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Crazy. Can't believe now I was that person that lost my home in Katrina in August 2005. I will always be heartbroken for those that lost their lives. Luckily, I evacuated the day before the hurricane, no plans not to actually return ... But 12 feet of water changed my plans. I stayed in Birmingham, Alabama for nearly four months. It took over a month for my employer to find me to let me know I actually still had a job at LSU Medical center. So I went to work off site at an affiliate, UAB. It was hard to know what was going on, but flood maps showed 12 feet of water in my neighborhood. I snuck back in to my closed neighborhood about one month later - to a nightmare. Neighbors lost, everything ruined, everything gone. Over the 4 months spent in Alabama I decided to move on. The city of Corvallis, Oregon took me in, helped me restart and I began a new life. It took a year before I demolished my home, and witnessing that was the best therapy I could have from the event. I went back to school, started a family, and now love living in the northwest. New Orleans will always be in my heart.