E-mail this pageTrish Melton England, History Graduate '03, Weathering Katrina
In the three years since I graduated as a history major at SUNY Plattsburgh, my life has been turned completely upside down and gone in the most opposite direction I ever thought possible. When I graduated, I was like every other college graduate- bright eyed and ready to take on the future. Little did I know what that was going to entail.
I was quite proud of myself when I was hired by KBR-Halliburton to work overseas in Iraq. Sure, it didn't have much to do with a history degree, but all of those skills I had learned when I was reading those books and articles, preparing project presentations and writing paper after paper helped shape me into an educated prepared adult. I spent a year in Kuwait City, Kuwait doing payroll, working 84 hours a week most of the time. Amazingly, there was still time to see the country and the culture. It was the kind of experience you just can't get out of a book or from a class. What I learned there helped me to understand the history that is being made over there in the Middle East as we speak.
Since working over there, I became a wife and a mother and just as I was happily settling down into those roles, disaster struck.
Hurricane Katrina has been called the worst national disaster this country has ever seen. I don't think any words of mine can express just how much of a disaster it truly was and still is as the aftermath still continues a year later. Hurricane Camille was supposedly the worst hurricane to hit the gulf coast. Here in Pascagoula Mississippi, the damage to my in-law's house and property during Camille was minimal and so, like many others, we were all passive and did not believe Katrina would cause too much damage inland where we were. I remember August 28th, 2005 when I went to the local grocery store to pick up whatever supplies I could. Local people were saying in the check-out lines that the news was making a big deal out of nothing. Most of us were out of the flood zones and since it hadn't flooded before, they didn't see why the need to evacuate. My husband, 7 month old baby daughter, and I stayed at his parents' house. I fell asleep in the recliner in the living room only to wake up to howling winds, no air conditioning, and no power. Within hours, we watched the water come in- slowly at first. It seeped in under the doors and so we lifted the baby in her playpen up onto the dining room table. Before long, it was a foot high and it looked like the patio doors were going to bust, so we moved to the bed in the back bedroom. While I played with the baby, the water continued to rise and soon enough, my husband was opening the attic and telling me to get up there with the baby.
I watched from the attic door as the toilets gushed like geysers into the flood water. I watched it rise over foot in half an hour. The wind kept beating against the roof and I can remember looking around in that attic wondering how we were going to get out. My husband brought a life vest that Kimmy had used days before in the pool outside and told me to put it on her. It was then that I realized how serious the situation had become. We were in contact with family members as long as the cell phone towers allowed.
Before, my father had joked asking how long I could tread water- there were no more jokes- only prayers. By some miracle, my husband's nephew drove his boat to the back bedroom window. By this time, the water was up to my chest- close to 4 feet high. I handed him the baby and climbed out the bedroom window and got onto his boat with my husband. We must have been out in that water for an hour or more. I can still remember the swaying of the boat and how much my arms ached holding onto a heavy little baby who had no idea what was going on. I remember my husband and his nephew getting out of the boat, walking alongside the boat to steer it for miles until we could get to dry land. It didn't click with me at the time that there were probably alligators and down power lines and debris that could have hurt any one of us at anytime. But all we cared about was getting some place dry.
When we finally got to a point in the road where the water was only a foot or so deep, we got out and trekked through the water towards the highway where we could see some cars- the Mississippi Press newspaper taking pictures. I can remember watching my husband caring our baby in one arm above the water and her diaper bag in the other. The baby and I got into their car with other elderly victims and my husband stayed behind with his nephew and the boat telling me to find him. I ended up at the local hospital with the baby and had no idea where I was going to find my husband.
Hours later I was able to locate him at the hotel next door. It seemed like everyone in town was trying to get a room there. Having a 7 month old baby pushed us to the top of the list and we were able to get a room- with no power or water, but at least it was a dry place to sleep. The lines for water and ice were long. It was miserably hot. And there was nothing we could do about it. The baby had developed a rash from being in the attic with the insulation and I just couldn't keep her clean with limited water that we had to ration for drinking and bathing. Days later, we were able to borrow a vehicle and see what had happened to our house. Because our house was elevated a couple of feet, we only had a couple of feet of water damage.
But whether it was a foot or 6 feet, water damage was water damage. Mold would form on everything. I lost hundreds of books, drawers and drawers of clothes, baby clothes, baby toys, every piece of furniture we owned, appliances, and so much more. At that point it didn't matter. We were alive and that was what mattered. As luck would have it, I had put away most of my pictures up in the back of my closet so that if wind had broken a window, nothing would be ruined- flooding had never crossed my mind.
Essentially, we had to start all over and we had no idea where to start.
After about a week without power or running water, the baby and I made our way to the Mobile airport by the help of my husband's family and we went to stay in upstate NY with my family until things could be straightened out. While in New York, I told my story dozens of times. Donations came from clubs and organizations and local people alike. We were able to get started on rebuilding our lives because of that and we'll always be forever grateful for their help. I wasn't there a month when my husband called telling me he had a FEMA trailer. So, in October 2005, my baby and I got back on another plane and came back to the aftermath. In a month's time, not much had improved other than power being restored. But there was a sense of commaradery that I have never seen before. Neighbors were helping neighbors. People who didn't know you lended their help. FEMA trailer parks started to be created. FEMA trailers were in nearly everyone's yard. We drove down by the beach. There was nothing where there had been beautful grandious houses. Debris was everywhere. Signs threatening to shoot looters were everywhere. It looked like a warzone from a movie.
Nearly a year later, there are still people living in FEMA trailers and FEMA trailer parks. Many people cannot afford to rebuild. So many houses still haven't been gutted. The beach is still littered with debris- but you can see the start of rebuilding. Here we are a year later and my baby isn't much of a baby but a walking talking toddler. We moved out of our FEMA trailer in May- 9 months after the storm. Although we're in our house, we still don't have sinks in the bathrooms or kitchen countertops. There's still a lot of little things we need to replace. But we count ourselves lucky.
The past year has been the most difficult year I have lived. But if anything, it has taught me that I'm stronger than I ever thought I was. It has brought me closer to my family. It has made me appreciate the little things in life so much more. Now, I'm working as an accounting clerk for a family-owned company here in Mississippi. Surprisingly, I never took an accounting class in college and the only math class I ever took was statistics. But I'd like to think I'm doing well here. And although my life has been put on hold for awhile now, it's starting to get better. I'm in the process of taking my Praxis tests so that I can go back to school to use that history degree I earned at SUNY Plattsburgh and teach.
Trisha Melton England