When my family and I found out that Hurricane Katrina would be hitting the Gulf Coast, we fled to different parts of the country. Some to Atlanta and Virginia, others to Texas and Arkansas. My immediate family and I, however; took refuge in the Hilton Hotel in downtown New Orleans. Sitting on the edge of the bed on the sixteenth floor, I could feel the hotel swaying in the wind as the eye of the storm hovered over the city. After it passed, we heard on the radio of a man in one of the nearby rooms that the levees had been breached. He explained that there was a few hours until the wate flooded the area. We swiftly packed our things, and in four or five tripshad everything ready and packed in the cars. My cousin, Rebecca, had family in Montgomery, Alabama, so that\'s where we headed. Everyone there was very kind to us, making us feel welcome and at home. But it was not home, New Orleans was. We stayed there for almost a year. The reasoning for such a long stay was because our house in Lakeview had gotten 13 ft. of water in it, obviously uninhabitable. We finally found a home in Metairie around the ninth month of living in Alabama, and left without hesitation. The people of Montgomery had been so friendly to us, but we had to go home. Little did we realize how different things would be.