Gustav and Katrina

I visited a woman today who lives in a rural area outside of New Orleans, on Route 90 midway between Pearlington and St Bernard Parish. She has been living there for 42 years and her stilt house, which is half finished, came through the storm fine. She and her husband, a commercial fisherman, paid for Grade A pilings, the largest possible. She wanted a sturdy home. Those pilings easily withstood Gustav's winds.

If the contractors had finished building her home in December as the contract originally stated, she would not have had a problem with Gustav. However, they have only brought her house to the plywood sheathing stage. She has been living in a trailer for two years as a result of Katrina, waiting for the contractors she paid to finish building her home. Her trailer was rolled by the winds of Gustav.

She lost everything for the second time.