Twentieth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

​Greetings to my Northbrook friends. I hope that I find you all in good spirits. It’s a blessing and a privilege to be with you today. How times fly! This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. On August 29th this horrific storm devastated the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coastlines. As many of you already know, I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and lived the majority of my life there. Being natives of the deep south, we generally stayed prepared for the powerful storms. Tucked away out of sight in the closet with the non-perishable food and supplies.
 
At the time, I was employed at the Fairmont Hotel and Resorts. We were offered rooms for family members if they needed a place to shelter during the storm. Of course, we would have to work, but our families would be safe from flooding and possible injuries. That sounded fair-- rooms for everyone! Early Sunday morning things began to change. Katrina was getting stronger. The winds had reached 175 miles per hour as it churned through the gulf. For years I had been tracking storms and had never seen one as powerful. We began to receive calls from family members saying they were changing their plans. Everyone had decided to leave the city for higher ground elsewhere. New Orleans was often called a fishbowl because it sits below sea level. I turned on the news and the governor of Louisiana urged people to evacuate the city. She advised everyone to travel east because of the congested traffic going west.
 
For the first time, Patricia and I decided to leave New Orleans due to a storm. We packed some things and headed east. She asked, “Where are we going?” and I replied: “Florida I suppose.” Traffic was frightening. It was nearly at a standstill. Cars were overheating and running out of gas. We managed to reach Mobile, Alabama where we checked into a motel. It took us nine hours to get there. The storm finally came ashore near Biloxi, Mississippi the following day. We were still in its path, but we bunkered down safely. Later we learned that New Orleans was underwater, and we had no place to go. We were unaware of the whereabouts of other family members. Cell towers were down everywhere, and communication practically didn’t exist. After a week in a motel with no place to go, we decided to look for a place to settle. We found an apartment and planned on moving soon. Suddenly God answered our prayers. We received a phone call from a relative that everyone had met at a shelter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and they were safe. They planned on heading to Atlanta where a nephew had made his home. So that is how we came to Georgia. We later returned to our hometown and found almost everything destroyed by the storm. Some people decided to rebuild while others relocated to other parts of Louisiana. Patricia and I decided to return to Georgia and make it our home.
 
Hurricane Katrina was a difficult and challenging time in my life. God can use painful experiences such as these for future blessings. I found mine here at Northbrook!
 
Blessings to all!
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In Christ,

Jerome Young
Facilities Manager