The Water Rising
April 10, 2006

There was always a risk if you lived by the water. The risk of the soothing waters becoming your enemy and take everything. Well, everything seemed fine, until Katrina. Imagine, it is 3a.m. and you are asleep. Everything is quiet except for a soft rumble in the distance. You ignore it and fall back asleep but it keeps getting louder so you get up and go downstairs. Water is rising above the first step. In a panic, you run to the phone and call the police for help; only the best “help” they can give you is to use your mattress as a floatation device. “Some help,” you think to yourself as you run upstairs to get your children out of bed. Before you realize it, you’re in the car driving to get away, but as you get to the highway there are trees blocking the path. A line of cars forms behind the trees and everyone gets out. With the adrenaline formed by the fear of the hurricane, everyone works together to move the tree out of the way. You make it to safety but everything you owned was left behind at the mercy of Katrina.

Days later you arrive to your house after the storm. You find the structure of your house has moved twenty feet from its foundation, someone has claimed your property, the government has not done anything to help, the city wants to build a golf course on your neighborhood, and one of your closest friends is dead. For two months your new home is a tent. No electricity, no plumbing, and you’ve lost everything. The insurance company claimed it was a wave that destroyed your house, not a flood. You need to feed your family and food is the hardest to find. There are organizations handing out water and some food but it doesn’t seem to be enough. Immediately you learn the greater evil was not Katrina but the government that failed you.