Posted on 03/01/2006 7:46:32 AM PST by MinorityRepublican
(CNN) -- The Rev. Torris Young lost his home, his church and many of his parishioners to Hurricane Katrina.
Young and his family left their home in Orleans Parish on Sunday, the day before Katrina came ashore on August 29, 2005. They evacuated to Houston, Texas, believing their stay would be short.
"We were thinking then that the storm would pass over like it normally does, and we thought we could return home, clean up the leaves and go through the normal thing you go through," he said.
Young returned shortly after Katrina passed, but his family stayed in Houston until early 2006, their savings drained, their belongings gone, and their lives a tangled mess of confusion, frustration and grief.
"I personally had to bury 25 parishioners since Katrina," he said. "Some of them died in the currents of the storm, and there have been a lot of deaths after the storm because of the stress."
But the 34-year-old pastor says he has much to look forward to. He and his family are back in New Orleans and he is rebuilding his home and church, the Greater Bibleway Church. He is also traveling around the country spreading information of the rebuilding efforts to his flock, which numbered about 1,500 before the storm.
And his wife gave birth to their second son in early February.
Like the competing emotions of grief and hope, like the opposite pulls of resilience and frustration -- New Orleans, six months after Katrina, is a study in contrasts. (Gulf Coast, six months later)
Some neighborhoods are inching back toward normalcy. But in other areas, abandoned homes line block after block, electricity and essential services are scarce, and a dusk-to-dawn curfew remains in effect.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
The Rev. Torris Young worked with a Kentucky National Guard member to salvage items from his church.
CNN has done a pretty good job covering New Orleans and the Miss Gulf Coast.
Every now and then, something major happens, I'll tune in CNN, not Fox News for the coverage.
Other than that, I would tune to Fox only.
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