For many, a double-whammy
Posted: Thursday, September 22 at 04:08 pm CT by msnbc.com
LACOMBE, La. -- The blog baton is about to be handed off to our colleagues in Houston, but we wanted to leave readers with a sense of the frustration and heartache caused first by Katrina and now by Rita.
Shelley Stiaes will share her temporary trailer home in Lacombe, La., with her son and her parents, who had evacuated from the area before Hurricane Katrina to Houston, which they now flee in advance of Hurricane Rita. (David Friedman / MSNBC.com)
This story started during our interview yesterday with Shelley Stiaes, the assistant manager of the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Center. She’d gotten a cell call while we were driving around and it turned out to be her mom phoning from a suburb outside Houston.
You see, mom evacuated from Slidell, northeast of New Orleans, just before Katrina hit and headed with her husband and their grandson, Shelley’s son, to Houston, where they have friends.
The reason for the call: They wanted out of Houston and wondered if they could stay with Shelley.
“How much room do you have in the trailer,” Hyacienth Stiaes asked her daughter.
“Not very much,” Shelley replied. “It’ll be crowded. We may be a little on top of each other but come on.”
Shelley used to have a real house in New Orleans but it’s still under a foot of water and she’s living in a trailer at the southeast Louisiana headquarters of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
We called Shelley this morning to see if they’d made it. They left the Houston area at 3.30 a.m. for what normally would be a five-hour trip, but had only made it to Beaumont, Texas, by 7 a.m.
We called Shelley’s mom around 10 a.m. and they hadn’t made it much farther across the Louisiana border since much of that part of the state was joining the Texas evacuees when Rita shifted slightly towards the border.
For a time it seemed like Rita was following them. “Friends in New Orleans said we were bringing the hurricane with us,” she jokes.
They weren’t alone either but in a three-car convoy of 12 people, the rest of whom were heading to friends or family in Mississippi.
As a few raindrops clued us in to Rita’s approach, we waited for the trio at the trailer, where Shelley showed off the tight quarters. “I might go sleep in my office,” she says.
Shelley tells us she hadn’t had time to retrieve anything from her house, not even photos of her 17-year-old son or her parents, because she had been out of town when Katrina evacuations started.
It’s 1 p.m. and the trio still hasn’t arrived. Once they do get here, and assuming Rita doesn’t send enough rain or storm surge to do more damage, Hyacienth will finally get to see the ruins of the home they left behind.
It will be the time to rebuild, but it’s hard to get motivated.
“It’s frustrating, for one thing,” she says, choking up when asked about the Katrina-Rita double-hammy. “And I’m just about to give up.”
Shelley says the hurricanes have created two types of locals: “those with nerves of steel or those with a nervous breakdown.”
Her parents, she adds, are the former.
With this last posting, we hand over reporting duties to Bob Sullivan and Andrew Locke. Our own task, reporting on environmental issues, was hamstrung a bit by Rita as cleanup crews and emergency officials retreated and/or scrambled. But the digression also gave us an opportunity to listen and write about some of the personal tragedies. We know Bob and Andrew will come across and report other stories of frustration and heartache.
A shocking sight from on high
TRACKBACKS
This storm will lose its power when it reaches the coast becoming a group of strong scattered thunderstorms with mild winds and the damage will be minor and many lives will be saved. This message was sent at 3:48pm CST.
Michael Hathman, St. Louis (Sent Sep 22, 2005 4:50:02 PM)
It was great to read of a simple act that means so much. We in central Mississippi have witnessed numerous acts of kindness in the past few weeks. These acts have been from both neighbors and visitors. We have not been able to express our graditude because we have been without electricity, phone (still out)and cable for so long.
Debbie B (Sent Sep 22, 2005 4:54:52 PM)
My heart and pray goes out to all the victims of disaster.
Theresa, Dallas TX (Sent Sep 22, 2005 5:20:16 PM)
Thank you for all of your news and efforts to get the news, glad you stayed safe. It is nice that families can work so well together, wishing more communities could have done the same though. It was so nice to hear all of the stories from the environmental stuff, to animals and people too. Most enjoyable was reading about how total strangers helped others even though they themselves lost all they had, or perhaps had no idea what was left of their homes.
Thank you again David and Miguel. Assalamu Alaikum (Peace be upon you)- everyone.
The Harlow's, San Diego, California (Sent Sep 22, 2005 5:21:44 PM)
It is painful to watch all those people fleeing the hurricaine zones on outbound lanes bulging with traffic, when the inbound lanes are empty. Why don't they open up the inbound lanes to outbound traffic, saving one inbound lane for inbound.
Doesn't that make sense?
Pat W. , Boston, Mass. (Sent Sep 22, 2005 5:27:03 PM)
Thank you, Mike and Andrew, Kari and Jim, Miguel and David. Your msnbc katrina blog has kept me informed about wha't happening in the lives of the people along the Gulf Coast. I wrote to you about 2 weeks ago about signing up to come help with relief efforts (through the Red Cross.) I'm heading to the Gulf Coast on Sunday, Sept. 25 and would appreciate hearing from anyone in the area of Bayou La Batre, Alabama or Biloxi, Mississippi. I'm traveling to these 2 locations with Kitty who is a Sister of Mercy. We are coming to help in any way we can in addition to bringing needed supplies. We would appreciate hearing what is needed at this point in time. Meanwhile, the local Red Cross office did call me - after I had made my committment to Kitty. 50 volunteers from my southern Maryland area will be going to Texas. All of my friends, relatives, and co-workers here in Maryland want to know what they can do to help (in addition to sending money to the major relief organizations, which most people have done). So please email me at bboward@comcast.net. I would especially appreciate any information about conditions (gas? stores? electricity? phone service? needed supplies?) in the Bayou La Batre (south of Mobile, AL) and Biloxi area.
Barbara Boward
Lusby, Maryland
Barbara Boward (Sent Sep 22, 2005 5:57:01 PM)
These are great stories to read about - what about those that are still missing? You are not touching on those of us who are far away and still can not find loved ones 3 weeks later -
Diana Heins, Sonora, CA (Sent Sep 22, 2005 6:21:21 PM)
The possiblity of the storm going below tropical depression level in that amount of time is nearly impossible. In that amount of space it takes at least a full day for the storm to drop down one catagory. I hope your prediction is true, but the best that will probably happen is a weak Cat. 3. I wish the people in the area the best of luck, and hopefully it will turn into just strong thunderstorms after it makes landfall.
Alex (Sent Sep 22, 2005 10:57:24 PM)
Storms like Rita can be bad but they can be changed by the power of prayer. We need to pray that it will
dissipate and only bring Summer showers. Prayer changes things. The Bible: Mark 11: 23-24
Richard Cantrell (Sent Sep 23, 2005 12:09:24 AM)
I pray that Hurricane Rita will dissipate. Prayer changes things. Read Matt 11-23-24
Richard Cantrell-Rockwall, Tx (Sent Sep 23, 2005 12:27:00 AM)
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