5 years ago...
 

5 years ago today Cameron, Lake Charles, Sulphur Beaumont, Orange, and surrounding areas changed forever...Hurricane Rita unleased her fury upon us...but despite the odds, the people of these areas pulled together and put things back together with a sense of pride...remember those lost and never forget our intestinal fortitude which kept us going through bad times...

amen! hopefully it never happens again

I was living in southern fla at the time

Delcambre also, all of our quiet little town was under water. My house had between 3.5 and 4 feet of water in it and my truck had water over the dashboard. I definately pray that something like Rita or Ike never happens again. I would gladly pick up branches out of the yard over ripping out flooring and cutting walls anytime!

yep abeville delcambre and those areas got the flooding!!

It's been 5 years already....I still remember standing in my living room that was full of patio furniture, barbeque pits and anything else I could fit inside my home, and giving my wife a hug while she had tears in her eyes telling her, I just pray that we have a home to come back too..

God blessed my family with no damage to our home.:amen:

Isn't it such an eerie feeling leaving everything behind not knowing what you'll come back too.

I agree 100%.

We had started building a new house in July of 05'. The new house and the old house had no real issue to speak of.

It was a long ride back from Wascom Tx. wondering what we had left though.

Remember it all too well, Inlaws spent the better part of a MONTH at my house in Lafayette. Drove my MIL back to Sulphur 2 days after to survey the damage and it looked like a war zone. Also got to host several of wife's family members at one time or another. I don't leave for storms due to my employment but send family north ahead of storms.

Rita
 

Katrina,Katrina,Katrina. That's all you hear in the media. It's like Rita is forgotten sometimes. Granted a more populated area than Cameron and Vermillion, but we got just as much if not more damage in this area from Rita. Just wish more attention could be given to Rita and make people remember this storm's devastation also. Maybe it's because the people in the western parishes are more resilient and pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps.

I think that's exactly it. We (my family and I) took care of EVERYTHING ourselves in 2 houses that flooded for Rita then again for Ike. My grandparents house was full of marsh mud and grass because just about all the windows on the south side of the house got blown out from the surge. My house just had the rising water so it was a little muddy but no grass. We ripped everything off of the walls and the floors in both houses, fixed anything that needed to be fixed then redid the walls and the floors. I completely remodeled my house while it was already messed up. We did both of these houses in about a year and a half! And guess what...When Ike hit we had to do the same thing again at my grandparents but only ripped everything out of my house because I was moving in with my wife so I wasn't putting any money into it. Now we did all of this with only me, my mom, dad & brother, my grandparents, my uncle, and my nanny & uncle. Every now and then we had a few people come and help us but it wasn't too often because everyone had to tend to doing the same at their own houses so it was tough to get help. I spent many days waiting in line to get dinners that Red Cross was providing or to get ice and water or MRE's from the National Guard. It was by far the toughest time I've ever had. Some weeks I would sleep at 3 or 4 different places not to overstay my welcome. Definately some rough times but I think everyone that was affected by Rita and Ike definately came out alot stronger both mentally and physically. We also all saw how much people are willing to help out a fellow neighbor in their greatest time of need.

"We also all saw how much people are willing to help out a fellow neighbor in their greatest time of need."
And that my friends is what makes south louisiana the great place it is!

Bogalusa was demolished by Katrina, yet, all you heard about and continue to hear about is the flooding in New Orleans. So, I know exactly where you're coming from.

so true salty...MS got slammed but of course our darling media threw them in the trash...the same type of folks over there took care of their business though...amazing.

It's like the 'good behavior' isn't reported. Only the idiots and people that didn't want to do for themselves were the ones on TV. The media will only show negative things, not the positive.

The pic of the fire down on the left is from Carlyss after landfall. It appeared in national media. Can't remember which magazine it was in.

http://cryptome.quintessenz.org/mirr...01/rita-01.htm

We (the FD) evacuated to Allen Parish when winds reached about 45 mph sustained. Made for a very long night. Had no idea what we would come back to. Next to impossible to get down any roads after the storm because of trees and power lines. Generator would not carry the AC at the station. It was HOT. The months of August and Sept 2005 are a huge blur in my mind.

Portions of our parish were without power for 6-8 weeks and, yes, it was HOT!

Power
 

The fire station and the water department tower is on the "repair first" feeds and it was just over 2 weeks before we got power there. I believe it was about 8 weeks before everyone in Calcasieu got power back.

I hope I am retired before we get another one.

I was born and raised in Cameron. I lived there for 36 years.
When I first went back, I couldn't find anything. All the land marks were gone, except for the curves in the road. I couldn't find anyone's yard on a straight away road.
Most of the trees, fences, barns, houses... everything was GONE.
My little sisters house disappeared, my dads house filled up with water. My older sisters house, which was once mine, was left mostly unharmed except for rain water that came in from the roof after all the vents and shingles were blown off.
I helped my dad clean out his house, put in new windows and doors, elect., a/c and sheet rock. When Ike filled her up again, I said no more. He was on his own. He tore it down.
When we first started cleaning out his house, I had 7 others helping me. Next day I had 2 others with me. After that, I was on my own. No elect., no running water, no food, no store, no gas/diesel, nothing but Nat'l Guard who came by to visit now and then. They gave me MRE's. I ate one for lunch and one for supper every day. After a few days, they told me I was supposed to eat only one per day. They had like 5000 calories in each one and were fortified with carbs to keep your energy up. I was eating 10K calories per day.
Every day on my days off, I drove down there with a generator, water, food(which I heated up on the dashboard), soap, extra clothes, tractor and a big first aid kit. No cell phone reception for the first 3 weeks. If you went down at day light or stayed after dark, mosquitoes would eat you alive.
I told all my family that I would help rebuild, but never clean up a house again. That killed me.
You couldn't listen to country music while down there, it was too depressing. I had hard rock blaring all day to keep my spirits up and keep me going.
My dad just had prostate surgery, I had a bad back, everyone else was working or had their own agenda due to the hurricane.
I have a couple of DVD's with pictures right after the roads were cleared. I will see if I can load them on Youtube.