Janey

Damage to my home during Katrina. It still haunts me 10 years later. I did not evacuate until 3-4 days after the storm. I'm below poverty level and used all my funds to send my children to safety. My foot was broken and my friend's son, Adam, who lived with us stayed with me. We were accosted by looters and had to use his gun and my machete to protect our supplies. I will never forget the smell of death. Bodies. Pets. Dead rats were everywhere. People with machine guns in helicopters shooting at us. It was hell. Adam is a mechanic and got an old truck running to evac. As we were leaving, a telephone pole was falling across the road and we had to race under it. On the way to Tennessee we gave away the water and food we had "liberated" when ours was taken at gunpoint, to everyone who had none. People were kind on the way. Every Popeyes smelled like home and gave us all we could eat free. People north of us gave us money to survive. I was in shock and could barely speak for a week. 3-4 weeks after the storm I had a job in Memphis paying 30k, but I came home a few years later and now I work as a Target cashier... even with a degree. I'm again at poverty level.