My wife, son, daughter, and I initially evacuated to Pontchatoula. My wife\'s cousin has a big house on a nice piece of land, and he allowed most of his relatives from the New Orleans area to stay with him. Monday morning after the storm passed, the men staying there all went out to clear the road in front of the house. We took chainsaws and tractors and cut and moved the fallen trees out of the way. The power lines going to the house were knocked down by fallen trees. This would have been a big problem because the water heater was electric and the water pump for the well was electric. We had a generator that put out enough electricity to run the lights, refrigerator, water pump, and the television. \r\n\r\nAfter a few days of watching the news, taking freezing cold showers which felt pretty good for about the first 2 seconds because there wasn\'t enough power for air conditioning, and trying to find anything to do to keep myself sane we decided to get everything together and go stay with my family in Houston. My dad was staying in a small hotel on Highway 6. The first thing I did in Houston was take a hot shower. It felt great. There were a few other evacuees staying there, but not long. Cars came and went at the hotel. People were busy going about there normal everyday routines as if nothing was going on. It was weird to know that six hours away was chaos and uncertainty while everywhere else life went on. \r\n\r\nWe returned to Metairie a few days later to find our house only suffered wind damage, which was still pretty extensive. The shingles that blew off the roof allowed rain water to get into the house and ruin the laminate flooring in the kitchen and living room. The carpet in all three bedrooms had to be replaced as well. I\'m glad it\'s all over with now.\r\n