10/16/2024
Here is a good article someone else wrote, about her experience on hurricane Katrina and how that might shown us our likely trajectory.:
“Hey, WNC, New Orleans native here. We see you.
All I can tell you is my own experience:
The first few days, weeks, are mostly shock. Everything you were worried about 2 days ago is now completely irrelevant.
The shock may come and go. Feeling like a zombie. Dissociating. Thinking you’re “totally fine” and then immediately wondering what’s wrong with you.
Being furious at people near and far. Short tempers. Even if you are an otherwise gentle person, you might find yourself saying very unkind things.
Your nervous system takes over. Your trauma response is revealing itself.
For me, I went into WORK mode. I HAD to be at the center of everything. I was back in the city before we were technically allowed. I basically never stopped working, although my job was far from first responding.
This happened again during Ida. I was evacuated for 10 days, and spent hours every day gathering & distributing info, working with a mutual aid group.
In three weeks, you will see the first working stop light and you will get misty eyed. You will be grateful for EVERYTHING.
Emotion will overwhelm you, and everyone you know, at any moment and everyone will understand.
For the next year, every time you see someone for the first time, you’ll give them a huge bear hug and ask “how’d you do? Where’d you go?”
It will not be normal for a long time. Years. Your life will forever be measured in before and after.
Every conversation will be about Helene until you are tired of hearing the word. You’ll be desperate To talk about ANYTHING else.
At some point, you’ll realize a whole day went by without mentioning Her. It’s simultaneous relief and frustration.
Survivors guilt is real. You will compare your losses, and always think “but they had it worse.”
You will share an unspoken bond with people who lived through it. 20 years from now, when you meet someone who lives in WNC, it will be like meeting family. You will share stories, bc the people who weren’t there just cannot understand.
There is no right thing to do right now. If you have to get out, get out. If you cannot bear to leave, don’t.
If you need help, reach out. DM me. Call the disaster hotline (800-985-5990).
Take all the help you can get. File for FEMA. Take disaster food stamps. Let people send you care packages.
It really is as horrible as you think, but you cannot bear it all at once. Just keep going, one day — some days one breath at a time”
- Author: Vera Lester
