I live in Southern California but still own my house in Lake Jackson Texas right on the Gulf Coast. My 25 year old son lives in our house while we are gone (Husband is on assignment here as a Dow Chemical Engineer) We didn't lose a tree or a fence or a window or a shingle in the 2005 hurricanes. But I hear EVERY DAY in California that the entire Gulf Coast was destroyed by the hurricanes. I tell people that Galveston and Houston were spared they are fine. Lake Jackson was spared and it is fine. Then one gal asked me "Have you been back to your house to check on it?" I guess she thinks I just don't know that my house was destroyed. Yes I have been back to my house about four times a year and it is just fine. I guess the news media kept saying the Gulf Coast was declared a disaster area and Californians assume it means the entire coast. I keep trying to explain, NO, it is just in the areas where the storm hit. We were on the dry/clean side of both storms.
The propaganda is touted here too (East Coast).
They are groups STILL collecting for "Katrina Victims".
"We were on the dry/clean side of both storms."
Then Houston must have been on the emptied vacuum/cleaner bag side...