Ball State University graduate student Kimberly Robinson intends to drive to Liberty, Miss. today to see her parents after they fled their New Orleans home to escape Hurricane Katrina.
Robinson planned to leave her Muncie apartment at 5 a.m. today to pick up her uncle in Chicago. She hoped to start the 15-hour drive from Chicago to Mississippi by 9 a.m.
“They are all in Mississippi, but they have no supplies,” Robinson said of her family. Among the necessities and “little comforts from home” Robinson and her uncle will take to their relatives are three generators, food, books, pictures of the house before the storm for insurance purposes, Bible Scriptures and a phone book in case the family needs to make any important phone calls.
Though not hit as hard as Robinson’s hometown of Kenner, La., a suburb of New Orleans, Liberty is flooded and lacks electricity, cell phone reception, gasoline and food. The family is currently living in a trailer they own.
Robinson said she is unsure how long she will stay in Liberty, but she hopes to return to Muncie sometime next week.
“It really depends on the condition of my mom and my dad,” she said. Authorities estimate that her family will not be able to move back to Louisiana for another 14 to 16 weeks.
“I hope that is an overestimate,” Robinson said.
To cope with the anxiety and sadness she is experiencing, Robinson said she has not left her apartment and has been “watching TV nonstop.” She has seen images of her family’s damaged home on CNN this week.
Though she is concerned about her family’s welfare, Robinson said she feels fortunate that they are safe, and she has the financial means to see them. A large portion of New Orleans families, she said, were in poverty before the hurricane and are looting amongst the rubble now because they have nothing left.
“I consider myself extremely lucky that my family is alive,” she said. “There are so many things we take for granted.”rstner
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