Family from Violet, Louisiana finds refuge in Rogers City

A family of four from Violet, Louisiana who lost their home and all of their belongings in Hurricane Katrina has taken up temporary residence with relatives in Rogers City. Scott and Stacy Myers and their two children, Breanna, 10, and Nickolas, four, are living with Stacy?s mother, Elaine Mayer, on West Woodward Avenue. The Myerses evacuated their home in St. Bernard Parish, southeast of New Orleans, more than 24 hours before Katrina hit land August 28, and haven?t been back since. ?We?ve lost everything,? Scott said, ?but at the same time I don?t feel like the people I see on TV. We didn?t have to be rescued. We didn?t go through the hurricane. We didn?t actually see or feel the flooding. So I feel more like a fire victim. It?s a little bit different but we are still feeling the same emotions.? They stayed in a hotel for a couple of days in Shreveport, Louisiana and after hearing their home of eight years had been filled with 10 feet of water, they decided they better find somewhere else to go.

?I TOLD THEM if they went back and they didn?t have a house that they could come here,? said Mayer. ?It?s wonderful knowing they are safe.? The American Red Cross has been providing assistance to help the family purchase food, clothing, and other needed items. ?Our approach is to get people together and get their lives started again,? said Ed Lamb, local Red Cross volunteer. They were spending part of their time Monday searching for a three-bedroom home to rent in the Rogers City area. The family might live here until December.

?It?s absolutely great to be able to spend time with my grandchildren, but it is a very small house and we are not equipped for another family,? said Mayer. An old pop-up trailer has been set up in Mayer?s backyard for some of the family members to stay in since their arrival last Thursday. ?This is a great little community,? said Stacy. ?I can?t believe the support of the people. Everybody, they are about as shocked as we are. They come up and give you a hug and ask if there is anything they can do. You definitely feel welcome, and we definitely feel like we made the right choice.?

THE MYERSES decided to book a hotel room August 26, three days before Katrina scored a near-direct hit on New Orleans, packing category winds of almost five. Scott and Stacy didn?t make the decision to evacuate until Saturday. ?I left work early that night, came home, packed up and got on the road as early as we could on Sunday morning. By that time they made it a mandatory evacuation for where we lived,? said Stacy. An eight-hour trip took them 13 hours in traffic that was moving not much more than five m.p.h. They avoided the main highway, which was like a parking lot, Stacy said. She said, without hesitation, the thought of staying never crossed their minds.

?No. Not with this one,? she said. ?This hurricane, it didn?t do one thing that they thought it was going to do, from the very beginning. We both had a very bad feeling about this storm.? It?s not the first time the Myerses have had to evacuate; it has happened two to three times a year. ?It?s just a way of life,? said Stacy. ?With this one, we really paid attention more than we usually do, sooner.? The path of destruction was well beyond anything the couple had ever imagined. ?It?s still not real,? she said.

IN THE aftermath of the storm, much of the destruction came when sections of levies gave way. The family lived three blocks from one. ?You don?t really realize it?s a levy,? Stacy said. ?It looks more like a big hill with the trees growing. The only way you know what it is is when you watch the boats going down the Mississippi River and they look like they are on top of the trees.? The Myerses were told that the levies would only withstand a Category 3 hurricane. Scott said local officials attempted to get the walls built higher, but were not successful. Stacy said, ?It was such a beautiful area where we were. People ask,?why would you ever want to live there?? It?s been 30 years since a hurricane came through. Even the last one, Betsy, didn?t flood.?

She said it?s been difficult thinking about what was lost in Violet, but her home was just a building which can be replaced. ?We?re saved and that?s what we are trying to focus on. We all left early enough. We?re alive and we got out.? The questions about what happened to friends still remain. Some have moved to locations across the country, but the Myerses wonder what has happened to people who stayed. Stacy remembers talking to customers at the restaurant where she worked, which had been owned by three generations of one family. She heard them say they were not going to leave and has since learned the restaurant was wiped out.

Stacy sees their faces and wonders where they are. Are they alive, or will they be added to the death toll? They already are fearful that one neighbor did not leave Violet, ?but there is no way of finding out.?

FOR NOW, the Myerses are trying to cling to continuity and some kind of routine for their lives in Rogers City. Breanna has been enrolled at Rogers City Elementary School and has Paula Pietsch as her fifth grade teacher, while Nickolas was at the Montessori school Monday. ?They?ve got to get back to school and playing with kids,? said Scott. ?When you are undecided, you don?t know how many weeks it is going to be and you know how things can extend. Next thing you know the kids have been out of school for a month.? Scott is not out of work as his company will continue to pay his salary until he gets back on his feet. He probably will be flown to locations in the U.S. to work for a week or two at a time. ?My company is s

upporting it,? said Scott. ?So I don?t think we are in as bad of a situation as a lot of people you see down there that lost their businesses and that was their only source of income. For me it?s been okay.? The Red Cross also tried to ease the impact on the children by giving them care packages put together by the RCHS Natural Helpers. ?The Natural Helpers had a project last year where they put together several boxes for children of disasters, which have stuffed animals, toys, crayons and other items,? said Lamb. ?They (Breanna and Nickolas) were absolutely thrilled. They went through it all like it was Christmas.?

It was a moment of distraction that was as welcome as a calm breeze.

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