Two Saturdays ago, I, along with my mom and some of our family friends, took a very quick trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to visit some family friends over there. I wanted to see first hand as much of what is going on down there after the flooding.
From much of what I saw on the streets as we passed by, everything seems to have gotten back to normal. Public transportation on their normal routes, establishments are running business as usual and so on.
The Sad Truth
But behind all those appearances there are still some sad truths remaining. Apartments around the city have no vacancies since many families are still displaced. Car rental companies have ran out of vehicles to rent out since the so many cars were damaged from being submerged in the water. Many residents had to rent vehicles from companies located as far as Texas, Mississippi, and central Louisiana. Carpet and wood floorings, couches, beds, and other furnitures and appliances that got soaked in flood water formed several miles of rubble piles on sidewalks.
It might take a while for the residents to financially recover. From what I have gathered beforehand, it has been about five centuries since the area has been flooded due to constant raining. I'm talking about raining that lasted for days that was not related to any hurricane. In that case, many residents did not avail flood insurance when they bought their homes. It would be difficult for some of them since the expenses from fixing their homes would come from their own pocket. Also, from what I have heard, many auto insurance companies have promised to help replace the vehicles of their clients, but the clients have to restart payment for their vehicle. That's tough luck mostly for those who were almost done with their car payments.
If you are visiting the city around this time, I guarantee you that you will miss a couple of turns solely because you would be in awe about what happened there. You will get lost following the trail of rubble piled on the sidewalks.
The Good Side
Now, I am going to tell all of you what are the most important things that I saw on my visit.
On the good side, not all houses in the city got flooded inside since their houses are elevated from the streets. Since their houses were fine, they returned easily after they were evacuated.
How about those LSU Tiger's fans? Well, they filled the hotels around the area. The game tickets for their game against Mississippi State seems to be sold out and the seats in the stadium are all filled up! They came to their city to cheer on their team after everything that happened there in Baton Rouge.
The morale of the people is on its height! And they are continually helping each other. Not just them from the surrounding area, the whole state of Louisiana is behind each other.
This is the Louisiana that I know and have seen, very resilient to whatever comes our way and we help each other in times of trouble. I count these as part of the blessings of living in Louisiana!
So, on behalf of all Louisianians in every part of our state, I want to express our gratitude to those who have sent their help to those affected by the flood in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas. There is still much more that needs to be done, but be we are #LouisianaStrong and we will survive!
