Katrina

It was one year ago today that Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Despite what you may hear and see in the MSM, she affected more than just African-American communities in New Orleans. The entire Mississippi coast was destroyed, along with much of Alabama. Since I was not blogging at the time, what follows are my memories of the day.

We all knew the storm was coming. It had been on the news for days, even weeks. We all knew it could be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. It wasn't like it was a big secret. Storm warnings were in effect up and down the coast. Evacuation orders were given. Someone said, "God help you if you don't get out now."

Oh, we knew she was out there all right. She didn't sneak up on anybody.

I could feel the storm as I left for work that morning. I'd felt her since the afternoon before--a faint breath on the back of my neck. I could tell when her outer edges arrived--fingers from an unseen hand reaching out to touch everything within her grasp. I didn't grow up along the Texas Gulf Coast without developing that sense. That sense that something big was coming.

We didn't have TV or radio access on the shop floor, but some people in the shipping office did have a radio, so we got regular updates. We knew what was going on. We knew when the levees broke. We knew when the roof of the Superdome blew off. We knew when the water hit six foot deep, then 8 foot, then 10 foot...

We knew.

We also knew she was heading our way next.


The local schools let out at 1:00 PM, but we at ADP worked the full day. When work let out, I got out to my car only to discover text message, after text message, after text message saying "THE SCHOOLS ARE LETTING OUT AT 1:00!!!" In all caps. Over and over again. I kept getting these text messages until about 4:30 PM. Even though I'd sent a response saying that it was well after 1 and I didn't need any more reminders, I kept getting them. I finally had to get pretty nasty with the sender, telling her to stop sending them because she was running my phone battery down. You see, I didn't know whether we would lose electricity or not, and I wanted a full charge on my phone, just in case.

The leading edge of the storm was here and gone by then, and we were in the thick of it. They eye wouldn't pass through for a few more hours yet, but this was a big storm. When I got home, were was my beloved son? Outside playing in the wind and rain!

"BOY! Get your butt in the house! This is a hurricane!" And he comes bopping excitedly up to me exclaiming, "Mom, guess what? A limb almost fell on my head!"

That's the way to calm a mother's heart!

After checking my e-mail, and the weather, I secured my house as best I could, packed a few essentials, and went to B and J's to wait out the storm. Once there, there was nothing we could do but helplessly watch and wait. Watch the news coverage on the TV, and watch the winds and rain outside the window, and wait for it to pass.

By the time she got here, she had weakened to a tropical storm, but her winds were still in the 55-60 MPH range. A strong tropical storm, and still a force to be reckoned with. The electricity flickered on and off a few times, and each time we thought, "This is it", but it always came back on.

There were others taking refuge at B and J's house too. A friend of the family and her three children were there. The husband and father, an army reservist, was not in this area. Having been wounded in Iraq, he was in Virginia receiving medical treatment--I think. I'm not too sure about my memory there, but I know he wasn't here.

It was one of those rare situations in which B and J let Katie, Cody's dog, into the house. Oh, they don't mind her inside, but their own dogs kind of take exception to her being there. But I kept her close by me and after a few minor skirmishes, everyone was fine with each other.

I spent the night on the hide-a-bed in the living room. I was more worried about waking up on time than anything else, so I didn't sleep well. I'd set the alarm on my cell phone, but it only makes one little chirp then shuts off. I wasn't sure that would wake me up, so I kept waking up to check the time. Each time I woke up, I could hear the wind and the rain howling outside my window. But sometime during the night, the storm blew itself out.

I did manage to wake up on time, and the next morning dawned so sunny and peaceful, you would have never thought that such a destructive force had just been through. But the evidence of her passing was everywhere--from downed limbs and power lines, to refugees who lived in the church gym for two weeks, to the horse still stabled in my neighbor's pasture even now, to the knowledge that for so many, nothing would ever be the same again.

When I got to work, about half the employees didn't show up. Many of them couldn't get there. We were hard pressed to find enough people to run at even half capacity. They ended up letting everyone go home after half a day anyway. The roads were so bad our supply trucks couldn't get through.

A few weeks later, the employees of ADP elected to donate the funds set aside for our annual employee picnic to Katrina relief efforts. The committee chose a recovery program in Mississippi for Mississippians. I was very glad of that.

New Orleans may have gotten all the attention, but there were many, many others who seem to be forgotten, but whose lives were forever altered that day.

It is to them that I dedicate this post.