Online Story Contribution, Hurricane Digital Memory Bank
I am a small animal Veterinarian in Bogalusa, La and live next door to my clinic. During the height of the storm, the roof of my boarding facility was ripped off. We were boarding about 20 dogs and several cats whose owners had either evacuated or were staying with family here in Bogalusa. Once the roof came off the ceilings fell in with the rains and we were scrambling to move animals to safer quarters. We were soaking wet with rain pouring in and ceiling tile and sheetrock falling on us. There was no loss of life.\r\nAfter the storm the biggest challange was getting water. There was no power or water. We quickly used up our reserves with all these animals and the heat was hardly bearable. We finally found a source of water across town and had to haul water in clean plastic garbage cans for the dogs to drink and to clean with. \r\nI euthanized several dogs in the immediate days after the storm. Old dogs and cats that lived inside in the air conditioning that were now suffering from the heat because they had heart disease. Some were euthanized because they were old and the owners had trees on their homes and were going to have to leave town and the animal was not going to travel easily or be welcomed at where ever the owners ended up. \r\nWithout electricity I continued to practice Veterinary Medicine as best as I could. I was still seeing sick dogs or injured animals. People were driving to me taking the chance I would be at my clinic because there was no phones. Gas was impossible to obtain unless you traveled 100 miles to the west, which lots of people were doing. \r\nChain saws could be heard for days. Many people banded together to cut themselves out and to clear roads. Once water was restored life was a little better. Electricity for me came back on Sept 12, but many were without for 4-6 weeks. MRI\'s were very tasty during those first few weeks.