I happened to be in georgia at the time katrina hit. Born and raised in st bernard parish, i had tons of family including my parents and siblings still there. My mom, neice and older sister evacuated that sunday but my dad stayed behind. My middle sister,husband and two kids evacuated to texas that saturday. I watched in painful tears as katrina ripped through and when i heard that st.bernard was completely underwater that is all i could think about was my dad. I could not get in touch with him and then soon after that even though my mom was in birmingham alabama, i lost contact with her. The only person I could reach was my sister whom was in texas. I was in utter disbelief and shock. I sat on the bed in my room and cried and wrenched my hands, i was going through grief because i thought my family was dead. There was no contact with anyone, nobody knew anything and the news was just so hard to watch. The only thing i kept seeing was water and helicopters evacuating people of the roof tops. It was not until thursday when I heard from my dad. He had got on a barge in st bernard and calle me from a bus that was on the way to lake charles. I finally heard from my mom that night and let her know that my cousins called and wanted to pick her up. She was stranded in picayune. I was hoarse from screaming and crying but managed to tell her my dad was in lake charles. I know she was tired but when she got to jackson,la my cousins drove her all the way to lake charles to rescue my father. I will never forget the way my parents looked when i saw them just 2 weeks after katrina hit. Their faces looked like they had been through war and my father was so depressed. He had witnessed so many horrors while stranded. He mentioned that it was worse than when he was in vietnam. I don\'t think they will ever be the same. Honestly i don\'t think anyone who went through this will ever be the same.