Who: John Lancaster\r\nWhat: Hurricane Rita\r\nWhen: Sept. 28, 2005\r\nWhere: Orange, Texas\r\n\r\n\r\nMy name is John Lancaster and I am an evacuee from Orange, Texas. For those of ya\'ll who don\'t know where that is, it is right next door to Port Arthur where the eye of Rita hit. Wednesday afternoon during school we were told that we were on a voluntary evacuation. Well, it didn\'t take long before we were told we HAD to get out. Rita quickly moved up the scale to a catagory 5 hurricane. My mom and I quickly packed up and headed out Thursday morning towards Longview. What was supposed to be a three and half hour drive turned into an extensive nine hours. Going from town to town, having to stop every 30 min because of traffic build-ups untill we finally start moving at a steady pace. For hours and hours all we had for sights were slow moving cars, red brake lights, and hot roads that reached 100 degrees. Finally we arrived at my aunt\'s house to rest and relax, if only we could stop thinking about how bad it would be. The next few days were very nervewracking. We watched the news channels and weather channels all throughout the day, praying it would just turn north. Unfortunately we were not so lucky. The day came where the hurricane hit and there was nothing but silence and worry in the room as we watched the news stations cover the horrifying storm. We saw buildings blown down and cars thrown off the street. When the storm had passed, we didn\'t know what to do. We badly wanted to drive down there and check on our house, but we knew that if we did that there might not be anything there or a way to get back. A day after the hurricane, I kept getting these calls from friends asking if I knew anything. I couldn\'t help but feel bad when I knew that I could not help them one little bit. Then the tragedy of the storm hit. On Monday I had a phone call from one of my friends that was crying. Her house was totally destroyed, and she and her family would now have to move from that town into a different state. Not only was her house destroyed but her boyfriend\'s as well. Now they are moving off in separate directions to where they don\'t know if they will ever see each other again, a couple who has been together for three years will now be forced to go different ways. Now I\'m not only worried about them but also not knowing what has happened to my house. Still we don\'t know and have no way of knowing untill we finally make a trip down there. My mom worked as the principal\'s secretary for Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School and now probably won\'t get paid because she has no work. For now we are helpless and can\'t do anything for at least a month or longer. But we have to show strength because we know that we are lucky to have each other and that we are safe to where we can rebuild what might be lost some day.