. We went through Katrina with most of these people, and felt the devistation when we moved back after the storm 5 years ago. We had to stand in lines outside Wal-Mart to get bananas and bread and milk like everyone else. Fast food didn't exist for months after because all the restaurants were destroyed. Crazy. And while I don't enjoy the heat, or the bugs, or the huge amount of alligators and snakes, the resilience of these people is amazing. The culture is rich and deep, and the history behind New Orleans is so interesting to me. The dark and desperation of New Orleans we don't enjoy, but it is easy to avoid those parts of town, and stay in the parts that we can enjoy. So this weekend we are celebrating for those that have made it through and come back to NOLA, and we are sad for the parts of this city that still have such a long, long way to go. Slowly but surely....this city is coming back.

I know this post is tooo long, but my reason for doing this blog is for our family. For Caleb, Grace, and Madeline whom I know won't remember much about this experience. I have never really written it all down before for them to read. This is part of our family story...our journey. Surviving this. And I don't want them to ever forget just how lucky we were.