A story by Angel Chutno
“Growing up, I always heard talk of Hurricane Betsy as if she was an old neighbor no one ever could forget the impact of.
“When Betsy came through, her winds were so strong she left pine needles sticking out of fence boards.” So when I experienced my first hurricane as a child, I already had the fear instilled in me that made me nervous for the arrival of Andrew. I paid attention closely enough to the adults around me that the nervous energy was palpable, and the panic had me crying for an entire day at school.
When it was time to shelter at home that evening, I was in so much emotional turmoil begging my parents to let our family seek shelter in my school gym, that they obliged.
Once we were there, it almost felt like a party with everyone in the neighborhood hanging out together for the evening. But as the night wore on and Andrew closed in, tensions rose until the climax of the evening occurred when a tornado struck the building where we were! Yet no major damage occurred to the school, and we were still safe inside. Even more so interesting is that our neighborhood, less than half a mile from the school, was totally spared, and we would have been just as safe in the comfort of our home.
Since then, hurricanes have continued to be memorable time stamps in the chronology of my life as we continue to recall these energies on a first name basis: Gustav, Katrina, Issac, Rita, and most recently Ida which devastated my hometown in LaPlace and left my parents in a trailer for over a year.
I manage Hurricane Season by preparing year-round and always having supplies on-hand. This type of “prepper” approach has made it easy to avoid panic-buying and having to run the risk of being in line for hours when everyone needs the same goods.
My parents have never left for any hurricane, except when they left LaPlace to stay with me in Baton Rouge for Katrina; so I grew up with the mentality that it is better to be home (thanks, Andrew) than in a car during a mass evacuation.
After college, I moved to California for several years and in my second year there, Issac flooded my hometown and the homes of nearly every family friend in LaPlace. From across the country, I watched the track of the storm and felt the anxiety and the guilt of not being home with my family. I loved my life in California, and at the same time, I was impacted by the Louisiana boomerang effect where those who are from here return right back home. It was an equal combination of family, culture, and history that drew me in. It is not a perfect place, but it is rich in so many ways that I know my roots must be planted here. “What we own eventually owns us” is a saying that I understand too well. I have a lot of stuff and a home that I have poured my spirit into that I love. I know that attachment to things is a road that will usually lead to emotional pain, and yet, I am here in New Orleans and approaching each hurricane season with trepidation. I know that nothing is guaranteed, and I remind myself that natural disasters are occurring across the world causing devastation to so many people and homes and our experiences are not singular. So while the future feels uncertain, the one thing I can count on is that my roots are planted here in a place that feeds me on a deep soul level, and for that I am willing to take a few blows.”
