When the city began to evacuate I was at work with another coworker, we had a sporting event to go to at UNO Lake Front Arena. It was about 9am when I got the call that the West Bank was begining to evacuate, I called my husband, who is in the Navy , and asked him to pack me a bag, (later I would wish I had been more specific as to what to pack), grab our cat and a few other things. I wasn\\\\\\\'t too worried about it I figured we would get a weekend off of work and be back Monday or Tuesday. They ended the triathalon at UNO and we were told they aren\\\\\\\'t going to have the second race tomorrow because the police department told them they wouldn\\\\\\\'t be able to control traffic and the Levy was going to be closed. I called my boss and told her we were going to end our shift early most people we saw were headed to the I-10 so there wouldn\\\\\\\'t be anyone to sample. I was very thankful Ryan had packed me a bag because by the time I got on the road traffic was starting to back up. I was lucky because I only spent 30 minutes in traffic, I also took I-55 to I-12 which on 55 there was no traffic...at that point! We went to Baton Rouge and stayed the night at my sisters house. While Ryan was evacuating he got a phone call from a good friend that his friends mom passed away and they were going to have the funeral on Sunday. Ryan and I made plans to go to Houston early Sunday morning, since a lot of people were still evacuating we wanted to miss traffic. That is where we witnessed every thing going on in New Orleans, my heart sunk when the levee\\\\\\\'s broke, it was almost like a countdown 3-2-1 and as soon as I saw what happened all I could think about was who I hadn\\\\\\\'t talked to before I left. One of my good friends called me late Saturday night and when she found out I was in Baton Rouge she asked \\\\\\\"why?\\\\\\\" I told her to turn on the news but she didn\\\\\\\'t seem too worried about it. I tried to call her but couldn\\\\\\\'t get through. When we realized we wouldn\\\\\\\'t be going back home for a while we headed to Ft. Worth, TX where my inlaws live. We were very blessed to have such a supporting family who offered there home to us. While in Texas the only station that had a lot of Katrina information was CNN, but from what I understand there was a lot more going on then what they showed on cameras. I heard about the guys who were shooting at the helicopters and at first I was extremely angry but eventually when I got back to New Orleans someone told me the reason they were shooting at the helicopters was that they were trying to get their attention because they needed to be rescued and no one would come for them. Every story I\\\\\\\'ve heard has another story that completely contradicts the other one. That\\\\\\\'s why it\\\\\\\'s hard to tell what is fact and what is fiction. The one thing I wish the news would have showed is the destruction in areas other then the French Quarter and the 9th ward. I know these areas were hit hard but so was Metairie, Kenner, Marrero. In fact I have a friend who lives in Marrero and he told me they are on Jefferson Parish pumping stations, and since no one was there to turn them on he didn\\\\\\\'t get rain or flood he got SEWERAGE...it\\\\\\\'s things like this that people don\\\\\\\'t understand the entire New Orleans from Kenner to the West Bank then all the way down the I-10East. Every thing was affected. I hope residents that plan on coming back even if it\\\\\\\'s only for a weekend realize it\\\\\\\'s not the same here. You are lucky to find a gas station open past 9pm. I finally got home after about 6 weeks of being gone and I didn\\\\\\\'t know what to expect but I was in tears driving along the I-10 it looked third world, every thing was grown over, you saw random signs, cars, childrens toys all along the road. It gets better every day but we need our people to come home to make this city complete. I know a lot of ya\\\\\\\'ll don\\\\\\\'t have any thing to come home to but if we let them take our historical neighborhoods away from us and let them build high rises and casinos where some families have lived for generations then New Orleans will lose a lot of culture, history, and uniqueness. I pray that we can ban together and help eachother re-build New Orleans. I am willing to help a neighbor fix a roof, clean out houses, or rebuild altogether. I hope this has helped someone, and if it was only one person then I will feel great! Thank you for reading my message.