Day after day of rain here in the Florida Panhandle, but nothing like Louisiana.

Luckily, they were taken in by my 93-year-old mother. Then they all came very close to being flooded there, but the water stopped at the front porch. This was yesterday. People in shelters are much worse off. I feel helpless, but at least my family members are safe for now.

I'm sorry there's not more help but am also happy about your family.

All my people down there are okay. People from NO are working to help since it went the other way in Katrina. There's a Pay it Forward fund if anyone is interested. Go online to WWL-TV and there are directions.

They're used to hurricanes but this is a freak series of storms that just won't quit.

The racism was disgusting.

It was one of the most terrible few days of my life, and I didn't lose anybody. But it just destroyed so much I loved. All the places I lived save one were gone.

And since I was down there through my share of hurricanes all I can think is SNAKES!!!! And floating fire ant beds. It's a real problem.

And I'm very sorry that you lost your childhood home.

I hope most of these homes can be saved.

Between the casinos in Boloxie, Katrina, and the BP disaster, all I have is memories of wonderful times on the redneck riverira, but have not had the heart to go back down there since the oil disaster. Will have to make do with my photos and memories.
But my heart does ache everytime poor Louisiana gets deluged with these storms just sitting overhead for so long.

I was there when they were still paying the locals in Biloxi to chase tar balls and booms were on the beach.

I think one thing people now don't realize is that these damned disasters are part of the life. They shape the people and in some ways make them (us) love the place even more. I mean, it's not as if things like yellow fever and floods and hurricanes haven't been a part of the landscape since time began. It's a very hard thing to explain. It hurts like crazy every time and it creates bonds that are very, very deep.

Our house was built between 2 older homes with the floor about 5 feet above the ground. I remember climbing those steps to visit the neighbors.On the other hand, our house was modern, built on a slab foundation. Back to Google,I keep spinning the view around but I couldn't see our house, nor the one across the street that was on a slab as well. The 2 old homes were still standing and looked to be occupied. Finally squinting I saw something, a FEMA trailer sitting on the slab.

This neighborhood in E. New Orleans was higher than most around it. There was generalized flooding in the city due to another storm. I remember talking to my Dad on the phone if everyone was OK. He said they were dry but the neighborhood was full of visitors, snakes, small mammals and gators. My cousins down towards Grand Isle would have made a feast. Those guys and gals would eat anything that begins with a roux.

We actually got lost trying to drive out Broad to Lakeview because they street signs and everything that would have told us where we were were still gone.

My old place on Esplanade, a big old house up off the ground (they were smart) was okay but I had lived out in Gentilly--all gone, and NO East, which is STILL half gone, and since I grew up over on the coast it was ALL gone inland for about a mile.

People who haven't grown up or lived there don't quite get it when the first thing I say looking at those floods is SNAKES! Heck I wasn't half afraid of the gators but those damned snakes and floating fire ants were hell.

Our people are some tough mofos.

This whole recent event has been a flash back to 2005. It's been a very emotionally trying few days. I am not even sure I can come up with the words to describe it.

All I will say is it truly amazing to see people comming together to help each other the way they have the last few days.

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I live in Seattle now but NO and the coast are always home. My sister is a 911 operator up in the middle of Mississippi. When the storm hit the whole system went down and calls got rerouted to other systems. She was sitting in a room with computers and on generator power, taking calls from people on the coast who were trapped and pleading for help, having to tell them they couldn't get to them. Since their TV and cable were down she had me on the cell phone, watching CNN and trying to tell her what was going on, and relaying it to people there. It was one of the most surreal experiences you can imagine, like being in two words at once.

I'm sorry it's tough. I understand. I was lucky not to lose anyone, but boy was most of what I knew in NO and on the coast gone, baby, gone.

Has so many story's of how the storm affected there lives. It is amazing the number of people affected. I live outside of Baton Rouge and I rode out Katrina here, but I am a member of the water rescue team for our local fire department. We went down there to assist with rescues after the storm had passed. The sights I saw looked like something from a post apocalyptic movie scene. The look on some of the people's faces when we got to them I will never forget.

This time it was a lot closer to home. My home is fine, but a lot of my family members, friends and coworkers were the ones affected. I have a boat so I had to go evacuate my aunt and uncle because they were trapped by the high water and couldn't drive out. We ended up helping a few of other people that lived in there area also evacuate. It felt strange driving a boat where I normally do in my truck.
The only thing that is somwhat positive about the whole things the outpouring of support and people comming together. There were so many people comming with boats and helping people they didn't even know. They had people bringing food and supply's to the shelters and to people that wanted to stay with there homes and ride out the water.

It doesn't seem to be ending right away. What a freakish thing. Keep us posted.

I know she's heartbroken, but she worked on a medical mission team last year in Guatemala, so she says that really puts things in perspective.