Hurricane Katrina

It has been over 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31, 536,000 seconds since Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast region leaving a trail of sheer devestation and utter destruction in its wake. The storm which had a fairy princess name was not a thing of beauty, but looked very much like a beast.

The storm ravaged cities in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. From Mobile, Biloxi, Waveland, and Pass Christian to the city of New Orleans the destruction became very visible and something for the world to see.

For days I like many others sat watching the television coverage of this killer storm. I could not believe what I was seeing. When the earlier predictions said that the storm could make a direct hit on the city of New Orleans I wondered why the city hadn't been evacuated. I didn't know how many poeople were in New Orleans at the time, but I figured if I had heard of it, it must be a major city. While many thought that they'd dogged a bullet, the reality was that they hadn't. Instead they bit the bullet but it knicked more than their teeth, it also knicked the levees. The eventual levee breach allowed flood waters to cover over 80% of the city of New Orleans, but that flooding affected 100% of those living in the region.

In the days after the storm we watched in shock and in horror as a humanitarian crisis reminescent of the third world unfolded on American soil. If we wanted a nightmare we need only look as far as our Gulf Coast region.

I remember being worried about people I didn't know, because thankfully I have no relatives that I know of in that area.

In the days after Hurricane Katrina I prayed for those who were affected.

I corresponded with people who had been affected, and tried my best to be a shoulder in a distance, and to lend an encouraging word.

I did what I could to make sure people recognized that New Orleans with its unique history of blended cultures represents America, and our own mixed heritage.

My mind often harkens back to dispatches I read on my show last December. Words from people who know first hand what it meant to be affected by the storm.

Ashley writing of her first trip back, Amanda Kay writing of her connection to the city.

Their words served as a reminder to me of the human faces on a story of impossible suffering.

Ashley wrote:
I’m blessed to call Houston home and to have grown up here, but my life was enriched by living in New Orleans for the brief amount of time that I did. My life was enriched by being able to go there twice a year every year as a kid to visit my family. My life was enriched by the people that called New Orleans home. Those memories will never fade.

Amanda Kay wrote:
So I remain grateful because people that I know have had loved ones to die (not in New Orleans, but due to complications from surviving the flood), some have lost everything they worked for, but they are still upbeat. That's that New Orleans spirit that makes it so unique. See, down here you party during a funeral. You second line. That's what's going on now. So I was saddened for a minute, but the instant I went back down there my faith was renewed. There's no reason to be sad when there's so much to look forward too. I have a Mardi Gras to get ready for. LOL! I have a school to help rebuild. I have to lend a helping hand to the 7th Ward. Katrina means cleansing or pure and that's what she did.

Their faith that there would be a brighter day is what helps keep me encouraged!