To: tejek who wrote (292985 ) 7/2/2006 2:07:53 PM From: combjelly Read Replies (2) | Respond to Flooded and forgottenBut to get there, as hundreds of us were stranded by bad weather in Houston, I flew to Lake Charles, La., rented a car and drove across the state in the middle of the night. On the flight, I sat next to Andrea Austin, who is a third-generation native of Lake Charles. She remembers being 2 years old during Hurricane Audrey, in 1957, and watching floodwaters approach her grandfather's pharmacy on high ground. Many Americans, focused on the devastation of Katrina, have forgotten that Rita bashed the rest of the state with equal force. Trying to explain to me how Cameron and Calcasieu and other parishes were devastated by Rita, and now feel forgotten, Andrea, an executive for Budweiser, gave me a stark sentence. "I had 110 accounts in those parishes before Rita. Now, nearly a year later, I have one." salon.com
