From Covid-19 to Hurricane laura: stressed, but resilient.

As if dealing with Covid-19 is not being in the eye of the storm enough, my community and surrounding areas brace yet another traumatic event, hurricane Laura. Just a few weeks ago we were recognized as the hot-spot for new and increasing Covid-19 infections in our state. Now we are on the national news for facing one the strongest hurricanes to hit our coast. As I sit on the sofa of an airbnb in Shreveport at 3:30am, I am grateful for the resources that allowed me to evacuate and I am also laden with worry. 
The last hurricane I experienced was Rita, whose eye sucked out the 4th floor windows of Memorial Hospital, leaving us scampering to the next floor via the stairs. It was scary to say the least, but not as much as this one. I was a young 22 at that time, and now I am 37 with a family. Our fear is that our resources could potentially fall short of our needs, if we return home to a destroyed home. My fear is for the homes of my co-workers in the Cameron Parish community, who have had to rebuild twice over the few decades and are getting reports of the community becoming part of the gulf for the upcoming days. 
We've been here since early Tuesday, and the stress begins to come to a head as we anxiously check our phones for updates and try to gauge the possibility that we will come home to an intact home. While the kids play and distract their thoughts, my husband and I go over different scenarios and best ways to respond. We spend our moments touching bases with friends and letting those closer to the coast know we are praying and thinking of them.  During our attempt to reach out to friends, we smiled at discovering that our elderly neighbors have evacuated to the same area. 

To all the communities affected, I am with you emotionally and in the knowing that we will recover from this. Below I will link the disaster assistance links. 

Disaster Assistance (Gov./Fema):
https://www.disasterassistance.gov/

https://www.fema.gov/disasters/coronavirus/disaster-declarations     
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Disaster SNAP Benifits:
 http://www.dcfs.louisiana.gov/page/360

Stay Safe,

Frankie.Alisha