Quote:
Originally Posted by gasdad
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.
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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.