by: Jacquie Rath
Brumfield's life in New Orleans was routine. A single mother, she worked for an auto insurance company as an accounting clerk. Her son Khaleel was scheduled to enter sixth grade, and her 17-month-old son Bryce was safely cared for while she went to work. They had been living in a two-bedroom apartment, and were scheduled to upgrade to a three-bedroom on Sept. 1. That didn't happened.
There were many warnings about the approaching storm, but like so many other Louisiana residents, Brumfield didn't think Katrina would hit with such fury. "I didn't believe it," she said. "We go through this every year, and we're always fine." She and her family chose not to evacuate, and instead to ride out the storm.
But it quickly became obvious that the threat was real. "I took my son to the barber shop at 7:30 a.m. the day before Katrina hit," said Brumfield. "On the way back, we noticed the huge lines at the gas stations. The lines made me think we should have evacuated too."
The family sought shelter from the storm in Brumfield's brother's apartment, on the third floor of a New Orleans apartment building. Nine family members met up at the apartment. "We figured even if there was flooding, we would be fine on the third floor," said Brumfield.
After three days, the family realized it was time to do something. The food in the freezer was going bad, there was no electricity, no area stores were open, and without air-conditioning or fans, the Louisiana heat was becoming unbearable. "We didn't know how serious things really were," said Brumfield. "The local radio station wasn't giving us the same information the rest of the country was watching on CNN. The local reports were mostly about the looting and trying to match up families who had been separated."
Brumfield's family members had three cars among them. None had more than half a tank of gas, and no gas stations were opened. "We tried to siphon the gas from one car to another, but we couldn't," said Brumfield. "We knew a half tank of gas wouldn't get us far. And we were concerned if there would be gas available on the road." They piled into two of the cars, hoping to get as far Lafayette, about two hours west.
The parishes they drove through on their way out of New Orleans "looked like ghost towns," Brumfield recalled. The family was lucky enough to find a single Wal-Mart gas station with fuel available, though they waited over 40 minutes for a fill-up.
Eventually the family made it to Lafayette, where they spent two days in a shelter set up in the Cajun Dome. They spent their time there trying to figure out where to go next. There were no hotel rooms available, no rental cars, no flights out of New Orleans, and no seating on buses. Left with no other alternatives, the family decided to drive toward New York, where they have extended family in the Bronx and Rockville Centre.
Ten minutes out of Lafayette, Brumfield's 12-year-old car broke down, leaving its passengers stranded. They rang doorbells, trying to find someone with a phone book so they could find a rental car or a U-Haul franchise. According to Brumfield, during their search for transportation they "encountered a very sincere man who told us how sorry he was for us. That's when it hit me: We were homeless."
After much searching, they located a truck, rented it and continued north. The family traveled for three days, eventually finding hotel rooms and a rental car along the way. Brumfield, her two sons, mother, sister, niece and grand nephew all settled in Rockville Centre, where they are now in a temporary shelter, and Brumfield's oldest son is enrolled as a sixth-grader in South Side Middle School.
"The students and faculty of the middle school have been great," said Brumfield. "Khaleel is treated like a rock star. They help take our mind off of it all." Principal Shelagh McGinn has been helpful to the family, even cleaning out a closet at the school for storage of items donated to them.
Brumfield and her family do not want to return to Louisiana, where their homes were declared unlivable by local officials. They want to rebuild their lives in New York. After overcoming the obstacles of their evacuation and losing their homes, they are now faced with a different set of challenges.
The Red Cross is helping hurricane evacuees with temporary housing for only 30 days, which for Brumfield and her family will end Oct. 2. After that, they will need to find housing on their own or look into public assistance.
Finding housing is not going to be easy. Brumfield has yet to find employment. She is working on her resume, but even if she gets a job she will not have transportation to get there, clothes to wear, or child-care services.
Without a salary coming in, providing food for the family is becoming difficult. They were provided with food stamps, but with no refrigerator or a way to cook, the stamps are of little use.
Without medical insurance and already depleting her savings, Brumfield has been unable to get proper medical attention for an upper respiratory illness, and her mother has been without her false teeth since they evacuated. The family has already overcome so much, but at times the difficulties of starting over almost seem insurmountable.
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