After Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast a year ago, thousands of people took refuge in Arkansas, some of whom were featured in Arkansas Catholic from September to March.
Recently those same people were contacted to see how their lives have changed in the past year. With the exception of one couple (see Sept. 2 issue), they remain in Arkansas. Life is far from normal because their future is unclear. And even for those who have decided to stay, the effects of the storm are with them every day.
Nellie Washington, New Orleans
When Arkansas Catholic featured Nellie Washington Oct. 1, 2005, she was settling into her new apartment in Fort Smith and thankful to be alive.
Washington, now 71, was one of the thousands who were stranded at the New Orleans Convention Center for days without food, water or even a place to sit down. By the time she was rescued, fear, stress and physical exhaustion had taken their toll. Unable to walk, Washington was placed in a wheelchair for the flight to Fort Smith on a military cargo plane.
The Benedictine sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery cared for Washington for three days before she moved into Mid Town Apartments, a residence for elderly and disabled. It is within walking distance of Immaculate Conception Church, the parish Washington regularly attends.
Today Washington still lives at Mid Town and has returned to New Orleans three times to visit family and once to salvage belongings from her flood-damaged New Orleans apartment. She was told the complex would be reconstructed, but given no timeline. She is alone in Fort Smith; her sister and cousins live on the West Bank of New Orleans, an area that did not flood. With her age and health to consider, Washington said she wants to go home, but can’t until she has a place to go home to. She is “in limbo.”
Her mobility is very limited because of arthritis and a degenerated disk in her back, which requires her to use a walker and cane.
“Other than that I’ve been pretty strong and healthy,” she said.
Washington said she misses being active. She was receiving physical therapy for her back injury before the hurricane, but after the trauma she endured, she hasn’t completely bounced back yet.
“But that’s OK, I’m thankful,” she said. “I appreciate being here and I’m fortunate.” And she is grateful to the people of Fort Smith for being “so kind and friendly.”
Although it has been difficult, Washington said her relationship with God is even stronger and her prayer life has gotten her through it.
“I hang with the Lord, honey,” she said. “I got my peace with the Lord. I talk to him all the time.”
Although at first she was angry, hurt and needed to blame those responsible for abandoning her in New Orleans, now she said, “You got to forgive it and let it go.”
Being able to forgive is what will allow her return to New Orleans, she said. “I’m not letting nobody take my joy from me.”
Carrone Family, Metairie, La.
Colin Carrone, now a sixth grader at Our Lady of the Holy Souls School in Little Rock, came to Arkansas the day before Hurricane Katrina with his mom, Lisa, his dad, Charlie, sister, Samantha, who is now a sophomore at Mount St. Mary Academy, and his other sister, Brittany, who attends Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. They stayed with Lisa Carrone’s father, who lives in Little Rock.
Once the family realized their Metairie, La. home had been flooded and would not be repaired in the short term, they enrolled Colin and Samantha in Little Rock Catholic schools and moved into an apartment last November. Charlie Carrone got a job working at a family-owned restaurant and Lisa Carrone continued to do technical support for the company she worked for in New Orleans. Arkansas Catholic featured the Carrones in the Feb. 11 issue.
Now, five months later, the Carrones have decided to stay in Little Rock.
“We are hoping, that if everything goes through, that we’re closing on a house this week,” she said Aug. 20.
The decision is based on financial reasons. The New Orleans-based job she held was eliminated in January. She took a leave of absence to see if she could find another job in New Orleans but did not.
“Because of Katrina they had clients that didn’t come back … They didn’t need as many people,” she said of her former company.
Now she does bookkeeping for a Little Rock firm and her husband manages the restaurant he has worked for since arriving in Little Rock.
“We felt that we may have better opportunity here given the situation at home,” she said.
But the majority of her family still lives in New Orleans, where both she and her husband were born and raised. The Carrones are rebuilding their home in Metairie and will probably sell it once it is completed, but the process has been very slow.
“It’s been pulling teeth getting the contractor to finish the house,” she said. “He’s been telling us three to four weeks, but he’s been telling us that for about four-and-a-half to five months now.”
Carrone said moving into their own home will help the family reclaim some of the normalcy they felt back in New Orleans.
Carrone said her children like their Little Rock schools. Colin plays baseball and basketball and Samantha made the varsity volleyball team this year, but living away from home still takes some getting used to.
“It’s the hardest on her because of her age,” she said of Samantha.
“It’s been very much an emotional roller coaster.”
Loiacano Family, Bay St. Louis, Miss.
In March Campus Ministry students from three Arkansas colleges spent their spring break helping those devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Mississippi and Louisiana. Arkansas Catholic accompanied the students and featured their mission trips in the April 8 issue. It was in Bay St. Louis, Miss., that Arkansas State University students met Melanie Loiacano, who now lives in Jonesboro.
Loiacano lived in Bay St. Louis with her family until a 35-foot storm surge from Hurricane Katrina flooded her home with water 8½ feet deep, ruining the entire first floor. Melanie, her husband, Dale, and their four children stayed home during the storm and were trapped on the second floor for a day until the flood waters receded.
Their neighbors, Jimmy (Dale’s brother) and Sharon Loiacano evacuated during the storm. Their home was completely submerged in floodwater. ASU students toured the mold-invested home in March and a photo illustrating the damage was featured in Arkansas Catholic.
Following the hurricane Melanie and Dale Loiacano and their children moved to Jonesboro until their home could be repaired. Melanie Loiacano and two of her children went back to Bay St. Louis during spring break to visit family and check on their home, which at that time, had been gutted throughout the first floor. That was nearly eight months after the storm, and very little cleanup had been done in the area. Debris and clothing still lined the trees along the community’s coastline where homes had been leveled and the neighboring Waveland was almost completely destroyed.
A year later, work on the Loiacano’s home is being done at a snail’s pace. Since the house was gutted in March, only wallboard has been added and that was in late June. The destroyed home of their former neighbors, Jimmy and Sharon Loiacano, was finally demolished in July. They had been on a waiting list for demolition since November. They plan to rebuild their home in the same location. Since the hurricane they have been living with family in a neighboring town and commuting to work in Bay St. Louis.
In the meantime, Dr. Dale Loiacano works as an anesthesiologist at St. Bernards Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro and Melanie Loiacano takes care of three children, ages 10 to 15. They all attend Jonesboro public schools. The oldest daughter is a freshman at Mississippi State University.
The family bought a home in June and attends Blessed Sacrament Church. They still plan to rebuild their Bay St. Louis home, but beyond that, the future is unclear.
“We’re just taking it as it comes, we don’t know,” Melanie Loiacano said. “We eventually hope to (return), but people are so good to us here, we don’t know what we’ll do. … When we’re there, we want to be there, but when we’re here, we want to be here, so I’m not sure what our long-term plans are going to be.”
Perez Family, Arabi, La.
Michelle Perez, now 14, evacuated to Hot Springs with her mom, grandmother and younger brother one day before Hurricane Katrina hit, while her father stayed behind to watch over the family’s home in Arabi, La., and to run his French Quarter restaurant.
When the levee breached, flood waters enveloped the Perez home in St. Bernard Parish and Michelle’s father, Adolfo Perez, spent days trapped in the attic until he was rescued and taken to dry land. Two weeks later he was finally reunited with his family, who were staying with relatives in Hot Springs.
Michelle enrolled in the eighth grade at St. John School in Hot Springs and joined the basketball team. Her story was told in the Feb. 4 issue of Arkansas Catholic. By that time her family had purchased a home in Hot Springs and her father had returned to New Orleans to run his restaurant, which had reopened in December. Her mother, Kim Perez, was working from home for the same company she worked for in New Orleans.
Today, Michelle is a freshman at Hot Springs High School where she made the varsity tennis team and International Baccalaureate Program. Other than that, not much has changed in her life. Her father still lives and works in New Orleans and her mother still works from home in the same position, which requires travel every other week.
Michelle’s grandmother, Brenda Palavicini, lives with the family and cares for Michelle and 3-year-old brother, Cruz, when their mother travels. Her older brother, Brock, lives in California.
Though anxious about attending public school, Michelle said she is excited about the opportunities there. She still attends St. John Church and stays in touch with a few of her New Orleans friends who like herself are “making their lives wherever they had moved, too.”
Michelle sees her dad monthly. He came for her eighth-grade graduation and confirmation in May and the family visited New Orleans frequently during summer. She said the separation is difficult because she misses him.
“He’s one of my best friends,” she said. “He’s always got something funny to say and it’s really great to have him around.”
Her dad is renting in the French Quarter because his home is inhabitable. Kim Perez said other than removing their salvageable belongings nothing was done to their home until a church group from California gutted it Aug. 4. The home will be rebuilt and the family plans to keep it for now, while also keeping their home in Hot Springs.
Their restaurant’s lease expires in July 2007 and at that time they will consider opening a restaurant in Hot Springs. If that doesn’t work out they will renew the lease.
“It’s still taking one day at a time as far as real long-term decisions,” Kim Perez said. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the family would move back to New Orleans.
“If this school works out for Michelle, and she continues to be happy here, we’ll stay here at least until that changes,” she said.
Though the separation is difficult, Perez said, “We’re adjusting. We have our hard days and then for the most part we just deal with it.”
She said it is hardest on her husband and her son, who cries for his dad.
In spite of everything Michelle remains positive.
“Even though it’s really bad, it’s a great opportunity to start new things and get used to new things because change is good. I just look at it with a good point of view and take it from there,” she said.
Machen Family, Marrero, La.
Aaron Machen, now 18, evacuated Marrero, a suburb south of New Orleans, just before Hurricane Katrina struck. His family had already moved to Little Rock but he stayed behind to finish his senior year at Archbishop Hannan High School in Meraux, La.
After a nail-biting drive north, he eventually joined his family in Sherwood and enrolled in Catholic High School in Little Rock.
When Arkansas Catholic told Machen’s story Jan. 28, his family had bought a home in Alexander and he was adjusting to the loss of his life in New Orleans by making the best of his time at Catholic High. As a member of school’s football team and band, he had developed an unexpectedly strong bond with his new school family.
Today Machen is a freshman at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. His father, Don, works for the U.S. Postal Service, while his mother, Vicki, who once was finance director at Archbishop Hannan High School, now works in the accounting office of a local trucking company near the family’s home. His older brother, Ryan, attends Louisiana Tech University in Rustin, La., and younger brother, Taylor, is in eighth grade at Bryant Middle School. The family attends St. Theresa Church.
Vicki Machen said the family moved to Arkansas to be closer to her brother who has bone cancer and lives in Springdale. Though the decision was made before the hurricane, the storm accelerated the family’s reunion, which is one blessing that came out of that horrible event, especially since her brother’s health is declining.
“I needed to be here for him and his family and I’m very thankful that I have been here and have had the last year with him,” she said. “His kids and my kids are very close and it’s been a great experience for all of them to be together.”
Aaron Machen had the option to return to New Orleans and graduate at Archbishop Hannan, but he decided to stay and graduate at Catholic High. Though all the students attended other schools last year, only eight of the more than 120 seniors did not return for graduation in New Orleans.
Flooding destroyed Archbishop Hannan High School, formerly in St. Bernard Parish. It reopened this year at a temporary site until the new school is built on higher ground, an hour away from the original location.
Vicki Machen said she still has family in New Orleans, some of whom are now thinking about moving.
“Out of four or five that I have there, two are probably going to leave,” she said. “The hurricane pretty much shook everybody up.”
As for Aaron Machen, he was planning to try out for the UCA football team when he was interviewed Aug. 11.
He said he still keeps in contact with friends from New Orleans and is making peace with what happened a year ago.
“There’s a reason for me to come up here. I think I’m better off because I’m up here,” he said. “I never ever knew that Little Rock Catholic existed or any of these people … if it wasn’t for Hurricane Katrina I wouldn’t have met anybody so I look at the positive side of everything.”
“Before Hurricane Katrina I wanted to be an architect,” he said.
Now he wants to be a football coach, a decision influenced by his former Archbishop Hannan coach, who called Machen repeatedly in the days following the hurricane to make sure he made it safely to his family.
“I just changed my mind thinking about how he made such an impact on my life and I want to do that. I want to impact kids’ lives,” he said.
