Surviving the Storm It was hurricane season. I didn't even know until I saw the weather report the week before. “Hurricane Michael raging on the East Coast. Hurricane Paula strikes Alabama,” the weatherman said. It didn't faze me. “It happens every year,” I thought. Never did I think that this would affect me in the small town of Center, Texas. In the middle of September, the day felt strange. Then, a friend called me from San Augustine. “It's coming!” she shrieked. I was very confused. “The hurricane! You need to get ready!” I replied slowly and hung up. Scared to death, I started to get ready for the disaster coming towards us. Oh no, I thought. I started freaking out; I felt unprepared and scared. I collected myself and started looking
around the house. I went on my computer and searched “how to be prepared for a hurricane”. Most of the websites said how to make a hurricane kit, know the escape routes and important information. No, no, no! I kept thinking. I didn't have time! I couldn't understand the information the websites were saying. Finally, I ended up grabbing my cell phone, charger, flashlight, batteries, cash, snacks, and some “first aid,” which I had made in about a minute, with band-AIDS, neosporin, and gauze. After throwing all these items into a cheap Walmart bag, I ran into the bathroom. You can't judge me, that was the only room with no windows. Then, after waiting in the small bathroom for a couple minutes, the storm hit. At first I thought a hurricane was just winds and rain. I never realized how strong it could be. The shrieking winds filled my ears. I should've brought earmuffs, I thought. I cowered in the corner of the walls and hid. I could also hear the rain filling in my apartment. I am not so sure my insurance will cover this, I said to myself. It was very cold, and I was very unprepared. No jacket or blanket. After a long time of the strong winds and rains tearing the building apart, with me inside, I texted my parents. Hey. I just want to let you know that I am probably not going to make it. I wish I had gotten to see you again. I love you so much. I pressed send and closed my eyes, accepting the end of my life. Just then, a piece of brick from the other room broke through the wall, hitting me in the head, knocking me unconscious. When I opened my eyes, I was outside. How? I kept wondering. How am I not dead? That brick was pretty hard. I looked around. Apparently, the building was crushed, and since I lived on the top floor, I was not killed. I was clutching my phone. My phone and I were the only things that survived from the storm. I then called the paramedics to save me. I then texted my parents to tell them that in fact had not been killed and that I was fine. This is truly a miracle. After being pulled out of the debris, I was taken to the hospital. The only reason I survived was because since the brick had knocked me unconscious, I was relaxed, so my bones protected my internal organs. Though I did hobble away with a fractured rib and femur, and a concession, but I was alive. Now, anywhere I live, I am prepared for any natural disaster. I teach a Disaster Preparedness class for others. I learned much from the “experience.” I hope that no has to go through what I did. And that is the end of my story.
A storm such as Katrina undoubtedly ruined homes and lives with its destructive path. Chris Rose touches upon these instances of brokenness to elicit sympathy from his audience. Throughout the novel, mental illness rears its ugly head. Tales such as “Despair” reveal heart-wrenching stories emerging from a cycle of loss. This particular article is concerned with the pull of New Orleans, its whisper in your ear when you’ve departed that drags you home. Not home as a house, because everything physical associated with home has been swept away by the storm and is now gone. Rather, it is concerned with home as a feeling, that concept that there is none other than New Orleans. Even when there is nothing reminiscent of what you once knew, a true New Orleanian will seek a fresh start atop the foundation of rubbish. This is a foreign concept for those not native to New Orleans, and a New Orleanian girl married to a man from Atlanta found her relationship split as a result of flooding waters. She was adamant about staying, and he returned to where he was from. When he came back to New Orleans for her to try and make it work, they shared grim feelings and alcohol, the result of which was the emergence of a pact reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. This couple decided they would kill themselves because they could see no light amongst the garbage and rot, and failure was draining them of any sense of optimism. She realized the fault in this agreement,
Have you ever thought about having someone close to you pass away? In this exhilarating story death is something that could happen at any moment. Watt Key shows us in Terror at Bottle Creek that it's not about how bad you get knocked down but about the fight to get back up. The genre of this book is non-fiction. The book starts off with Cort and his father working to prepare for the level 5 hurricane coming their way. They live on a house boat in Louisiana. Cort and his father move all their things up to the neighbors house. Corts father takes off to see his ex-wife before the storm hits. The storm hits, and Cort is left without his father and with two younger girls and his dog. Corts dog runs off into the rain and Francie who is 8 runs after
In “Lydia’s Story,” nurse Jan Brideau describes the tragedies of Hurricane Katrina. The author elaborates how countless people had the hope and determination in the face of terrible adversity. The story stresses the importance of keeping your thoughts in a positive mindset, but also shows the reader that moving forward is only half the battle, and sharing your story to others finishes the fight. The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina is remembered from the survivors who never lost hope.
On Friday evening, September 7, 1900, many of the 37,000 residents of Galveston, Texas, were settling down to dinner, few if any of them concerned about the steady 15 mph northerly wind rattling their windows. Within 48 hours, at least 8,000 of the townspeople would be dead, victims of the single worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Relatively few people are aware that the deadliest natural disaster in the United States was the hurricane that struck Galveston Island on September 8, 1900. One of the best resources that can be found to help fully understand the significance of this storm is Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson.
Hurricane Katrina is approaching New Orleans, Louisiana, including the Ninth Ward, where Lanesha and her guardian, Mama Ya-Ya live. The chapter, titled “Sunday”, starts off with the newspapers and the televisions emphasizing the word “evacuate”. Mama Ya-Ya, who is normally up and about, ready to greet the day, is curled up on the couch asleep. Something has been bothering Mama Ya-Ya; Lanesha even sees it when she wakes up.
Once there was, as never before, a hurricane of great might and strength. As never before, there once was a hurricane of many names: storm, cyclone, tempest, typhoon, and flood. Yet it has lived on in history as the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Humanity has glorified and immortalized the hurricane. The Great Galveston Hurricane has been the subject of numerous articles, novels, plays, and poems, as well as four major nonfiction studies (Longshore). It is truly one of hurricane lore’s greatest of storms.
“When I saw my house three weeks after the storm, I was glad it stood but I knew it was time for change. Now five years later, I have learned that for me to enjoy the beauty of this place, there is a cost to bear. I love this place and am here to stay, but I have to invest more than I had imagined. The hurricane has greatly affected our lives but not only in a bad way.”
Thunder rolled intensely outside, my aunt, mother, sister and I were sat calmly in the basement. We had been through this many times before; I mean afterall, Kansas was part of Tornado Alley. 2. My sister and I were young when this happened, her probably four or five, me about eight. 3. Before we had even started driving to my aunt’s house; since she’s the only one with a basement; my sister and I were complaining about being hungry. 4. Mom said she would get us something to eat soon, but then the sirens started blaring. 5. She called my aunt and told her we would be over in about ten minutes. 6. Me and my sister continued to complain about being hungry because, we always had to get what we wanted. 7. So my mom stopped at McDonald’s and got us some food. 8. After we were almost five minutes later than we said we would be my aunt panicked. 9. Jenny, my aunt, was calling like crazy. 10. When we finally got to her house she lectured my mom about how it wasn’t safe to have us out there like that with a tornado in the area. 11.Afterwards, we all sat on the porch and watched the storm. 12. That’s my favorite memory with my family, and it’s one I’ll never forget.
In August 2005, at the tender age of 7, I received the most devastating news. I was told by my family that a hurricane was coming to my city, New Orleans, Louisiana. Because of this storm, Hurricane Katrina, I was told that I would most likely have to move away for a long time, meaning the rest of my life. My family and I lost everything, and the hurricane ended up destroying the entire city completely. This was heartbreaking to me for a plethora of reasons, including that I lost loved ones and was separated from the rest of my family at such an early age. This ravaging storm marked the most drastic change of my life.
I tried to start the car but it wouldn’t work. I turned my head again
Handling adversity is something that all people must do throughout their lives, but it is the ways in which individuals approach adversity that sets us apart. There are two contrasting ways in which you can respond to adversity: 1) you can either curl up into a ball and accept the outcome as it is 2) you can take control of the situation and work hard to make the resulting outcome in your favor. I faced adversity within sports when I was diagnosed with a physical disorder as a child.
Picture this, you laying on top of you car as you are being violently slung down your street, which was once dry and calm and is now wet and foreign, at an extremely rapid pace. You can’t find your family and all you can do is hope that they haven’t drowned and are able to stay afloat against the violent waters that are angrily attempting to destroy everything in its path. You look around the weather is gray and it’s raining heavily. It is a struggle to breathe between the rapid rain and the violent waters which are attempting to pull you under, forever. Your house no longer exists it is broken down from the pounding waters and fast winds. That is exactly what it would be like if you were in the midst of a hurricane. After hurricanes are over the confusion is crazy, children who had loving families are now orphaned, people become homeless, and people miss certain joys such as walking due to becoming paralyzed.
Lessons can be learned from the littlest of experiences. Important life lessons can be taken from not only success, but also our greatest failures. Adversity can greatly alter our perspective and provide an individual with wisdom. The first time I was faced with adversity was when I broke my tibia and fibula. I was involved in sports and this was definitely a setback, to say the least. Moments after the accident, I realized that the months of recovery I would have to toil. I realized these future and upcoming months would require patience and I would undergo great amounts of drudgery.
There is a point in everyone’s life when they step back and realize “I can’t do this anymore, it’s ruining my life”. Many of my friends have started smoking cigarettes while drinking at a very young age, and continue to use this drug currently and don’t realize the affect it has on their future. While I have been smart enough to avoid smoking, I haven’t been as wise at making decisions when it comes to drinking. The amount of partying I’ve done in college has taken over my life, and has had a huge impact on my grades. Changing my drinking habits and continuing to avoid cigarettes will enable me to be the best I can be for the rest of my college experience.
The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?