Hurricane Rita had a big affect on me and my family. My mother, sister, and me evacuated with lots of other family. Originally we planned to evacuate to Texas A&M, but then we decided to go to the lake instead. But the storm started to curve more towards the beaumont area. The lake is the last place i wanted to be. So we packed up and drove as far North as we could. We ended up in BrightStar Arkansas. We had no where to stay all of the hotels were full. But then a women appraoched us at a gas station and told us that her chuch had a shelter for people and that they were kind of selective about who they were choosing. So when we went to the shelter it was actually their high school skills for living room. They sectioned a huge part of the room just for us, they went and bought new blow up mattresses, blankets, food, and health supplies. We pretty much had it made hot showeres every night, home cooked meals, tv, pretty much everything. Except for me, when we evacuated my dad told my mom and me that he was going to stay at the house, so he could watch over things. I was so scared , i did not know how bad the hurricane was going to be, or if my dad could make it. I constantly called him to see how things were going, and finally when Rita hit land it was a catagory 3. I talked to my dad the whole time it was goin on, because i was so afraid something would happen to him. But after Rita passed the damage was horrible. My family and me went back to Vidor to see the damage, and honestly i have never in my life seen so many horrible things. I witnessed trees completely up rooted, trees that were snapped. You could even see the paths in where tornados had been. I saw houses completly distroid, houses with trees right through them, churches, businesses, and everything else completly ruined. But our house ended up beeing ok. After the hurricane my dad helped older people, and the firefighters clear paths and help people. I have never in my life seen or heard stories that i did. Rita was probably one of the biggest things i have ever been through, and has affected me and my family tremendously.