The first time I met Katrina (the hurricane, that is) was when she crossed over the Florida peninsula. At that time, forecasters and many computer models forecasted a Pensacola, FL landfall. I never gave it much thought that it would head my way. As the days went by, the forecast cone inched closer and closer to my town.

Katrina struck Florida as a Category 1 hurricane. As she went over the Gulf, she did 2 unexpected things: she was going WSW and she was exploding. Before long she became a monster Category 5 hurricane. Her place of landfall was getting clearer too: near New Orleans.

At the Wal-Mart where I work, people were coming in getting their supplies. They would buy their water, canned food items, batteries and flashlights. As a general merchandise unloader, I would see these items come off the trucks. I would notice when just before a storm would come, I would see a lot of things such as cases of batteries and pallets of water come in. Days before Katrina, we had a “pallet truck”, a truck with mostly pallets of Great Value water.

I was planning on riding out the storm at my apartment, while my wife was evacuating with her parents. Then, when Wal-Mart was closed, I would go to my parents house and ride out the storm there. My in-laws plans were to go to Alabama (they ended up going west because of the threat of the storm.) But through all this, I was not afraid; however my life was soon to change forever.

Sunday morning my wife left a message on our answering machine saying that they were headed to Texas. Soon afterward my brother called saying that my dad wanted me to evacuate to their house. I packed a few changes of clothes and headed to Gramercy. I felt that this was the right thing to do, because my dad was sick. The traffic headed on US 61 was heavy but was moving good.

I arrived at my parents and helped my brother finish picking up things in the yard. We went inside and started preparing for the worst. At 6:30 am the power went off at my parents. My family watched from inside as Katrina vent her fury upon Gramercy.

The only damage at my parents house was a blown down awning. At 9:30 pm the power came back on at my parents house. I didn’t get the power back at my apartment until a week later. Wal-Mart was closed for a week. They put all the frozen food in trailers behind the store before the storm hit. When they opened them a week later, they reeked real bad.

It is really hard to believe that a storm that comes in and vents her fury for a few hours can devastate an area so badly. As I write this, it has been almost 4 months since the storm hit, and there is high unemployment in the area. Many areas in the Gulf Coast have been completely destroyed. I have seen storms turn away at the last minute. This time we weren’t lucky. If Katrina would have come just 25 miles more west, I probably would have a flooded apartment. Yes, it was bad but it could have easily been worse.

Durel “LaPlaceFF” Millet