I am a victim.
I am a victim of Hurricane Katrina.
On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina tore through the city of New Orleans, My city. I’m sure you already know that. But, its what you don’t know about what happened that is the real disaster. Nobody knows the true horror of what happened in, and to, that city. Not unless you lived it.. I’m lucky enough to say I did. This is my story, and what i made of it.
It wasn’t really unusual to hear about hurricane watches at that time of year, it was hurricane season. I don’t even really remember when i first heard about “Tropical Depression- Katrina.” I don’t know how i felt at that moment, because as far as i know i felt nothing, that moment doesn’t exist to me anymore. The first memory i have of the situation is being at home on the phone, like always, talking to a friend from school about Volleyball try-outs being on Saturday. We were both intending to try-out. Saturday’s try-outs were “Postponed until farther notice.” I’m not sure we ever got a notice any farther than that.. My mom was working for Hibernia Bank, which is now Capitol One, During that time. She was on the Disaster Recovery team. From what i can remember this was a team put together by the bank, of the most skilled workers, to open the bank in a different location if a disaster were to occur. People would still need access to their money, that’s what this team of people did for them. The recovery team had nice benefits; Them and their family, of any amount, were evacuated and put into a hotel, free of cost. The company paid for everything. We were reimbursed for everything from gas, to food, to clothes, to snacks for the road trip. Everything. We were a lot luckier than most people in the city. This played a quite large role in the way i reacted to the situation as a whole, and i would even go as far as to say it changed my life too. Looking back on the self taught lesson i learned, i know this has ample contribution to who i am today. Nobody really thought the hurricane was actually going to hit, especially not as hard as it did. That’s one of those things “Everybody” knows, but unless you were there to live it you wouldn’t really know why nobody expected to hit. In the year 2004, Ivan, A category 5 hurricane hit New Orleans… Well.. It was supposed to, at least. This was one year previous to Katrina. Ivan was the biggest and scariest storm the city and heard about in a while. In fact i can’t remember evacuating for any other hurricanes since 1998, for Hurricane Georges. My family and i went to Mississippi to stay with family for that one. I can remember sitting outside on the porch with my dad and my uncles watching the hurricane as it hit. For hurricane Ivan the whole city went into a frenzy, everyone evacuated. I remember going to Baton Rouge and it taking HOURSS!! It took us 22.5 hours to get from New Orleans to Baton Rouge that day. It was slow and painful torture. At one point we were pretty much parked in front of a gas station, and we saw people getting out of their cars running to get drinks and coming back before the car had even moved. It was just so funny to me that people were doing it. The simple fact that everyone in the city packed everything and evacuated, and for what, a thunder storm? That’s why nobody left for Katrina. Then there were the people who didn’t have the means to evacuate. That was one of the main reasons it always made me so mad when people would say that the people who didn’t evacuate were stupid, or it was their own fault and they got what they deserved. If you weren’t there and don’t know what happened, and don’t know their situation, then you do not have the right to comment on their decision. Point Blank..
That’s all for entry one. Check back in a few days for entry number two. Entry by entry i am going to re-live this experience in vivid detail. Something i have never done before. I have never told any one person my entire story. It’s going to be rough, I’m sure, but it’s something i think i am ready to do. I’m a good sport. Comment and let me know what you think. Or you can contact me on Facebook- Toni Lynell Silas. Follow me on Twitter @tonikynz5044
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