ALL ABOUT HURRICANES
(From the Author)
Being
born in Texas and raised in Louisiana has given me a double dose
of Southern perspective on hurricanes.
In 2005, when Katrina struck, there wasn't a huge sigh of relief after her exit from anyone who knew about all the times Louisiana had dodged storm bullets. We waited and waited, after Katrina, wondering what would happen if there was a breach in the levee system. The answer soon came.
Not one month later, parts of Louisiana were devastated again when Hurricane Rita came barreling through. She also targeted Southeast Texas. Because of Katrina, and the fear factor, I believe thousands of lives were saved following the massive evacuation for Rita.
The back-to-back bad girls, both Category Three storms, broke the hearts of people who lived and loved in places like Holly Beach, Louisiana, Lake Charles, Louisiana, Beaumont, Orange, Woodville and Jasper, all in Texas, and of course, New Orleans.
I am a Louisiana gal, with a foot in two states, having spent more than half my life proud of the Lone Star. I was born in Houston, married there, had my first child in Houston, and dodged my first hurricane, as a baby, in the Space City. Houston. 1961. Hurricane Carla. She was a killer.
Over the years, I've heard a multitude of hurricane stories, some of them while riding the waves at Galveston and Surf Side Beach. Others while a safe distance away, growing up and graduating high school in Shreveport, Louisiana. With friends and family, still in the path of future hurricanes, my heart has always fluttered along the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast.
With much respect for Katrina and Rita. Water and wood.
Devastation in New Orleans
THANK YOU LAW ENFORCEMENT / FIRST RESPONDERS
So
often we see and hear about bad cops, corrupt officials and volunteers
who steal from the very people they pretend to help. I have been
blessed, on this journey, to meet amazing law enforcement -- good
men and women, as well as firefighters, government employees, deputies,
police officers and honest, hardworking volunteers. I am humbled
by them all. Here's one of the good guys -- Tyler County Sheriff
Jessie Wolf.
Books by Joyce King are available at Barnes &
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Jefferson County Sheriff Mitch Woods with President George W. Bush
Meet Ordinary People from Rita
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for a larger view
CHAPTER 5
Mitch Woods
Find out what he whispered to George W. Bush!
CHAPTER 20
Meet Shelton Boyce
Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Beaumont
CHAPTER 21
Julie Burleigh
Julie Burleigh in Cameron Parish with volunteers from Kansas City!
CHAPTER 22
Meet Cedric Hebert
The Best Kind of Cajun -- Cedric Hebert Packing Heat in the Marshes
Director of the National Hurricane Center
"2005 was a record-breaking year for hurricanes, and for the political
blame game left amidst all the devastation and heartache. Stitched
into the fabric of crippling disaster is a resiliency that defines
ordinary survivors who first responded to evacuees from one storm
before fleeing another not one month later. FORGOTTEN
HURRICANE: Conversations With My Neighbors is the healing
medicine of dialogue that gives Rita her proper respect. Joyce King
is a native Texan with deep Louisiana roots and she has survived hurricanes
since childhood. Her tender journey to make certain Rita will not
be forgotten is provocative and inspirational. Ms. King's down-to-earth
recount of events brings back my memories of the aftermath of Andrew
in South Florida, but probably all of us can relate to surviving "our
storm."
Jerry D. Jarrell, former director
National Hurricane Center, Miami
DO NOT HARM MY CHILDREN
Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church was destroyed by Hurricane Rita. The statue out front was spared -- It says "Do Not Harm My Children" and was erected in 1963 for Hurricanes Audrey and Carla.
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