Lessons from Hurricane Katrina Will Benefit Future Hurricane Victims

When it came to hurricane provisions I was always one of those people who chuckled at the sight of watching shoppers fill their carts with water and canned goods. It would never happen here right? Those people were just paranoid, buying up all the water and making the lines at the gas stations too long at every mention of a hurricane. Then along comes Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina made me eat my words. I had lived in Biloxi, Mississippi since 1999, transplanted from Dayton, Ohio. We didn't deal with hurricanes up North. I naturally thought these people we overreacting. They weren't. Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast. My own belongings were put under 10 feet of water. I lost everything that I ever owned, to include baby pictures of myself, my children, furniture, clothing...and the list goes on. Even after suffering the loss of my belongings, I feel like I can't really complain. I have my life, my children are alive and well and that is all I can ask for. Materials can be replaced, people cannot. Other people weren't so lucky.

Tragically, many people thought they were beyond the reach of Katrina's wrath. They chose to stay and some of them lost their lives. People from my parent's neighborhood were trapped on the roofs of their homes waiting for help. A neighbor relayed her fear through tears. "We were upstairs in our house and could hear the water coming in. We had inflatable toys wrapped around our son and we were saying good-bye. We thought we were going to die." All the while water is washing away all of their furniture, appliances...walls! Down the road the houses were completely gone. Only bare slabs lay where families used to reside.

I can't stress enough, if there is an evacuation in your area, board up your windows and LEAVE! The traffic will be bad and irritating. The gas lines will be long. The benefit of being alive outweighs all of the above annoyances.

Please don't forget about your pets. Many animals were lost due to drowning because their owners left them in the houses that they left behind. They figured they would be right back home; things didn't quite work out that way and pets perished.