Late in the summer of 2005, more than 80 percent of New Orleans was under water. Over 90,000 square miles of city, suburb, and country was soaking wet and in shambles, all thanks to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Damaging over $81 billion in property and perhaps crippling the Louisiana economy in excess of $150 billion, the hurricane was the costliest in American history - though it hardly matched the ferocity of other great storms - and I can personally attest to its financial devastation, since I lived it.
Though my family managed to evacuate before Katrina hit, like most of Katrina's victims, we lost almost all our earthly possessions to the storm. Despite the financial and military support given to New Orleans and other besieged areas, neither the government nor nonprofit organizations could reverse the clock and give us back our home, replete with its comfort and safety. Largely, we were responsible for repairing our house, repurchasing necessary items, and generally rebuilding our lives. Unfortunately for us, it was a long and painful learning process - but for others living in hurricane zones, it doesn't have to be.
Learning About Hurricanes
Being a Southwesterner at heart, when I first moved to New Orleans, I knew only whispers about tropical storms and hurricanes - and it seemed they mostly attacked the East Coast rather than anywhere in the Gulf. My wife knew just as little, coming from Minnesota. Though we endured a few rough storms in our first few years in New Orleans, we found no reasons to be overly fearful about hurricanes. As a result, none of our property was protected when Katrina came.
We watched Hurricane Katrina rage while holed up in a friend's home in Baton Rouge. We saw our neighborhood upended and submerged in water; we saw our workplaces torn apart and our favorite places drowned. When we finally journeyed south to see what was left of our home, we finally learned about the devastation hurricanes can cause.
In typical hurricanes, wind is the primary cause of damage. As in tornadoes, haboobs, and other massive natural events, winds upwards of 75 miles per hour - or 175 miles per hour, in the case of Katrina - grab nearly any object, from a bicycle to a two-story home, and whirl them through the air. In New Orleans, for months after Katrina, we saw buildings resting upside down, trees impaling structures, and cars and trucks buried in the ground. Our own home had its roof torn off, with not even a shingle left behind.
However, the waters brought into New Orleans by Katrina were at least as destructive as the wind. Everyone knows the stories of the poorly built and ill-maintained levees. Thanks in no small part to the city's poor preparations, floods carried away whatever items, structures, and living beings that the wind finally let down. Though our home wasn't as submerged as other areas - some of which were more than 20 feet underwater - the extensive water damage indoors made the space uninhabitable. It was terrifying: We had no place to live, almost no belongings to our name, and not nearly enough resources to start again.
Recovering After a Hurricane
We persevered. The first thing we did was start salvaging those items we could. No items were untouched by the storm, but amidst the soggy books and splintered furniture, we found items to reuse or sell. Our boat was entirely unusable, having suffered damage from debris, and given the economic state of the city, we couldn't sell it - but we could did manage to donate the vessel for a sizable tax refund. A laughably small emergency fund, a meager amount gained through sales of valuables, contributions from friends and family, and the small amount granted to us from home insurance helped us rebuild our lives.
Others in our area sought help from disaster relief groups, including the Red Cross, and other New Orleans residents - who lacked even as little as we had after the storm - relied upon federal aid, which provided temporary housing and medical care. There also exist grants to help any individual or family after any natural disaster; FEMA's website offers a full list of their programs as well as good advice for those suffering.
As soon as our house was livable again - as soon as we were stable enough to feel somewhat like our pre-Katrina selves - we began preparing for the next hurricane. We added galvanized sheeting to our roof; we installed storm shutters; we latched down every structure in our yard and kept our plants and trees neatly trimmed. Now, our cars contain emergency essentials, like flashlights and first aid kits, and I've learned the basics of operating a HAM radio. There is no "typical" hurricane survival story - especially not when it comes to Katrina - but nearly everyone who lived through such a disaster will tell you this: You can never be too prepared if you hope to survive and thrive after it's over.
