From a prep standpoint...Katrina was the best thing that ever happened to me. My wife and I, along with our 1 and 2 year olds were visiting family in Mississippi when Katrina hit. We were on the east side of the state, about 140 miles north of Mobile, AL. We had a relatively safe place to stay with the in-laws. We elected to shelter in place rather than battle the hordes of evacuees, shortages of gas, and lack of motel/hotel space that was reported on our route home.
My wife and I have been prepping for several years, but I was much more dedicated than her....she basically put up with my purchases, but was never involved with the actual buying decisions.
The town we were in took a pretty good hit from the storm. Thousands of trees down, and hundreds of homes and businesses damaged. For 7 days we had no power, phones, cable t.v, or cell phones (all the towers were damaged). My FIL had a generator, so we were able to get some t.v. from a 20 year old tv with rabbit ears still in their attic. All of these new fangled flat screen/h.d t.v.s are useless with no cable or satellite input. Only 1 local radio station was able to broadcast, and they announced that water was also to be rationed. The city has 2 water treatment plants, one was completely knocked out, and the other was pumping at reduced capacity on a back-up generator.
We had it pretty good, considering. We had a generator, we had freezers and refrigerators, we had a BBQ grill with plenty of fuel. The generator was a gas hog, though. My FIL is a closet prepper, but we only had 2 five gallon cans, and 2 one gallon cans to hold gas. It became a real chore to locate gas for the cans. Most places in town were either out of gas, or had no power to pump it. When we did find a place, it was $3.50 a gallon, cash only, with a $25.00 limit per fill up.
I took my wife with me a couple of times to look for gas for the cans. It was the best thing I could have done. She got to see first hand, people panic. There were unbelievable lines for the few gas stations that were up and running. We witnessed two guys go for the same pump at the same time and end up in a fist fight. There were no ATMs working, and people were desperate for cash. We got $1000 in cash before the storm hit, and I was thankful. I took her to the grocery store, and the Super Wal-Mart. We had plenty of food, but I wanted her to see what was going on. The stores were empty of just about everything. Even though there were few things on the shelves, the stores were crowded, and people had this air of fear about them. It was total chaos. The town didn't really have many looting cases, but it wouldn't have taken much to set things on fire.
We ended up staying in Mississippi seven days after Katrina hit. By then, the roads were clear enough to travel safely back home. Pretty much the whole way home, my wife was full of questions about our preps. She was surprised to learn that the big rubbermaid box in the back of our van was full of preps. Whenever we travel, I pack a big box with enough gear to get us to safety....rucksack, small tent, blankets, MRE's, water filters, flashlights, wind-up radio, a Glock 22 with 100 rounds of ammo, one of my shorty M4s with 9 30 round mags, a vest to hold all the ammo, etc. I always told my wife it was emergency supplies in case we got stranded. She thought it was like jumper cables, tools, flares, etc.
Anyway, it has been a year since Katrina. We have come together as a team about prepping, and our lifestyle. We have dedicated a regular part of our budget towards preps. We have expanded our prepping from just emergency supplies to get by, to a lifestyle. Our home is up for sale. We are moving to Mississippi as soon as it sells. We purchased 20 wooded acres, adjacent to my BIL's 155 Acres, far enough from town to be a bitch of a hike. The nearest town is less than 50K, still crowded, but a lot better than the 1.8 million in the metro area where we currently live. The new home is going to incorporate many aspects of "retreat architecture". My wife's car is 11 years old. Instead of getting a newer car, she told me she wants a real wood burning stove/oven/water heater from Lehman's. We are going to put it in the canning shed, but have enough extra flue piping to move it into the house if need be. Can it get any better?
All in all, Katrina was a very positive experience for me and my family. We were fortunate that none of our loved ones were killed or injured. Several of our family members lost homes, but their insurance is covering the damage. My family was never in need for food, shelter, or security. However, we got to see firsthand others who were not so fortunate. We also got to see just how different people act under pressure. You can think you are prepared for something, but no one really knows how things will be when TSHTF.
You stay safe too!!!!!