LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Images from the coast closely resemble what we saw during and after Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago. As Kentucky prepares for storm remnants, we could also expect people evacuating the storm in our communities. One woman who now calls Louisville home knows too well what people are going through following a devastating hurricane.
"I saw homes ripped up, trees ripped up, businesses boarded up, flooded out," said Raeshanda Lias-Lockhart, a hurricane Katrina survivor, of her experience when the storm made landfall. "Going outside after an event like that is really heartbreaking, and it's also an awakening that we can be here, then gone. Everything can be gone."
The owner of 'All Is Fair' in the Oxmoor Mall, Lias-Lockhart was living in South Mississippi at the time Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast.
"I couldn't believe it was happening," she said of the storm and its damage. "I knew it was happening and we thought we would be safe, but because Vicksburg is on the river, it was a lot of damage to a lot of homes and a lot of places."
After the hurricane, she assessed the damage to the place she called home and knew she had to leave. She evacuated to Frankfort, eventually making her way to Louisville to start over.
"If you and your family are safe, and you have each other, that is what matters," Lias-Lockhart said. "Moving forward, whatever help you need, seek it out. Please seek out help and get your life started again."
As hurricane Ida passes through and these communities begin to rebuild, she knows the road ahead is long for them. Lias-Lockhart hopes we don't see some of the things we saw after Katrina.
"The size of the hurricane, the flooding that is happening..." she began. "I am praying people evacuated when they could and not waited until they couldn't. There was so much devastation, so many lives lost with Katrina. I did not want to see a repeat of that."
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