Four Personal Consequences of Hurricane Katrina

I was helping a good friend move furniture out of his inlaw's flooded house in Lakeview to his Old Metairie flooded--but almost completely renovated and repaired--house. On one of our trips to and from House A to House B he made the comment that nearly all of his friends impacted by KTMB--especially those who flooded, but even those (like me) who didn't flood--currently found themselves in one of these four current situations:

1. Getting Divorced: Married couples are getting divorced like crazy as the stress of all of this is just too much for some to handle. I have a neighbor who is a lawyer who doesn't like to practice divorce law and in normal times refuses to do it. But now, she has no choice as that's where the work is. I know of at least two couples with whom I am friends currently in the process of getting divorced.

2. Having a Baby: If couples aren't getting divorced, they are now expecting a baby. I suspect in this upcoming late summer and early autumn this area will be having a baby boom. This happened after 11 September 2001 and also happened two years ago following the Four Hurricane summer in Florida. The Fair Family currently falls into this category and awaits a visit from Mr. Stork.

3. Becoming an Alcoholic or Drug Addict: Needing something to ease the pain I suppose . . .

4. Finding Jesus: I didn't know he was lost--but some are turning to religion to aid in their personal recovery.