Ronald Kornick, an assistant baseball coach for the Laredo Community College Palominos, was ready to spend a relaxing weekend with family in Louisiana.
Instead, he was evacuating from his tiny hometown of Chalmette, just eight miles away from New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina’s destructive wrath.
Kornick was in his
hometown two weeks ago
visiting family. He had plans to participate in a golf tournament hosted
annually by his father.
“I actually went to a Saints game that Friday night in the Superdome,” Kornick said. “Saturday morning when the storm was in the forecast, the golf tournament was canceled, and they started a voluntary evacuation of the city.”
Chalmette has a population of about 32,000.
Kornick said that his family, including his grandparents who live in Gulfport, decided to head to Baton Rouge, where they stayed with other family members.
“Baton Rouge experienced a bad storm with minor flooding, but a lot of strong winds which caused power outages” Kornick said. “Even right now, I got through by phone to a friend of mine in Baton Rouge and they still don’t have power. More than likely, my relatives don’t have power yet and that’s been the situation since Sunday.”
The biggest impact that Katrina had on Kornick and his family was the loss of their homes. Kornick said that the homes of two of his father’s brothers, his grandparents and his own have been destroyed by the flooding.
“My house and the houses of my father’s brothers are probably in about 8 to 10 feet of water. My grandparent’s home in Mississippi, which they lived in for more than 40 years, is completely destroyed,” Kornick said.
He added that his mother has gone to pick up his grandparents and move them to Pennsylvania, where they are originally from.
“It’s a little rough because my grandparents are both in their 80s and it’s a little hard to move around and get going. But it’s they only way to go because they don’t have anything now,” Kornick said.
Despite the loss of their homes and personal property, Kornick said he and his family consider themselves to be fortunate they were able to avoid the loss of life.
“You realize that material things don’t matter,” Kornick said. “I’m fortunate that I have everybody in one piece.
“We’ve got some strong-minded and strong-willed people in my town. It will get back to the way it was. It’s just going to take a long time because you have to start over.”
Kornick added that his hometown has experienced several floods in past years, but that the floods created by Katrina were by far the most destructive to his family’s recollection.
A friend of Laredo Community College staff member and Louisiana native Ronald Kornick shared this aerial photo of Kornick’s hometown, Chalmette, which shows the devastating flooding left after Katrina’s wake. From left, indicators point to a high school, the community’s civic center, a fireplace showcase and a supermarket store. The aerial view was photographed last Tuesday.
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