Changes

[Chichiguita]

I am endlessly fascinated when listening to folks talk about Katrina and her affects on the area.

What do you think are some of the most striking changes?

How have these changes affected your life?


(affect/effect--sorry not sure which is most appropriate--)

[Conveyor Belt]

The most striking changes is to the landscape. Trees are mangled looking.

The landscape of the coast if forever changed.

[thrillseeker]

ummm....well we lost 5 trees so the affect Katrina caused to me is that we have a hotter house now. We are constantly running the AC in the summer months and when the wind blows my room feels like I have no walls. We had structural damage to the house and have just found out that our brick is loose and we have gaps in several places so most likely we will need to rebrick the whole house.

[Scarlett O'Hara]

I see an amazing change in the schools, traffic, and of course the landscape!

[amanda]

The landscape for sure. As you drive closer to the coast you will notice fewer trees between us and the coast. If we have another Katrina type storm I fear H'Burg and the surrounding areas will suffer more damage because there isn't much between us and the coast now.

[Scarlett O'Hara]

You are so right and what is left is damaged!

[mac]

Housing prices are higher around here.

[Maggie-Doodle]

I think other than the trees and landscaping, Katrina left alot more people in a "do for yourself" mindframe. Anyone who has been around for some of the bigger storms knew not to wait on the government for help...they had the "get up and get it done" attitude..immediately after the storm neighbors started checking on each other and men in the neighborhoods started cranking up chain saws cutting a path on the streets which to move about the areas.

I also believe it made people more aware that when they say "be prepared" for the most part most will...or else you may not eat or have water for a few days.

I really liked the fact that neighbors got out and helped neighbors and in doing so the neighborhoods were like they used to be... family friendly and cordial towards each other...even strangers. Many people actually got to know who their neighbors were.

[endofthetrail]

I think other than the trees and landscaping, Katrina left alot more people in a "do for yourself" mindframe. Anyone who has been around for some of the bigger storms knew not to wait on the government for help...they had the "get up and get it done" attitude..immediately after the storm neighbors started checking on each other and men in the neighborhoods started cranking up chain saws cutting a path on the streets which to move about the areas.

I also believe it made people more aware that when they say "be prepared" for the most part most will...or else you may not eat or have water for a few days.

I really liked the fact that neighbors got out and helped neighbors and in doing so the neighborhoods were like they used to be... family friendly and cordial towards each other...even strangers. Many people actually got to know who their neighbors were.
The reaction of the neighbors and everyone helping really sticks in my mind. Got the neighborhood back up and running pretty quick. Except for the electric which took 3 weeks, but that was expected.:clap::clap:

[amanda]

We have more transplants! :) Neighbors helping neighbors really wasn't a change though - that is something us Southerners always did even before the storm, I just think we had to do it en mass this time.

[Remington]

I know one thing, everyone owns a generator now! But I was driving yesterday and the thought hit me about how it looks now. If you didn't know that a major hurricane came through here, you would never know it...unless you went in the woods and saw all of the trees still down. What I'm talking about is how everyone cleaned up. I had 5 trees down in my yard, but if you looked now, you wouldn't see where they were. You would have to know what it looked like before the storm. But if you looked at a picture before the storm and looked at it now, you would see a noticeable loss of trees. We lost millions of trees, but most areas cleaned up so good that someone who wasn't here before would think this is the way it has always looked. But I will always miss these trees. I used to have a big shade on the house, but now in the summer, the afternoon sun beams on the front of my house and the house heats up a lot more. But one of the big things is the huge increase in the number of people in our area. And I don't see that as a good thing. It's way more crowded than it was but I think some have started to get used to it. I liked it the way it was before....more trees and less people.

[Fish-Bait]

I am endlessly fascinated when listening to folks talk about Katrina and her affects on the area.

What do you think are some of the most striking changes?

How have these changes affected your life?


(affect/effect--sorry not sure which is most appropriate--)

I'm a helluva' lot sicker than I used to be.:cry:
trees will grow back, people will rebuild.....
but I and others are constantly dealing with sinus's and such...it's pathetic.

[Conveyor Belt]

I'm a helluva' lot sicker than I used to be.:cry:
trees will grow back, people will rebuild.....
but I and others are constantly dealing with sinus's and such...it's pathetic.

You need an allergy specialist to check your house out.

[proudtobefrompetal]

As someone who was just on the Coast yesterday, the change is surreal. Hattiesburg and the surrounding areas are back 100% compared to the Coastal areas. They're building condos on the beach side of 90 now towards Beau Rivage. That saddens me. Although the Mississippi Coast is not a beach I particularly love to splash around in, the drive along the water was breath taking. I'm sad to know we're going to lose that.

I never considered having a ready supply of batteries & flashlights until Katrina.

We have I can't even count how many empty (ready to be filled) gas jugs.

We own a weather radio/lantern combo thingy... we own several battery operated lanters. We even have a tent now - God knows it was too hot to sleep indoors.

I think we're just more prepared as a whole. And we definitely know what to expect next time.

[proudtobefrompetal]

Oh - and I have a whole lot more property insurance now!!!

[Hermione]

Petal, I was going to say the same thing -- more prepared. Also more jumpy about bad weather, and we all probably have some residual PTSD.

Chichi, I'm sorry but I can't help it. "Affect" is the verb, except in psychology when it's a noun pronounced AFF-ect. "Effect" is the noun. I always have to stop and think about it myself, though.

[proudtobefrompetal]

I really feel like I'm less jumpy over bad weather. It's like "I made it through Katrina I can take it!"

[birthdaybunnie]

Petal, I was going to say the same thing -- more prepared. Also more jumpy about bad weather, and we all probably have some residual PTSD.

Chichi, I'm sorry but I can't help it. "Affect" is the verb, except in psychology when it's a noun pronounced AFF-ect. "Effect" is the noun. I always have to stop and think about it myself, though.

I was thinking this same thing. Since I work in healthcare, now anytime there is a mention of a remote possibility of a hurricane we are more on standby than we used to be. Just kind of took it for granted that "The Storm" would not really have a noticable impact on us. All in all though, I was very thankful for my job Tuesday morning after Katrina hit us. It was a place to go and have air conditioning and food, and I felt as if I was helping others. If I had to sit at my home all day, I think I would have gone crazy. I just cant imagine how the poor people on the coast felt.

I attribute a lot of deaths post Katrina to the stress that was put on some folks lives during the time of loss. I had a close family member who was never quite the same afterwards and he died in that year unexpectedly.

[countrygirl]

We lost about 40 big trees on our small acreage and most of the ones left are damaged. Has anyone noticed that the trees here now look like the ones on the coast? Many are leaning and they are not filled out as they should be. The noise is also worse. We live about a mile and a half from the interstate, and before, you could only hear the traffic in the am. Now you can hear it all day long because the trees are not there to buffer the noise. That's one of the first things my daughter noticed when she visited from Ohio after the storm.
There are more people here now, and I think more people in outlying areas are shopping here rather than on the coast or in New Orleans making the traffic horrendous. There are many more hispanics here and things are labeled in Spanish as well as English. I remember going to the grocer store not long after they finally opened back up and looking at a roast or a steak and thinking, "I've never seen that cut of meat before and then looking at another one and did not recognize what it was either. I finally realized that it wasn't different, they had just written the cut of meat in Spanish!
I think folks also stockpile MUCH more than they used to, expecially if any kind of storm is on the way. Instead of buying enough water, ect. for 5 or 6 days, we want enough for several weeks. We also realize that if a bad storm comes up, we must depend upon ourselves and especially not depend upon help from the government any time soon. We have also learned to have a GREAT disdain for FEMA, with most of us veiwing them rather as a "joke" more than any thing else.
One last change. In Camille's time, Hattiesburg used to be the place folks evacuated to....When Katrina came, there was not enough room here so they were sent elsewhere. Now, if another big storm headed this way, I know that Hattiesburg would be a place where many folks would evacuate from.....

[Remington]

One thing I know, I had to work harder at work during the months after Katrina than I ever had.....and it is just now starting to get back to normal.