This weeks forum is by far the saddest real life even that I could openly talk about since this was so close to home. Being that this could have very while been me living in New Orleans on Sunday, August 28, 2005 and being a frail older senior adult with poor health and little mobility I would say my prayers. First Hurricane Katrine was one of the most devastating events that I've lived to witness myself besides Sept 11. Not only did it destroy homes, but it destroyed lives.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were displaced from their homes, and experts estimate that Katrina caused more than $100 billion in damage. The storm itself did a great deal of damage, but its aftermath was catastrophic. Levee breaches led to massive flooding, and many people charged that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the people affected by the storm.
New Orleans had about half the city that actually lies above sea level, its average elevation is about six feet below sea level-and it is completely surrounded by water.Before the storm, officials worried that surge could overtop some levees and cause short-term flooding, but no one predicted levees might collapse below design height. Neighborhoods that sat below sea level, many of which housed the city's poorest and most vulnerable people, were at great risk of flooding.
At this very point me being an older person I should have been helped to safety. However, being that I'm win the lower class of people, what could I have really done to save my self from the rising waters? To be honest this was the saddest moment of my life. All I could do is wait. See I'm what you call the forgotten. As I laid in my bed all I could do is wait for help. See I was be bedridden and I couldn't get around alone. I tried calling, but the phones were down. I even hit my life call button and that didn't work either. At this point the water had not reached inside the home. So as I laid in the bed, still awaiting someone to come after two hours I knew then I was n my last hours of life.
I could hear the sound of the water pushing though homes and knocking trees down! So I began to pray. I prayed more in that hour than I prayed in my 87 years on earth. I prayed for those like myself the forgotten and I even forgave those who forgotten about me. I prayed for the children that were left behind. As, I continue to pray the water began to coming into the house. At this point not only could I hear the water, but I could smell it. The smell was of something I've never smelt before. As, I continued to lay there, my bed began to move closer and closer to the window. At this point I could see people in the water outside drowning and crying for help.
I laid in my bed and prayed for them and then I closed my eyes. I told myself Hattie you've live one hell of a life and its time to go home to Joe. As, I laid there the smell of the ocean water mixed with all the things it had collected on its way before reaching my house. I had finally reached my bed. The ice cold water on my skin didn't even bother me as I laid there with my eye close. Still I thought for a moment that help would come, but it didn't and on that very cold rainy day of August 25, 2008 I took my last breath here on earth. Its crazy how one moment you're here and the next moment you're forgotten.
Misha,
History.com Staff. (2009). Hurricane Katrina.
https://www.history.com/topics/hurricane-katrina