Devastation. Loss.
Hope.
As a native Louisianaian my heart aches for those who have lost everything they own in what's being called "The Great Flood of Louisiana. "
For three days straight, clouds poured over two feet of rain in some spots. Described to be like a tropical depression, said clouds were from a storm that has caused well over twenty thousand people to be rescued and over ten people dead.
Some say they never received warning, never received evacuation notices, and never received the hope of saving their homes.
The governor declared a state of emergency the first day of the storms, although the federal government did not make a major disaster declaration until almost a week later.
Along with great rainfall, a levee in Ascension Parish on the Amite river was overtaken by floodwaters. The levee wasn't breached or broken, the water was just so high it topped the levee in historical flooding. This caused many more homes to be destroyed.
Louisianians struggled with the fact that this was happening to our beloved state. Some could have never fathomed that flooding would happen to them, but it did.
But we still pushed on.
If you do not know any one in Louisiana, allow me to enlighten you on how Louisianaians are.
Born, raised, or from out-of-state, you feel southern hospitality. Don't get me wrong, some people can be harsh in Louisiana, but that's because we were raised tough and don't always take easily to newcomers. Although, when disaster strikes, we band together like we've known one another our whole lives.
That's what happened this time around. Over 100 people with boats were lined along the highway, another 100 opened their homes to people who'd lost everything, and others prayed like they'd never prayed before.
Something called the Cajun Navy came to be in the midst of all of the chaos. They were the heroes of the whole story, rescuing people who otherwise would have died.
With over 10 people found to be dead, the toll kept rising. Over 30,000 homes and vehicles were destroyed. Not only were people stuck atop their roofs and vehicles, people were stuck on the highway as well. Many had no food or drink in their vehicles. People with babies, families trying to escape the flood, and even 18-wheeler drivers who were on their delivery routes. In fact, if it wasn't for an 18-wheeler man opening his truck to feed the people fruits and vegetables, the death toll would be higher. I don't know if that man was from Louisiana, but I'd gladly consider him to be. People like that man are what make this state great and whole.
You see, in Louisiana we're fighters. We may talk funny and act all 'redneck,' but when it comes down to one of our own being in trouble, we fight for them too. We're humans helping humans.
People from across the country have donated items to different affiliations for victims. They've never met us and probably don't even know our names, but we are so gracious for those people. Without the ones out there who open their arms with anything they can give we would not become survivors. This flood is almost as great as Katrina and we made it through that. We made it through Katrina because people helped people. Louisiana is a surviving state, and we intend to stay that way.
We put our game face on from the morning until the evening. We do not lose hope. We do not abandon each other. We do not give up.
We are Louisiana.
And we will survive.
