AP Photo Archive
A family photo lies on the ground covered in sand after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the town of Waveland, Miss.

Students connected to Hurricane Katrina

Allison Walker WAL04015@BYUI.EDU Campus Asst. Editor

While many BYU-Idaho students go about with their conventional activities, hundreds of thousands of people are faced with unimaginable horror in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Not only are people affected in the area hit by the hurricane, but also family members and Southern natives all over the country, including BYU-Idaho students.

Leah Getscher, a senior from Metairie, La., watches one fuzzy TV station with her husband Mark, who also has family battling the disaster, for updates of the hurricane’s devastation.

Her husband’s family’s home was completely destroyed and they have to “start over with life, start everything new. I find it really difficult with my cushy life … I have food on my table, a nice bed and [people in Louisiana] have no food, no shelter — nothing,” Leah said.

Leah and Mark’s family members are separated, some still staying in other parts of New Orleans helping with rescue efforts.

Blair Lewis, a senior, lives in Baker, La., north of Baton Rouge. Though her town wasn’t too harshly affected by the hurricane compared to New Orleans, the ripple effects from the storm have washed in to Baton Rouge and surrounding areas.

Lewis said traffic in the area is thick, the lines at the one working gas station are unruly and the population of the area has swelled. Her 70-year-old aunt is without electricity and the ability to get the necessities of life.

Jason Stancliffe’s family was able to evacuate to Alexandria, in northern Louisiana, to stay in a stake center before the hurricane hit his hometown of New Orleans. This freshman is still unsure of the condition of his home and worse, of many of his friends in the area. However, through all the uncertainty, he is able to stay positive. “I’m just glad my family’s safe,” he said.

While Teresa Timm, a senior from Slidell, La., is also grateful for the safety of her family, who evacuated at the last minute, the statistics point to the probable destruction of her house. “It’s good that people are safe, but it’s still your home,” she said. Timm hasn’t heard from many of her other family members and friends in the area.

Timm said besides her worry about her friends and family, the hurricane creates other disruptions in her life. “I have no permanent address,” she said. She also has problems focusing. “I start doing my reading for classes, and the next thing I know, I’m watching the news.”

“I spent three hours [the other night] at the computer just trying to figure out what happened to where I live,” she said.

“The whole way of life is going to change in New Orleans,” Marrie Lebreton, a senior from New Orleans, La., said.

Lebreton said that no one expected the results of the hurricane. “We only evacuated once before, so we didn’t think much about it,” she said. But when students started asking her if she had talked to her mom lately, she realized how bad the situation really was.

After some time, she was able to learn that her family was safe and that her home, in a more protected spot, probably sustained little damage from the storm, but the threat of looters on her side of the bank is still high.

“I think they’re all good people, but it’s like survival of the fittest … everyone is just concerned about their families,” she said.

Andrew McCracken, a sophomore from Idaho Falls, who served in the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission, was devastated when he heard of the hurricane’s destruction. “It just made me so sad. They’re my favorite people. I love them so much,” he said.

Last year, he was involved in an evacuation for Hurricane Ivan, and though it missed his area, he witnessed the way in which the people of the area, particularly the members of the Church there, served each other, even those in a different state, to get lives and homes back together.

“There is a different spirit in Louisiana. They just love the Lord so much . . . and you can see it everywhere. I know that their faith is helping everyone there, even people who aren’t members of the Church,” McCracken said.

McCracken said he wishes that people from this area could visit the South, because to witness the faith of those living there would be a great strength to anyone’s testimony. “It’s hard for people here to understand the love people have for that area,” he said.

Many students who do feel that love for the people there feel helpless here in Idaho, separated from their friends and family who are suffering.

Going to New Orleans to help is “the first thing I want to do,” Lebreton said. “It’s my home, my city, my friends. I want to go and do whatever I can. I’d go get a bucket and start throwing water on the other side of the levee … I feel kind of selfish … I have so much I shouldn’t have and I feel I should be giving more.”

“I would love to be back there right now,” McCracken said. “It’s a really great opportunity to serve for missionaries there.”

Just as most of these students can’t be there to help their friends, family and community, neither can most of the country’s population. We just need to “try our best to do all we can; we can pray, we can donate money to the Red Cross,” Lebreton said.