Surviving Katrina, The Facts

on August 29th 2005, I survived hurricane Katrina. My house was destroyed and I lost nearly everything in it. That was 3 years ago today. I chose not to evacuate and for that you may call me a fool. The reason why so many did not evacuate is simple. We could not afford it... again. Evacuating your home is expensive. You can also lose your job. The Gulf Coast is a tourist town. Employers there, generally use the "no fault" policy. Basically they don't care why you called off, they do not require, nor will they accept, an excuse from a doctor. There are a set number of times that you can miss work in a set period of time. If you exceed that number, you are unemployed. Simple as that.

Evacuation is expensive, stressful, dangerous and time consuming. The simple fact is, so many stayed behind because of those 4 reasons. We had already fled so many times that year, we all became weary and a bit jaded. No one expected Katrina to become the monster it did. On the coast, every storm was compared to Camille. The weathermen even say it. "This won't be a Camille" Katrina tuned out to be much worse than Camille. Gas was getting very expensive,{gas stations on the coast quickly inflate prices to unbelievable prices. They come back down very slowly} hotel rooms {holiday weekend} were in short supply and those that could be had, were as far away as Memphis and that is very long drive in bumper to bumper traffic and 100 degree weather. So we stayed... and paid.

Katrina was not the first hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005.

There were 27 named storms that year, {a record}

15 of them were hurricanes. This exceeded the 1969* record of 12 hurricanes.

7 of these 15 hurricanes were major hurricanes.

Of those 7, an unprecedented 4 reached category 5 status.

Emily

Katrina

Rita

Wilma
{The 2 years before Katrina, Isabel and Ivan were cat5}

By the time Katrina hit Mississippi, we had already evacuated 3 times in just over 2 months!

Arlene 6/11/05

Cindy 7/5/05 {notice this is a holiday weekend}

Dennis 7/09/05 Category 3 {again, notice the date}

Katrina 8/29/05 Cat 5 {This was just before Labor Day weekend.}

The storm surge caused severe damage along the Gulf Coast, devastating the Mississippi cities of

Waveland

Bay St. Louis

Pass Christian

Long Beach

Gulfport

Biloxi**

D'Iberville

Ocean Springs

Gautier***

Moss Point

Pascagoula

The Mississippi and Alabama coastlines suffered catastrophic damage from the storm's 30-foot (9 m) storm surge.

New Orleans escaped the worst damage from the storm.

The levees along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and 17th Street and London Avenue Canals ultimately were breached by storm surge, flooding about 80% of the city. 1,836 people have been confirmed dead across 7 US states. Katrina is the costliest and one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history, with damage totals around $81.2 billion

I know that this seems like a very emotionless account of one of our nation's greatest catastrophes. Would you like to read about how the wind sounded like a woman being murdered for 10 hours straight? What it feels like when the roof comes off the house? What the Mississippi Sound smells like when it is 4 feet deep in your windowless bathroom? {and coming over the edge of the tub where I sought refuge?} How about what bricks feel like when they hit your body? Would you like to read that at times, all I could hear was my heart pounding in my ears? Others times it was glass smashing, metal crumbling, wood splintering, water gushing. Neighbors screaming for help, for mercy... for it to just stop. And then it did. All at once. Just for a little while. Then it started all over again.

It's easier to think about the facts than the emotion of it. 3 years is not far enough away from the terror for me to be able to go into the emotion. I can tell you that the gulf coast of MS. was beautiful. It was a world away from the redneck stereotypes. It was a beach town, where shrimping, gambling and football was local religion. I wasn't born there but it was easy to claim as my own. I like wearing shorts and sandals in December! Some complained that they liked 4 seasons and we don't have that. Oh, but we do! Almost summer, summer, still summer and Christmas Day.

I'm marking this anniversary by drinking beer {nipping on bourbon} wearing my tshirt that says: I survived Katrina and all I got was this stinking shirt from FEMA, and watching Gustav follow a terrifying familiar path in the Gulf of Mexico. I'm sending all my prayers and keeping my toes and fingers crossed. But I'm not placing any bets. I'm very afraid for the coast. If the worst does happen, do the survivors a favor. Find a way to donate money or supplies without going through the Red Cross. Trust me on this. Give your aid to the local churches. They are the only ones helping the survivors in any real or meaningful way. The only sign of the Red Cross in the first month after Katrina was one meals on wheels truck. You had to go to it, if you could find it. That's enough BWI for now...

* The year of Camille

** Where I lived

*** This is pronounced go-shay