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On Saturday, November 5, 2005 my son Marc and I left our
home in West Monroe, Louisiana to take my father-in-law
Julius, aka ???Big Pere??? home to see what had happened to his
own home in Slidell, Louisiana when Katrina hit. We already
knew the house had flooded at least three feet; we also knew
that several trees had hit the house smashing his carport
and car and a few other places. I had some reservations
about taking him home before the entire area and his home
were repaired but we had decided that his uneasiness about
the condition of his home and his lack of being able to see
it needed to be addressed so off we went. (Mickey was
unable to go because he has had back problems and we thought
a long drive might make it worse.)
As we drove across to the Mississippi border and then down
I-55 to the south, I spent most of my time reading since
Marc was driving and Big Pere was sitting in the front
passenger??™s seat. When we reached Hammond, LA and turned
toward Slidell, I put the book down and started looking. At
first I noticed the many trees that were on the ground and
then more and more were that way; some were twisted so
strangely and others were just snapped off like twigs.
Others were even totally uprooted with their huge root base
showing. It was so sad seeing those majestic and graceful
pine trees broken that way and to see the old and very
beautiful oak trees lying on the ground was just too much
for me. The houses also began to catch my eye and I
realized that Katrina was like a cancer that had spread
across my wonderful state. Aas she passed, she destroyed
anything in her path. I have seen it written about cancer,
???Cancer doesn't follow any rules, genetic code or race. It
attacks randomly even the healthiest of men and women. It
doesn't care how much money you have in your bank account,
what you ate for dinner or how old you are. It doesn't even
care if you're a man or a woman. Basically, cancer wants to
be an equal opportunity destroyer. ???I believe that like
cancer, a hurricane is an equal opportunity destroyer!
I saw house after house and so many
businesses that had been destroyed by Katrina. Those homes
belonged to the rich and the poor and none had been avoided
because of the social or economic status of their owners.
The businesses that were destroyed may or may not have been
owned by the wealthier members of our society. The jobs
that were lost due to Katrina were not just jobs held by the
owners; they were jobs lost by people from all walks of
life.
By the time we reached Covington, tears
had begun to flow from my eyes as I realized that each mile
was showing more and more devastation. Each mile meant that
our family??™s homes were more likely to look as bad as or
worse than the ones I was seeing. We had planned to drive
by Big Pere??™s house on our way to my nephew??™s home where we
would be staying for the weekend since it was on the way.
As I looked at the total destruction of so much, I decided
that we would go there first and then go back to the house.
I needed moral support when we went to Big Pere??™s house. I
had seen many pictures of the destruction wreaked by
Katrina; those pictures did not and could not show what we
were seeing.
I also began to take note of something
else that seemed to be ???de rigueur???. The houses seemed to
all be sporting new blue plastic coverings. I found out
later that the blue plastic was the covering that was used
to identify houses with roof damage and also as a cover
until a new roof could be put on. I noticed something else
and am not sure exactly what it means but many of the homes
had huge red crosses on the doors. I believe those red
crosses mean that the home has been inspected and no longer
livable or perhaps has been condemned.
We went on a short tour of Big Pere??™s
home later that afternoon and also to see Julie??™s home. Big
Pere did not have much to say but I could see that he was
thinking. I am not sure we will ever know exactly what he
was thinking of the sites he was seeing. I do know that he
was not pleased, and neither were we. His home is being
repaired and will soon look like new again; the pain in our
hearts won??™t go away as easily as the repair work is fixing
the house.
Everywhere the streets were lined with
huge stacks of debris; both trees that had fallen and been
dragged to the edge of the street to be carried away but
more than that were the huge pieces of people??™s lives. How
invasive Katrina was; in destroying the homes, she exposed
not only the outside of the homes but the most private
things a family might own. On the side of the street, I saw
furniture, mattresses, pots and pan, dishes and items of
clothing. The things I saw that hurt the most were the
picture frames with pictures that had been washed out so
that they were no longer pictures but just blurs on paper
and children??™s toys. To me, the loss of the pictures and
treasured things that a family has kept over the years was
the worst but to a small child, the loss of a treasured toy
meant as much to them as the pictures would to me. The
entire city seemed to be almost a landfill because all of
the items on the sides of the streets were just more trash
to be hauled away and buried. So many memories were in
those heaps of trash, so many treasures were there too. In
one trash heap, I spotted a broken tea pot, some children??™s
toys, and in another mattresses from a bedroom and a lawn
mower. All were items that had belonged to a family and all
were necessary items for that family. They would have to be
replaced or in some cases just lost forever.
One thing I did learn from this trip
was that although Katrina had stolen so much from our family
and from the entire area, we are all so blessed because our
family members are alive and surviving. There is a smile on
people??™s faces in Slidell as they face the huge job of
cleaning up and rebuilding. There is laughter in the voices
of our family as we visit and talk about the ???good old days???
before Katrina and of the things that are planned for the
future. I came home feeling a sense of thankfulness that we
are alive and able to take care of Big Pere until he can go
home. And if he should decide that he would like to live
with us all the time or even for a part of every year, then
we will be blessed that we have him. For right now, we are
blessed to have him here in North Louisiana with us.
?© Doris
B. Fandal
November 7, 2005
** This is a part (Chapter) of a
journal I am making for Big Pere as a part of his journey
from Slidell to here on the night before Katrina. The
journal will also have happy pictures of his activities
while he is here with us. The rest is in the process of
being written and pictures done to illustrate. I have done
this part now while the memory of what I saw is still fresh
in my mind. These words were written about the trip that
began on Nov. 5. More will follow in the next part about
the next day and what we saw and did then. |
