What were you doing the morning of August 29, 2005?

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Shar

I was sitting in a beautiful home in Natchez, Mississippi with my elderly relatives, five friends and all our animals and hoping for news from my hometown.. Pearl River, Louisiana which got hit directly by the eye of the storm. I was praying that at least my house would still be standing. The elec went out in Natchez as well and we spent days trying to find oxygen tanks for the elderly. And I kept trying to contact relatives to see if they had made it ok. It was the most horrible experience of my life.. especially when we got news that New Orleans was flooding so terribly and that people were dying. My first trip back home was excruciating as we could barely find gasoline for the cars. And to see my home still standing amidst all the carnage was a blessing for real. The preceding days were filled with watching the weather reports and when we realized that we were going to get a direct hit, I started gathering up belongings, helping my elderly relatives to load up and get all the cars gassed up. I had to prepare the other animals that we couldn't take: the birds, the chickens, the other cats. I could go on and on.

Leafy

I was

-Sleeping
-Ducking under the door to see stuff fly by the house
-Running inside cause a tornado knocked down a MASSIVE tree
-Trying to do a puzzle with no light on
-Watching WLOX for live hurricane updates
-Jumping 5 feet in the air when a tree hit the roof right above my head
-Wondering when it was going to be over

Mmmyeah, that sums it up.

Yip Yip

Being miserable in Baton Rouge

Roma

Evacuating! No way I was staying with a category 5 hurricane on the way.

Southern Lady Anita

We evacuated to Texas on Sunday morning. It took us 10 hours to get to Jefferson, TX. With all the others leaving too, the roads were crazy. On the way I checked the radar on my cell phone and saw the huge hurricane just about to hit shore. Very scary site. I live on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain in Mandeville. That is 24 miles North of New Orleans. We had a lot of damage on the North Shore too. We just didn't get any media coverage. Katrina was a huge storm, so a lot of states were affected. Slidell which is about 10 miles east of Mandeville was like a war zone. The eye passed over Slidell. We weren't able to return until 2 weeks later. We were displaced and had to move in with my daughter for 3 months until we found an apartment in Abita Springs. We moved back to Mandeville last November.

meeee

When I heard Katrina was going to hit I thought it was going to be a "regular" hurricane...I guess I was wrong...I live in Baton Rouge which is like a hour from New Orleans...The morning it hit I slept in late...my mom came in my room pulling my cover off me to tell me the tree that was in our front had just fell on the house...luckily it did not come through the house...while the hurricane was going on wind and rain everywhere we were standing in the front yard moving branches and stuff...my neighbor came over to help then my mom went and picked up my uncles (yes during the hurricane) we were the only people on the highway...we all jus sat in the living room waiting to see what was going to happen next...of course our lights were out...we went the first night without lights...while my dad was called in to work (to drop oil off in New Orleans)...when he came back he was sick for a few hours and told us about the scene in New Orleans and the things he had witnessed...then we went and picked up my uncle's generator for a few hours while my later on that day we went and purchased our own generator from home depot...we plugged up the refrigerator, television, blender and a light...our lights were out for 5 days...when the lights were finally back on we had to throw all the food away that was in the deep freezer...the winds from Katrina also picked up our gazebo that we had in the backyard which we eventually threw away...it was just crazy...then it took us a week to here from our family in New Orleans...then the stores started closing early...more fights were going on at schools...because of the 225 vs. 504 or Baton Rouge vs. New Orleans...<<<as the news would say...even more shootings than before were happening in Baton Rouge as a result of the 225 vs. 504...but eventually the foolishness slowed down a little...

Est.1992

Sitting there while watching my parents argue on whether to leave for the storm or not and where we going if we did leave

Thank God we left

NOLA guy

I was in Baghdad, Iraq and watched the Katrina coverage on TV. Really didn't sleep for about 4 days. Wasn't sure what had happened to my home (in Lakeview) until Tuesday (August 30th) when the Times-Picayune website showed a photo of houses a few blocks from mine - they were submerged to the roof.

Snort

I was at work, keeping a close eye on the news channel that day, I don't live near there but I have family that does.

sippigrrrl

Worrying about my family who live in Long Beach, MS, which is just a couple miles from where the worst part of the wind hit. I lived in Minneapolis, MN at the time, and they all evacuated to my home. I remember them telling me that it took hours to just get (80 miles north) to Hattiesburg. I also remember crying while watching MSNBC showing the helicopter video the next day, showing where Walmart *was* and knowing that my grandfather's house *should have* been in the empty space a couple blocks east. It was the hardest thing for me to tell him that his home was just not there anymore. We all saw NOLA on the news in several feet of water, and Mississippi just gone. Still a nightmare and I didn't even directly experience it. God bless all who did.

Solitaire

It hurts to read some of these responses. I was fortunate. Living about 70 miles due north of New Orleans, we had set the alarm for about 3 am. Got up, watched the weather, listened to the winds and rain increase. I already had some water stored, but I started filling my bathtubs, jugs and anything else that would hold water. I started packing up an ice chest with cold cuts, medicine, and food items. At 6:30 am here, is when our winds started approaching hurricane strength. New Orleans and the Miss. gulf coast were already being hammered. We woke up the kids, got them into the car, loaded the supplies, and drove to a nearby relative's home, who has a much more substantial shelter than my own. The hardest part for me was having to turn out my 2 large dogs into the storm. We sat in that big house's interior den for eight hours, with 12 other people, until the rains let up about 2:30 pm. That was the longest 8 hours of my life. As soon as the weather permitted, my husband and I started walking to our house. The cars were blocked by fallen trees. We walked the two miles home, and both our dogs came running to greet us. They had dug in underneath the crawl space of the house, each dog had dug himself a small trench/hole to lay in, and didn't have a drop of rain on them! Our little house was untouched, too, only one tree across the driveway (instead of across the house). Miraculous!

Edit: A hint to ALL New Orleanians for future evacuations: Avoid the interstates north and west as much as possible. As soon as you get a chance, get off the interstate and follow state highways, or 4 lane US highways. It may be a bit slower driving, but you will encounter MUCH less traffic. Avoid towns and cities along the I-10 or I-59 corridor. My family was lucky enough to drive into a small central Louisiana city that very few people had even considered as an evac. point. There were a few evacuees that had been bussed in from N.O., but only a very small number. Since my home was without electricity for 3 weeks and 11 hours, we stayed away awhile. The people were friendly, helpful, no gas lines, no huge crowds, no fighting. Thank you residents of CenLa.

bren ♥♡♥

We evacuated to Memphis for what we thought would just be a weekend. (We were gone for a month). On Aug. 29 I was glued to my computer, watching local New Orleans news, then spent some time with my family to celebrate my birthday. I will always remember Katrina on my birthday each year. (yes, my house was flooded)

Katrina is a b!t(h

i was sleeping, then my parents woke me up and said we had to leave
17 hours later we were in houston

Amanda K

I was in Houston, TX, we had left the days before.We loaded up our SUV and never looked back. We had a 2 month old son and two dogs. At first I didn't want to leave because we had a false alarm the year prior when Hurricane Ivan came. I'm glad I did leave. It took us 24 hours (no lie) to get to Houston from New Orleans. I was watching CNN the morning of, thinking about all my relatives and friends who stayed behind. I was so worried about them. My life was changed forever.

Don

I evacuated ,with my wife and two cats, to Lafayette, La. the evening before. I woke up early to watch the coverage on TV. Seeing that the storm was a little East of New Orleans, I went to Sprawl Mart and bought a chainsaw. I loaded the wife, two cats, and chainsaw into our Civic, and headed home. We drove around the few roadblocks that were in place, and through some very strong winds to get home. We cut trees out of the road, and used a rope to pull them so we could pass. We left Lafayette at 11:00am, and were home before dark. All was well as our house had little damage, and the roof was intact.
The next morning we began to hear reports of flooding. It became steadily worse, as more flood walls failed. Once again fortune was on my side, as I live on the west bank, and remained high and dry. Many of my friends lost everything. Some have recovered, others never will.
I was just fortunate to live where I do, and to have a wife that will put up with my insanity.

CensorshipYahoo

I was actually in Hong Kong getting my visa so that I could teach in Beijing in September.

Ali

My parents woke me up at 7 in the morning telling me that Katrina became a cat. 5 and that we were evacuating to my aunt's in Florida. We left at 9 in the morning. My aunt's lives 2 1/2 hrs. away from where I live and it took us. The only good thing about my evacuation, one of my best friends at the time was heading in the same direction as me, so when we were at a standstill in traffic, we would roll our windows down and talk or pass food to each other if we were hungry.

puppylove

thats my mums bday so was probably with her while she opened presents...

You Wish U Knew

i was in atlanta, ga having left the day before. just a few days before that i was just hanging with friends not knowing that ti was our last time all hanging together for almost 3 years until last month.

Dee

i was on the phone trying get my family to leave.

East Coast Assassin

i was at work an hour away from new orleans.

Dave87gn

I was at cross country camp in the Poconos

tคאl๏г รฬเŦt เร ๓คђ ฬเŦє!

I was in Baton Rouge scared to death. I was at my cousins house in the LSU area, and the neighbor next to us, had just seen somebody in there house. So we were freaked out. I was also, trying to calm my cousin down because her dad (my uncle) is a sheriff for one of the parishes and had to stay, and so did her mom (my aunt). She was freaked out. Then we felt the storm come up to Baton Rouge, the power went out, so we lit a lot of candles (My mom use to own a candle company so we had lots). Then we just slept, and did what people did before there was tv, radios, or games. Absolutely nothing.

revo2814

resting in knoxville, tn. from the Mississippi coast........Know one in there right mind stays for a CAT 5..... I came back home to the devastation the next day. The weather channel was not reporting the mississippi coast at that time.....thought it was ok......man was I wrong

Denise

snoring

jugghayd

Eating meatballs at my friend's place in Baton Rouge.

Theels

School probably

has.santos4444

i was on my bed sleeping and dreaming about go to eat shrimp