Katrina is the only hurricane we\'ve ever evacuated for. My father abruptly woke me up on Saturday morning and hurriedly said \"The hurricane\'s just turned into a 5, we\'re leaving.\" My mind began to ramble with thoughts of the house I was sitting in being blown away. I had little or no time to think because we left the house before noon and headed toward Vacherie, Louisiana. We lost power in Vacherie the night we arrived and I had no clue what was going on in the outside world for three days. I had a feeling that Katrina was going to be worse than any hurricane that ever occurred in my life time. It wasn\'t until I saw the words \"Hurricane Katrina\" on a People Magazine in a store that I realized how big the hurricane was. We left Vacherie after three unbelievably hot and longs day and drove nine hours to Houston, Texas. We settled into my uncle\'s house in Houston and turned on the news. This was my first viewing of New Orleans after the hurricane. I was prepared for the worst. The worst is almost what I saw. People camping out in front of the Convention Center, houses flooded for miles, talk of sharks and alligators invading the city, people stranded on the bridge, pure insanity, and Superdome...Oh my gosh... It was just pure madness. We stayed in Houston for a week and soon headed back to Vacherie. We were in Vacherie for a month until October came around. We went back to New Orleans halfway through our stay in Vacherie. Our main goal in returning home was to see the destruction and...*gulp*...empty out the freezer and refrigerator. The smell from the rotten food in the freezer and refrigerator was so putrid and horrid that I had to sit outside as my parents and sister emptied them. My father buried the food in the backyard and said good riddance to the smelly beast. Algiers looked like a mini disaster. Trees were down everywhere, stores had been noticeably looted, and TVs and electronics randomly littered the road. We left for Vacherie after emptying out the refrigerator, freezer, and dishwasher. We left Vacherie in early October and came back home to New Orleans- Home sweet home. This home would never be the same again.\r\n\r\n

Citation

“[Untitled],” Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, accessed May 17, 2024, https://hurricanearchive.org/items/show/43206.