Another season passed, another season beginning. It has been a very busy summer here in the Virginia edition of the Charest family. We started with refinancing our house the evening before leaving on a three week trip to China. Upon our return home; the rest of the summer was a blur of recovering from our vacation trip, work, boating, really hot weather, earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding rainstorms, and several groups of family visitors.
Today is the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It’s two years after what is now being called the greatest natural disaster to ever hit the U.S.
While Winnie and I were among the lucky ones, August 29, 2005 was still traumatic. In fact, I can honestly state it’s taken this long for me to personally sort things out and take stock of how our lives have changed these past two years.
A Preview of Things to Come?
We’ve been having what local news stations are referring to as “nor’easter.” Loosely translated, this appears to mean a major storm affecting the entire North Eastern part of the United States. Had I not read this in the local newspapers, I’d of thought we were brushed by a hurricane even larger than Katrina.
My story is dedicated to the tens of thousands of people who were impacted so much worse, and lost so much more, than Winnie and I.
In this narrative I have attempted to describe the personal impact hurricane Katrina had on me and my immediate friends and family. I start with the weeks leading up to the storm, describe the day it hit, and then the long year after attempting to rebuild my home and my life.
Some photos are included in this story, for more please go to our Katrina Photo Gallery. This hurricane was a major Life-Altering Event for everyone who experienced it. This article and the small collection of photos are published in the hopes that people not directly involved will appreciate the significance of this event.
Today is the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. On this one-year anniversary, everyone here is nervously watching another potential hurricane move north hoping it hits someplace where FEMA parks don’t exist.
I’ve been trying to put into diary the gauntlet of emotions I’ve experienced these past months in dealing with the aftermath of Katrina. Over the past few days, reading about people being evicted from FEMA hotel housing, and reading DKossian comments along the themes of “Katrina Welfare Queens,” I decided I needed to write this all out.
From today’s edition of our local Knight-Ridder newspaper The Sun Herald comes this timely front page editorial MISSISSIPPI’S INVISIBLE COAST
The editorial’s lede:
My wife and I have been busy these past few weeks trying to close in our house with insulation, drywall, and new windows before cold weather sets in. I realize for most people reading this, 60 degree weather doesn’t seem very cold, but down here on the coast it does mean winter. Warm weather is the trade-off we have for putting up with hurricanes – which until two months ago seemed like a decent trade.
I’m picking up some rather interesting feelers concerning the pending economic impact from hurricane Katrina. None of my feelers is good news for the Gulf Coast, and I do believe there will be a negative national impact, despite what bu$hco is claiming.
Katrina Report – Democrats Screw Up Again
One on-going commentary I read is that the Democratic Party never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Well, with the on-going cleanup and relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina, I see the Democratic party missing an opportunity.
Hurricane Katrina Diaries Opinions & Commentary
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