Six years since Hurricane Katrina

Yesterday marked six years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and the South. I am going to account some of our experience....

My husband was offshore in the gulf at the time and had been evacuated to Lafayette, LA. JC was only about 4 1/2 months old. Mike asked me to go stay with my parents. They were taking shelter at their church's educational building, which had cement blocks as walls.

We went over there on August 28th. Our family was given the privilege of "bunking" in the nursery, since we were the only ones with a baby. The first night went okay. Then, Katrina hit. I can remember my father had a battery powered TV. We were able to watch the ABC affliate in Gulfport/Biloxi. They were getting calls in from people stranded on the coast.....in homes, on roofs, anywhere imaginable. There was also a moment when we watch the roof blow off of the news room.

We also had a family who lived right across from the church. They watched as a tree fell on their home. One of my dad's dear friends was there...he was watching to see if anything happened to his home, which was also across the street. However, he was also battling something much bigger....cancer.

That day is when the power went out. It was so hot and humid. I remember having to take JC out to the car and putting on the air conditioner to get him calmed down to go to sleep.

The next day was another tough day. Finally, the youth director of the church ventured out into town. He found much devastation. One of them was my little sister's house. A huge tree had fallen right into the middle of it. Thank goodness she had gone to North LA to take refuge with a friend's family.

That second day brought no water, no electricity, and much uncertainty. We found out that no one was able to travel out of town because of fallen trees. There was no way on earth I would make it back to our home 40 miles away. On top of that uncertainty, the cellular service had fallen. I had no way of reaching my husband, sister or inlaws. They had last spoken to us before the storm. They had no idea if we were okay, if our homes were okay, or what the situation was. All they knew was what the news was portraying to them.

God would provide....but we had no idea how He would that day. August 30th was the beginning of a hard journey for many..

To Be Continued..................