Tropical Storm Isaac brings back memories of Hurricane Katrina - KPTV - FOX 12
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As Isaac inches closer and closer to the South, it's also digging up some devastating memories for one local woman.
Leah Loe is an Oregon native, but was living in Mississippi when Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore.
Now, seven years later, Isaac is bringing back images of the disaster.
Loe calls the similarities between Isaac and Katrina "eerie."
Both took a similar path.
Isaac is expected to hit southeast Louisiana or Mississippi, and that's exactly where Katrina made her mark.
The timing is also uncanny - Isaac is forecasted to make landfall Tuesday night, just hours shy of the Katrina anniversary.
Loe, along with her husband and daughter, were living in Pascagoula when Hurricane Katrina hit.
With the roads blocked, the family couldn't escape and were forced to wait out the storm.
Loe recalls watching the water rise to her street, then to her porch, then finally into her home.
The family climbed to higher ground and into the crawlspace near the roof of their house. Fortunately, the water never did reach the Loes in their crawlspace. Hours later, it began receding.
But as relief began to set in, so did the magnitude of the destruction. In the months that followed, the Loes began rebuilding. It was a task that Loe says drained them so much financially and emotionally that in 2008, she moved back to Oregon.
Loe says though it was a dark time in her life, Katrina also taught her some valuable lessons.
"I spent so many months after the storm in a pity party living in a trailer feeling sorry for myself because all my stuff was gone, and in refection I think it's pretty shallow because the important things, I still have," Loe said.
Loe says she's hoping for the best for folks in Isaac's path and adds if they end up needing help, she'll bring two specific things to victims: clean clothes and good home cooking.
Copyright 2012 KPTV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
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