Personal Narrative: How Hurricane Katrina Changed My Life

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast, destroying lives, leveling homes and leaving thousands of survivors with the same story: We lost everything. Experiencing the loss and devastation of a natural disaster taught me the appreciation of life and how to start over and move forward without dwelling on the past.

Hurricane Katrina, one of the most destructive hurricanes to whirl through the southern states of America in 2005, is probably one of the worst natural disasters of the United States in the 21st century. Damages from the storm were estimated at more than $100 billion . People living in the southern states fled north to reach safety from the storm after hearing about it being a category five hurricane on the news a few mornings before Katrina hit the shore. Authorities were doing what they were supposed to be doing, telling everyone to seek shelter, board up windows, head north and prepare for the storm. Everything in the beginning appeared to be just another

My mom was at choir rehearsal at that time. When she walked in, I told her that the Lord had said to move back home. Being a woman of God, and without any hesitation, my Mom said it would be okay.

Hurricane Katrina was a historical natural disaster that affected millions of people. Televised nationally, as the damage was revealed, seemed surreal and the lives lost along with property damages is heartbreaking. I have family in New Orleans, whom were affected; however, no lives were lost. The power of water should never be underestimated, as many feared damage from the wind, and did not consider the water. After the levees broke, supply was immediately affected. By the oil refining being inoperable for several weeks, gasoline was scarce (Carden, 2010, p. 82). First responders, medical providers, and emergency rescue teams were needed instantly. As people were trapped in their homes, on top of their roofs, and in vehicles, desperation

One day,I was waiting on my owner .Finally,Baylee came home and let me out.I started playing and all of a sudden a storm flooded.At that second,I was swept away by the flood water.I climed onto a near by roof.Then,I heard a walkie talkie and I looked around and I saw a lady.The lady was coming to get me.She said “hi’’ and read my tag “Bay Bay come with me.’’so I went with her and she said’’once we get to the docs you can eat and then we can find your owner!’’I barked loudly, she laughed. as we arrived I saw millions of people. I never knew that many people lived in New Orleans I thought . I heard people saying’’that I was glad to surived hurricane katrina!’’Then I reconized a face it was my owners face I heard her yelling “Bay Bay’’Bay

Hurricane Katrina made its impact on numerous families in so numerous ways. A very close friend lives on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain which is the north or New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast she and her mother were visiting family and friends in Texas. Her father stayed behind in New Orleans. It was during that time that Katrina hit and he had not evacuated in order to stay and ride it out. Most of the damage was done in New Orleans; however, he only encountered power outages and wind damage but the lasting effect it had on that area and the people who live there lasted a lot longer.

Many people were injured and dead by the end of Katrina. Katrina claimed more than 1,800 lives of the New Orleans people. Most of the New Orleanians fled before the storm hit, but nearly 100,000 still remained in the city (Zullo VIII). Longtime friends Donald Colletti and Jimmy Pitre both decided to wait out the storm at their houses the day of Katrina. Suddenly the wind picked up speed and the levees broke, and into their houses rushed water. Donald being smart had his boat ready with everything he needed to survive, so he took Jimmy and Jimmy’s mother and went to the rescue shelter. Jimmy’s mom unfortunately died en route to the shelter. That didn't stop the two of them from rescuing others. They made a promise that they weren't going to let anyone else die, and they definitely fulfilled that promise. They had a hard and devastating experience with Katrina; but they were strong and brave to all of those who were weak and unable to survive by themselves (Zullo 1-20).

On the morning of August 29, 2005, the rain had already been falling for hours as Katrina churned closer to land (Hurricane Katrina, n.d.). Before making landfall, Hurricane Katrina was officially downgraded to a category 3 storm, with wind speeds in excess of 111 miles per hour, and the storm surge reaching the shore approached 30 feet, and quickly overwhelmed the unstable levees (Amadeo,

“It was not until September 2 that an effective military presence was established in the city and National Guard troops mobilized to distribute food and water. The evacuation of hurricane victims continued, and crews began to rebuild the breached levees. On September 6, local police estimated that there were fewer than 10,000 residents left in New Orleans. As the recovery began, dozens of countries contributed funds and supplies, and Canada and Mexico

I do apologize for the confusion; the picture was just silly (my new shirt says, “Home is where the dog is”). Conformation was auto corrected to confirmation by my phone, November 9th is a Conformation event, located in Decatur, Bob and I are hoping to attend to observe and I am waiting for Diane to respond with the best time for me to call.

In Hawaii,there was a huge storm coming.I asked him"what about everyone else?".He told me"they have to stay here you are the youngest and need to go".I was sad and nervous like a puppy who just adopted.If that's what I had to do to make my family happy I was going to do it.I packed my bags and said"goodbye" to my family.

Although it wasn’t that something great we had a house to stay in. My mom had to work all day so with my help I had to take half responsibility for care of the house and mostly of my new born little brother. I had to learn to

We got Back to my flooded house and starting stripping the floors and cleaning up with a little help from the Red Cross Association. We lost everything but it was no choice we had to bounce back. Everyday after school and work me and my dad would work on that house to get it done. We stayed in my grandma's house for about a year so we can fix our house and we got it done just me and my dad within a

Once we got there I noticed that the whole neighborhood was also damaged from the flood. There were many people outside of their homes with a look of dread on their faces. “Where are these people going to go? How are they going to recover from all of this?”. I saw people coming in and out of their homes dumping their now worthless belongings on their yard. There were also many volunteers helping others in the neighborhood too. As we were walking towards my friends house, I saw that they’ve already been cleaning the inside of the house. So we went straight to work. From dumping all of their belongings on their yard, to destroying the soaked drywalls inside of their house, we finished after a good hour and a half. My friend thanked us and rewarded us with food and beverages. “I appreciate all of you for helping me clean my house out. This couldn’t have been done any quicker without all of you guys here helping us. Thank you”. As we all entered our vehicles covered in filth and sweat, we left our friends house. I was staring at the sunset and thought about how all these occurrences happen for a reason. How all these natural

No one could ever understand what someone else goes through in life. Being used and abused almost every day drags people down and tears them apart, making them feel worthless and no needed. Everyday waking up to arguing and fighting wondering when it will stop, just hoping and praying days will get better. Mom and dad were never together, my siblings and I had to fend for ourselves. Many days I woke up crying, wishing things were better for me and my siblings. I was super young when this all started. In 2006 At age 6 it was Ashleigh my twin, my mom and myself, then one day my mom met this guy named Chris, Chris and my mom dated for a good bit, then they got married. Chris taught my sister and I to play softball, we then tried out and he became