2005 Ghosts of Grand Isle - Arlene, Cindy, Dennis, Katrina, & Rita\r\n\r\nOh Oh.....5 nasty uninvited guests affected Grand Isle!...created \"great escapes\" to Marshall, Lufkin, & Longview, Texas...left early, tourists for a week, then home (missing heavy traffic both ways)...ate at Red Lobster, Olive Garden, & China King restaurants...highly impressed with even small towns handling of storm evacuees...visited a friend on Toledo Bend Lake a few days, & got lucky at Indian casino twice (which paid for 2 trips)...Cindy flooded only a few inches underneath the camp, killed all flowers beneath the steps, but 17 watermelon lived & eaten...our half of GI strewn with debris & garbage...& along came KATRINA with wind driven rain of 145 mph, & a wave surge estimated at 30\'...2 days in TX without any info, as phone service dead in southern Louisiana...called our north LA friend, who said her brother boated to GI & told her the roof & 2 walls were gone (untrue)...filed a claim at Allstate office in Longview...returned to Houma, but phone service bad for 2 months...camp \"Hakuna Matata\" still has a roof, outside walls, & poles...10 windows blown out, including the Gulf side door with frame & storm shutter laying on the \"Poopdeck\" (none of the 25 little window panes broken)...GI flooded again with average of 5 feet, & majority of camps/homes lost everything underneath...extremely heavy debris on 3 sides of camp & up to top of levee...our bathroom 200 yards west on top of levee, but dragged back with our 4-wheeler...3 large sheds with contents gone...riding lawnmower wrecked...new metal garbage bin & flagpole gone...1/3 of levee gone on each side...found luggage with photos inside & an award (found a GI resident with same last name, so will return)...6 nice small boats within a stones throw of camp...all 500 mobile homes & 400 camps/homes gone or damaged...only bridge to mainland heavily damaged, with mainland side 90% GONE - including our favorite restaurant (Cigar\'s)...appealed first insurance adjuster, & 2nd adjuster doubled the estimate...FEMA notified us that we qualified for a trailer, which will help considerably during the rebuilding process...\"Cat\'s\" kids want to rebuild, even with many calling it quits...meteorologist have predicted heavy storm seasons for next 10 years...living in a tiny Houma apt., but handy to everything, & a wee bit crowded...RITA hit a month later with another 5\' of water on GI, plus extremely heavy flooding damage to about 12,000 homes - from the Gulf to the Intracoastal waterway going through Houma...our apt. north of waterway, so we were ok...not much more damage to the GI camp...all furniture & 17 mattresses on ground, & need to be dragged to road for garbage pickup...25,000 evacuees from New Orleans crowded Houma streets, stores, & restaurants, so holidays a mess...we have lots of before & after photos of the camp & surroundings...type in Grand Isle on Internet for links with Katrina photos - including satellite layout of whole island (from left/west end of island, click on 4th box to the right/east for our camp with a blue roof closest to the levee - note a orange roofed motel across the highway from us)...doubt if camp will be rebuilt for summer - maybe 2007...need to get all camp mold out for me to live there with my asthma....doubt if it can be cleaned that good?...sooo, a great adventure, & standing by for next year, with our normal traveling luggage & quick getaway material in the car trunk.