When Hurricane Katrina hit, I was a senior in high school, and the school year had basically just started. Since I live in Virginia, no major damage had occurred, but some areas regained power faster than others. In my neighborhood, we were out of power for four days. School was canceled for a day or two, and some of the middle and high schools opened up their gyms so that people could shower and have a place to stay for a couple of hours. Since my family has a gas stove in our kitchen, we could cook a few things. But we also have a well, so water ran out fast, despite my mother\'s efforts to make it last. My dad grilled a ton of chicken on the first day, so that we could eat it until power came back on, but since we didn\'t have refrigeration, it didn\'t last long. Towards the end of the week, my mom, sister and I gave in and went to my grandmother\'s house half an hour away so we could shower and eat real food. We stayed there for two days and then came home when we heard the power came back on.