In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Katrina survivors face familiar challenges
5th September 2017 · 0 Comments
By Kelly Parker
Contributing Writer
Blue Tarp. FEMA Numbers. Road Home. Army Corp of Engineers. Refugees—all part of what became the Katrina lexicon in New Orleans.
Naturally, all things relative to the catastrophic event resurfaced with the 12th anniversary on the horizon. However, to heighten emotions, locals witnessed Hurricane Harvey wreaking unprecedented havoc on neighbors to the west in the Texas cities of Houston, Corpus Christi, Rockport and surrounding areas; all to climax on the exact anniversary date. Many current residents of the affected areas are native New Orleanians who relocated after fleeing Katrina.
As many as 250,000 evacuees relocated to Houston temporarily and about 40,000 stayed permanently, according to a Houston Chronicle report.
The unceasing downpours turned freeways into lakes and roads into rivers, leading experts to call Harvey a once in a 500-year event.
Residents, of all races and ages, found themselves wading through often waist deep water, trapped on rooftops and airlifted by Coast Guard helicopters. “Hou Orleanians,” as they often call themselves, as a result, found themselves back in time.
“The feelings of helplessness and uncertainties, the thoughts of ‘What if this,’ ‘What if that’ came rushing back as if Katrina happened last week,” said Diamon Brown-Rush, who resides in Rosenburg, TX, just twenty minutes southwest of Houston.
“I honestly thought that I had dealt with the feelings that I had regarding Hurricane Katrina until this past Saturday morning; my emotions have been all over the place,” she admits. “I’ve cried a lot the past days.”
The former New Orleans 6th Ward resident originally went to Mississippi after Katrina but came to Rosenberg in November of 2005. Her grandmother had come to Rosenberg, and Brown-Rush followed.
Luckily, her apartment complex was spared from serious flooding, but the strip mall in the next block flooded as did the trailer park across the highway from where she, her two sons and young foster daughter live.
“The helpless look on people’s faces, it was too familiar,” she told The Louisiana Weekly.
New Orleans native Trenice Taylor also found herself overcome with emotions. “All I can think about is Katrina. I had family that had to be rescued off the rooftop in (New Orleans) East. All of my family lost everything. I had family in the Lower 9th Ward that lost everything. House: gone… everything.”
Taylor, who lives near the Spring, TX area, constantly monitored developments, as she feared she wouldn’t have a way to get her and her family out of harm’s way.
“I’ve cried,” she says. “Even though I’m not experiencing what a lot of people are, it’s still hard to deal with. We have been inside since Friday, and I can’t go back to work until maybe Tuesday.”
Taylor was set to come home to New Orleans for the holiday weekend, but plans were altered, due to Harvey. “I was looking forward to coming down there, and now I can’t.”
“What we know about trauma from research is that the experience of trauma literally rewires the nervous system and changes the way an individual perceives the world,” explains Molly Martinez, Ph.D., Provisionally Licensed Psychologist. “Bessel van der Kolk, Ph.D., has researched trauma extensively for decades and one finding from his research is that when memories of traumatic experiences are triggered, they are often experienced as occurring in the present, not as a part of the past, as most memories are. The similarities between Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey are striking. For those who relocated to Houston from New Orleans after Katrina; they are not only re-experiencing the devastation neurologically and emotionally, they are actually dealing with a catastrophe for a second time and the current crisis with Hurricane Harvey will take many people back to the time of Hurricane Katrina just by turning on the news.”
Diamon Brown- Rush had to take a break from it all during the weekend, feeling the need to disengage.
“Saturday night I turned the television off,” she said. “I needed to mentally disconnect from seeing what was happening again.”
While it can become overwhelming for many, the event has compelled others to become involved, both in Houston and in New Orleans.
La Shonda Anderson, now a resident of the Westchase district in Houston, sought the help of Houstonians back in 2005. During the wake of Hurricane Harvey, she found herself in the role of social media citizen journalist. Thanks to Facebook, she was a vital source, providing up-to-date information for neighbors while checking in on individuals in her hometown.
“I’m just trying to help from the keyboard,” she says modestly. “I’m tagging people who are seeking info if I don’t have it directly. “I’m praying for everybody; just doing what I hope someone would do for me.”
Back in 2005, Anderson, who resided in New Orleans East at the time, was the only driver in her car with her then eight-year-old daughter, disabled dad, senior mother and brother, venturing some 20-plus hours to Houston.
“My Houston friend Emily adopted us when our children met first week after Katrina. She is flooding for the third time in two years,” she told The Louisiana Weekly.
In New Orleans, many residents are stepping up to help the city that provided shelter and empathy 12 years ago. A plethora of donation and relief campaigns were set in motion as the situation in the neighboring state became dire.
“Taking action in any way can help a person achieve a sense of control over otherwise out-of-control circumstances,” Molly Martinez stated. “Making donations, giving blood, prayer, offering assistance or housing, and attending candlelight vigils are all steps that people can take to make a positive impact on a terrible situation.”
Even when things appeared bleak, and emotions naturally exacerbated because of memories of Katrina, Anderson’s perspective remained an optimistic one.
“You never know what life is going to throw at you,” she said. “I didn’t know I’d be living in Houston going through another hurricane without my big brother. My mom passed, and (my) daughter is now away in college. Didn’t know I’d meet and have some of the most beautiful people in my life either. I’m grateful for all the ups and downs, curve balls and moments, good and bad. I’m tougher, smarter, more resilient, proud, better and changed. I’m Blessed! We will survive Harvey like we survived Katrina. And we’ll just keep getting better.”
This article originally published in the September 4, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
