In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit U.S Gulf Coast. Even though it already has passed almost two years, there are still aftermath of Hurricane in the U.S Gulf Coast region. Because I was not there at that time, I could not feel the actual devastation as people who were there. However, I was also affected by Hurricane Katrina in some ways because my relatives were the victims of Hurricane Katrina. \r\n I could not forget the moment when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I have aunt who have lived Metairie, Louisiana for 10 years with her family. A few days before Louisiana was hit by Hurricane Katrina, my aunt called my mother and said that she was going to leave her town and go to Austin, Texas where her brother-in-law lived. She said we did not have to worry about her because she would be in a safe place soon. My family thought that she and her husband would be okay. However, my family members started to worry about my aunt\'s safety after we realized that she might not had left her town yet. After my family heard how badly Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans from the news, my mother tried contact her, but she could not. My family were not sure where she was. The possibility of losing aunt caused my mother to panic. All my family members prayed for her, and we could not do anything. \r\n All of my family members and I were depressed. We read and watched every news carefully to know what was happening to New Orleans, and tried to contact my aunt. Finally, my mother got a phone call from aunt and knew that her family were okay. My aunt said she did not leave before Katrina hit her town, and then she was strained by the flood. She said that the rescue team from the South Korean Consulate rescued her family and other Koreans. That was why my family could not contact her for more than a week. Fortunately, all her family members did not hurt by Hurricane Katrina. However, she approached a financial problem after Katrina. \r\n Just like my family, my aunt\'s family also immigrated from Korea. Like other Korean immigrated people, they had owned a small business. As Katrina hit New Orleans, my aunt\'s beauty supply store was flooded. My aunt lost her store that was everything to her. She came from Korea to have a better quality of life, but she have lost what she had made. It was so frustrated, but my aunt had to make an effort to recover. Donations and rebuilding effort helped her family a lot, but she is still in financial difficulty. My aunt has been tried to open a new store, but it seems not easy. I really hope that she will solve her financial problem soon, and her family will live like the time before Katrina hit New Orleans.

Citation

“[Untitled],” Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, accessed March 28, 2024, https://hurricanearchive.org/items/show/27059.