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Overcoming Katrina

By Jessica Taloney Reporter

Two years after Katrina ripped across the Gulf Coast, one Pascagoula woman is finally getting on her feet. Overcoming Katrina

Published: Mon, August 27, 2007 - 6:17 pm Last Updated: Mon, August 27, 2007 - 10:03 pm

Jessica Taloney

One box at a time, Samenthia Gray is finally packing up her government issued FEMA trailer. Two years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed almost everything she owned, Gray, 24, is moving to Birmingham where she'll go back to school. "Losing everything, you'd be surprised how long it takes you to bounce back," said Gray as she loaded boxes in her car. Gray tells News 5 she never expected to live in the FEMA trailer as long as she did, but the experience taught her a valuable lesson. "It kinda helped me grow up a little more, she said. "Things happen and you have to be able to deal with it or cope with it the best way you can." While Gray lived in Pascagoula, which was one of areas hardest hit by Katrina, many people on Alabama's Gulf Coast have spent the past two years struggling to rebuild as well. In Mobile 251 families are still living in FEMA trailers. Fourty-five of those families are in the Bayou LaBatre city limits, and the rest are spread throughout the county.
Mobile County says it's in the process of giving out more than $15 million in damages federal funds to help rebuild homes in the county. According to the Mobile County Commission, they've already spent more than $21 million repairing infrastructure damaged by the storm.

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2652 Says:

Mon, Nov 12, 2007 at 8:40 am

I agree with others, it’s time to quit depending on the government to take care of you. Are you working a full time job and an additional part time job to get back on your feet or just waiting for another hand out from the government. I think it should be a set limit on use of government housing when disasters hit. Two years should be the max. Go to work!!

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MeAmerican Says:

Sat, Sep 22, 2007 at 10:45 pm

Get a life and get a job. Then get a home and quit expecting hand outs from the Govt. Duh! If you read this and get mad that means you can afford internet, therefore your problem is priorities.

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litmom Says:

Fri, Sep 21, 2007 at 9:57 pm

Now getting a little help after a terrible storm is one thing, but this is 2 years later people. I think it is about time people start putting their own lives back together, and stop depending on the government to take care of them. The government wasn’t taking care of them when they first started out in life, so why are they depending on the government to start them out in life again. Come on people, enough is enough.

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Del Says:

Wed, Aug 29, 2007 at 1:53 pm

I live in Mobile and have no idea where the damage from Hurricane Katrina is. I do not believe that there was the damage here that these low income people are complaining about. Belive me some of them are faking it and bilking FEMA out of money. There was virtually no damage in Mobile.

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