OT: Hurricane Katrina, 5 Years After

[Guest guest]

Exactly five years ago as I type this, Harry and I were packing to leave

New Orleans.

It would be the first time we evacuated for a hurricane.

Our city would, in a matter of hours, be destroyed.

We were fortunate -- we did not lose our home. We did lose our freezer

and our refrigerator, and all my SCD foods, including flats of organic

blueberries, flats of organic strawberries, around 50 pounds of pastured

meat, and my tomato sauces from around 150 pounds of heirloom

tomatoes.

One friend had a second story apartment. She ended up with four feet of

water in it.

Another friend's house was elevated 5 feet off the ground. They had seven

feet of water in theirs.

Still another had the roof ripped off and three feet of water in the

house.

One friend, with a collection of movie memorabilia dating back to silent

films (his aunt and uncle had owned a movie house, and he had ALL the

posters) lost everything. He evacuated safely, but died about a year

later. Of grief, I think, for what had been, and would never be

again.

http://tinyurl.com/63awmp is a thread posted by myself and some

of my friends as the event was taking place.

http://tinyurl.com/289uh2z is my report on getting out of

the city. (With additional comments from the Forum know it all.)

http://tinyurl.com/28942fe is the second part of my report

on the storm and its aftermath. I never got the rest of it written

because we ended up home and with too much to do.

Lest we forget.... if you can find a copy of it, Rose's One Dead

In Attic is still worth a read.

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

[Guest guest]

Marilyn,

Thank you for the absolutely gripping account of Katrina. At the

time, I was following things as closely as I could, having cousins in

Gulfport and my brother and SIL in Corpus Christi, house boarded up

and ready to leave if they had to (which was a good thing they

didn't, what with my brother fairly incapacitated after a

stroke). But nothing beats the immediacy of a first-hand report and

I know those of us who didn't actually go through it can only imagine

the uncertainly, stress (especially worrying because your parents

wouldn't leave) and the aftermath. Whew!

[Guest guest]

Yes, Marilyn, we're all grateful it wasn't worse for you though it was certainly

bad enough. The whole nation sorrows for those who died and for all that was

lost, seen and unseen. Life certainly can have its awful parts, can't it?!

With love for all you do here,

Artful Carol

[Guest guest]

At 03:13 PM 8/29/2010, you wrote:

Thank you for the absolutely

gripping account of Katrina. At the time, I was following things as

closely as I could, having cousins in Gulfport and my brother and SIL in

Corpus Christi, house boarded up and ready to leave if they had to (which

was a good thing they didn't, what with my brother fairly incapacitated

after a stroke). But nothing beats the immediacy of a first-hand report

and I know those of us who didn't actually go through it can only imagine

the uncertainly, stress (especially worrying because your parents

wouldn't leave) and the aftermath. Whew!

Yes, every hurricane season, I worry about my SCD food....

I can genuinely sympathize over the situation with your brother being

incapacitated. Last year, when Mom became totally incapacitated because

of the Alzheimers, my husband and I were running through all sorts of

plans in the event of an evacuation. Fortunately, as in the case of your

brother, we didn't have to implement any of them. (How did your cousins

in Gulfport fare?)

You know, there IS one drawback to all this Internet stuff. Used to be, I

could wish the storm would go elsewhere. Now its... Florida? Nope, Kim M

and Darlene M. live there. Alabama? No, got friends in Orange. Along the

Texas coast? Nope, got someone on Galveston Island, and someone in

Beaumont and someone down by Corpus Christi....

All I can do is pray for " fish storms, " storms which go up the

middle of the Atlantic and don't bother anyone except the fish!

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

[Guest guest]

At 04:33 PM 8/29/2010, you wrote:

Yes, Marilyn, we're all grateful

it wasn't worse for you though it was certainly bad enough. The whole

nation sorrows for those who died and for all that was lost, seen and

unseen. Life certainly can have its awful parts, can't

it?!

I'm grateful I didn't lose my home. And, I'm grateful that, unlike some

others, I didn't lose friends or relatives to the storm.

But storms like Katrina are why I'd like to move " north of the

I-12 " as they say. About 90 miles father inland, and significantly

higher elevations.

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

[Guest guest]

Yes, let's hope they all are " fish storms " !

My Gulfport cousins were OK. However, the year I ought to have been

in first grade, we drove from Seattle to my grandmother's tiny house in

Gulfport because the allergist said either get my brother out of the

northwest damp climate for a year or he wouldn't make it. The tiny

house was the second one off the beach. There was a little stream

between our house and the big house belonging to our kissin'

cousins. The next year a huge hurricane took their house out to sea

and slid grandmother's little house across the creek to be no more.

The kissin' cousins rebuilt, a ranch house. Camille took that out. That

was the one where we didn't know how the fared for quite awhile.

They gave up and moved inland at that point and were OK with Katrina

thank goodness, as were my blood cousins, as none of them live anywhere

near the beach now - perhaps too many memories which I can certainly

understand.

BTW, how many books DID you save?

Yes, every hurricane season, I worry about my SCD food....

I can genuinely sympathize over the situation with your brother being incapacitated. Last year, when Mom became totally incapacitated because of the Alzheimers, my husband and I were running through all sorts of plans in the event of an evacuation. Fortunately, as in the case of your brother, we didn't have to implement any of them. (How did your cousins in Gulfport fare?)

You know, there IS one drawback to all this Internet stuff. Used to be, I could wish the storm would go elsewhere. Now its... Florida? Nope, Kim M and Darlene M. live there. Alabama? No, got friends in Orange. Along the Texas coast? Nope, got someone on Galveston Island, and someone in Beaumont and someone down by Corpus Christi....

All I can do is pray for " fish storms, " storms which go up the middle of the Atlantic and don't bother anyone except

the fish!

— Marilyn

[Guest guest]

They all eventually decided that, too.

I'm glad your cousins were okay -- you couldn't PAY me to live on a beach in hurricane country!

— Marilyn

[Guest guest]

Oh, thank heavens your books were OK! Books are important. I've

always said that a house cannot have too many bookshelves, closets, or

chests of drawers, with bookshelves definitely at the head of the

list. Perhaps what you need is a decommissioned library to which

you can add a kitchen and a bedroom.

Fortunately, our house did not flood. We have around 12,000. And we're seriously running out of space. That's why I want to build a kitchen and a library, with some living space attached.

— Marilyn

[Guest guest]

Oh, Marilyn, that is so romantic!!

On the subject of house designing, my neighbor growing up had 5 grown (and

married) kids, a two story house with a small kitchen. She always said she

wanted a huge kitchen with little bedrooms attached, because they always ended

up all crowded around the kitchen table. Now, those are GREAT family times.

Talked about Katrina this very AM with some friends spending the night on the

way to the airport. They have a couple of houses in Mississippi that were

flooded. Memories....

IBS

SCD 7/14/10

> LOL! Like I said, I want to build a library, and

> a kitchen (with a HUGE pantry!) with some living space attached!

>

> After all, Harry proposed by suggesting that we merge our libraries....

>

>

> — Marilyn

> New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

> Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

> Darn Good SCD Cook

> No Human Children

> Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

> Babette the Foundling Beagle

>