Five Years Ago Today

[dreamflower]

It was five years ago today that Hurricane Katrina changed life forever for those of us who lived on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana. My family was lucky. Our home was mostly intact, and no one in our family was injured or killed. There were a great many people who were not so lucky. My sister-in-law lost everything except her cat and clothes on her back. I had many friends who were "slabbed" (nothing left of their home except a concrete slab) or whose homes flooded out and whose insurance companies refused to pay.

My husband, who had to be in the thick of the storm due to his job as a nurse, could not bear to stay on the Coast after all he'd seen, which is why we are now in Oklahoma. That storm changed a lot of lives, and not for the better.

	Before The view out the front door before Katrina
	The view out my front door The view out my front door the day after the hurricane.

I know that I have some people who are new to my flist, and have never seen My Hurricane Katrina Diary that I kept in the powerless and internetless days immediately after the storm.

In previous years I'd posted links to the pictures I had taken after the storm. But I recently discovered that some of those links are broken, as that photobucket account is no longer available.

So I have uploaded those pictures into an LJ scrapbook:
Hurricane Katrina scrapbook

I know there are a lot more dramatic and devestating pictures out there, but these are pictures I took myself.

Five years later, there are still people displaced by Katrina, and the Coast, still trying to recover, has been traumatized by another, man-made disaster.

I hope everyone remembers those who suffered from Katrina and other storms in their thoughts and prayers today!

Comments

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I think that most of us will never know the true horror of Katrina. I think the estimated people killed in it is too low.

I just...there are no words. You are amazing to have come through something like that. Your diary was riveting, too, I remember reading it before I knew you.

I know that anniversaries are weird, not just for remembering what happened, but for contemplating how said event shattered and then changed everything.

I am very grateful that you came out unharmed (physically).

***gentle hugs***

[dreamflower]

I am immensely grateful, and yet I still mourn the life I had before. I suppose that's only human. But I know how blessed I was not to have lost everything like many people did.

[shirebound]

I remember how fervently we were hanging on the internet, sharing whatever information we had, and hoping that you and coneygirl and marigoldg's mother (and others) were safe. So many days passed before we heard any news! What a scary time that was. I know your life changed completely that day. I'm going to re-read your diary later today.

I haven't thought of my hobbity "hurricane" ficlet in awhile. I couldn't think of any other way to share my hope that all would be well with my friends other than writing it from a hobbit's POV.

http://shirebound.livejournal.com/365400.html

*many hugs*

[dreamflower]

I remember finding that little ficlet when I came back, and how endearing it was. And I remember how astonished I was to discover just how much people had worried and fretted about me.

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

People ask me sometimes why I live in Maine, and I tell them 'four good reasons: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.' After four hurricanes in four months, I was done. That was an awful hurricane season.

[dreamflower]

*nods* Yep. That was a helluva season.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

I remember reading your Katrina diary, very well. I always pay more attention to the reports about hurricanes now, and think of the people who were displaced and lost all their possessions because of that storm.

*hugs*

[dreamflower]

(((hugs back))) Still too many people stil dispossessed.

[dawn_felagund]

On my 18th birthday, Tropical Storm Floyd hit Maryland. We went without power for eight days, and I remember the day of the storm, watching the enormous tulip trees in my parents' backyard bending and swaying in the wind. When the storm ended and we went out, everywhere was a mess: trees and powerlines down everywhere. I often think: That was a tropical storm. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live through a powerful hurricane like Katrina.

I cried a bit reading about your family and friends who lost everything and the kind of perspective people gain when living through something like that. Where a warm shower becomes bliss and salvaging a few personal items from a destroyed home suddenly makes one feel very fortunate. It makes me realize how lucky I am every day and how quickly that could change.

[dreamflower]

Some tropical storms can be just about as bad as some hurricanes. I still remember Tropical Storm Allison, from 2004. But Katrina was in a class by herself. When she came ashore, she was only a Cat 3, but due to her size and the amount of water she carried and the duration, she did far more damage!

I certainly learned a lot of things I take for granted--until they aren't there.

[ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com]

"This city was once the jewel of our kingdom. A place of light, and beauty, and music. And so it shall be once more."

I love this quote. And I trully hope the same will happen to your wounded city. That it shall be totally renewed some day, soon. And I am glad that you are ok. *hug*

[dreamflower]

((hugs back))

Thank you! So much that was fair there is lost forever; but I hope that new, fair things will come to the Coast.

[lily-the-hobbit.livejournal.com]

I have never faced the horror of such a storm and I hope I never will. I cannot imagine what it must have been like no matter how much I read about it at the time.

I am glad that you and your family survived.

*hugs*

[dreamflower]

((hugs)) We are too.

[baranduin.livejournal.com]

*reading and remembering*

[dreamflower]

Thank you.

[addie71.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[dreamflower]

((hugs back))

[elandulin.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you before Katrina; but I came to know of you because people I had just met on LJ were worrying about you. I'm very glad you and the DH came through okay--though it must have hurt like the dickens to lose that beautiful arbor and so many places you knew so well.

Stay safe--

:)
Elanor

[dreamflower]

I'd say one of the good things that did come out of the storm was the friends I made because of it, and a new appreciation for the friends I already had!

I still mourn my Mississippi home. I miss it so badly. But I am trying to learn to feel like this place is home as well.

(((hugs)))

[fafojoy.livejournal.com]

That was a terrible time. I am glad you came thought it as well as you did, but it is very sad to see the devastation still present. And sad to know that any rebuilding there, especially New Orleans, without rebuilding proper infrastructure, is not likely to last.

I'm glad you are settled in Oklahoma now, but I'm sure you do miss coastal living.

[meneleth.livejournal.com]

It's hard to believe that it's been 5 years already. Meg's orchestra went to New Orleans a couple of years ago and did some help with rebuilding. We were displaced 13 years ago by floods and you're right, it's something that stays with you for a long time.

[ansostuff.livejournal.com]

*big hugs*

I'll never forget.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

That was such a horrible time... I hope we never see the likes of it again.

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I remember all right. I was so worried about you. I still remember the relief when you called and I hear that you were ok, you, your dh, and Marigold's mum. (((((HUGS)))))

I am so very, very, glad that all of you came out of that in one piece.

[sophinisba]

*hugs you* What a terrible time, Dreamflower. I'm so glad you came through it all right.

[lilith-lessfair.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm a fellow Gulf Coast resident (I see you've moved, but I suspect a good many friends and memories are still there) here via rhapsody11, though I call New Orleans home. I read through your Katrina diary, and, wow, it did bring back some incredible memories. We had evacuated to Houston for the storm, but I remember watching her make landfall and being, desperately worried through we were for our city, very deeply concerned for what was happening where you were. She'll stay with me for a very long time, I think. I am amazed that you were able to keep a diary. I began not long after we returned to the city, and it's something I don't think I'd ever post -- the thoughts in it continue to rub me raw, so I am glad that someone was willing to do that, so people were able to have that perspective on those events.

I am glad you and your family are well.

[lilybaggins.livejournal.com]

*hugs you*

I have to say that I feel sick when I think about Katrina, because I don't think the government has even come close to doing what must be done to help people recover. It's still a sad, sad situation.