Flooding In Louisiana Brings Back Vivid Memories Of Hurricane Rita

I remember back in September of 2005 this was a month and time that I will not forget. This is where Lake Charles and surrounding areas were affected by Hurricane Rita.  The sad part about it is just a few weeks New Orleans was plummeted by Hurricane Katrina which was heard around the world. I remember all of us here at the station at the time doing various drives to help with donating water and non perishable items to the city and all of those affected.

Who would have known that we would need the same help just a few weeks later. This was the first time that I can say I have actually gone through a hurricane that actually affected us. My family and I left a few days into Hurricane Rita and went to stay with a friend in Shreveport at the time.One thing I remember was how a 4 hour trip literally took us 12 hours to make. There were cars bumper to bumper on the interstate and there were just a many on the sides of the road. Many had ran out of gas and some had simply ran hot from sitting idle for so long.

We eventually moved on back to Mississippi for a few days before I finally made the trip back to Lake Charles without my family. I had to have special pass to make it back to the city as they were trying to keep people out of harms way just in case there were other issues including more bad weather or looting. The first thing I did was go to my house to make sure that all was well there.I then went to the radio station where I joined in on around the clock coverage to notify the listeners of weather and road conditions in the area. I am proud to say that we were one of the only broadcasting entities in the area besides KPLC who actually was on the air to make sure our valued listeners were safe and sound.

I remember one of my co workers actually going out into the middle of interstate 10 and literally standing in the middle of the lane. There was an eerie feeling as there were no cars on the road and it felt as if the apocalypse had hit us.Alot of us stayed here at the radio station and actually snacked on various things that were probably not good for me, but hey we had to eat. Once things started to calm down a bit, the rest of the employees eventually came back to work and alot of the patrons in the city returned as well. Some of the Walmart's in the area eventually were opened back to 24 hours and the streets started to fill up again with cars from not only residents of Lake Charles, but people from Baton Rouge, New Orleans and all points in between.

I remember going to Bennigans and having one of my favorite meals a Monte Cristo as this was one of the first restaurants to reopen in the area. I also returned home before finally being able to get my family back with me again. I would like to send my prayers to all of those affected over the weekend. The photos were truly saddening, but seeing how everyone came together to help and rescue others was truly a beautiful thing. With the way things are going now, it's just great to see Louisianians and those abroad coming to help out.