Erik Tee Remembers Hurricane Rita Ten Years Later [PHOTOS, VIDEO]

Well the crazy thing about Hurricane Rita is that fact that it was just a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina. I remember being at work and we were brainstorming some ideas about what we could do to help out folks in New Orleans. We had decided on doing a huge drive for New Orleans to include school supplies and so much more.

We held the drive at a local Walmart and the turn out was big. People from all over came to support our family in New Orleans and the fact that we had so many people from the city here with us was a beautiful thing. Who knew that just a few weeks later, we would be the ones on the receiving end. The damage to our area was something that we weren't totally prepared for, but we were able to strive through it. Our stations were on the air and we did a great job of keeping the listeners notified about the weather and living conditions here in the city. But to be here and see some of the damage that had gone on was a little hard to conceive and deal with.

Hurricane Rita Video coverage of Lake Charles:

I actually left to be with my family and we went to Bossier City with a family friend to stay. We thought that we would be able to come back, the weather had other plans. I ended up staying away for about a week and then came back to Lake Charles. When you see Zombie movies or those talking the end of the world. It was just like that when I returned. The Walmarts were not fully staffed and was closing at 4 pm in the afternoon and there was no traffic on the road, you could get from one side of town to the other with no issues at all.

It took awhile for us to get the city back to normal and eventually I was able to go and get my wife and son, but it wasn't the Lake Charles that I had gotten accustomed to. So ten years later, I still have very vivid memories of Hurricane Rita and although we had a few that came after including Ike and Gustav. I think Hurricane Rita was a little more devastating to me, because it was so close to Katrina and we saw people lose their homes, businesses and lives because of it. I want to take this time to commend all of those who helped to get Lake Charles back to where we are.

There are too many people to name, but thank you. To all of my radio peers who have since gone to other jobs, thank you for helping to save lives here in Southwest Louisiana. It was a struggle, but we did it.