Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina ripped through Landon Collins' life...

[planomateo]

Not sure I like how the article flows, seems very disjointed. Certainly dropped some info I hadn't read/heard before about Landon.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/f...e-katrina-drove-young-giant-article-1.2334168

 

[PhillyGirl]

Hate the Giants, but hoping for the best for Collins. I learned more about him in that article but I definitely see what you mean about "disjointed" .. Very choppy.

That mom though .. :bolt:

 

[RhinoGuy]

It doesn't seem like 10 years.

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[planomateo]

It doesn't seem like 10 years.

Agree.

At the time, I was living in Plano, my neighbors had just moved to Plano, TX from Birmingham (small world), the guy was from Louisiana and played football for Samford and his wife was from Pelham (graduated from FSU). His parents were staying with him temporarily for about 6 weeks as they were impacted by Katrina. His dad shared alot of stories about how the conditions were down around New Oreleans post Katrina. Crazy world we live in.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Agree.

At the time, I was living in Plano, my neighbors had just moved to Plano, TX from Birmingham (small world), the guy was from Louisiana and played football for Samford and his wife was from Pelham (graduated from FSU). His parents were staying with him temporarily for about 6 weeks as they were impacted by Katrina. His dad shared alot of stories about how the conditions were down around New Oreleans post Katrina. Crazy world we live in.

I was 15 (hi everyone, I'm the baby here). I was still living in Philly and we were one of the first cities to start taking in the evacuees to our housing projects. I remember one of the girls on my travel basketball team was from Metairie.

 

[planomateo]

We had a previously closed Walmart near me in McKinney, TX that they turned into a temporary housing for some evacuees. I remember hearing people talking about the crime rate in the area going up as well. Not sure if the uptight folks in North Dallas were making a bigger deal outta the situation than it needed to be.

 

[PhillyGirl]

We had a previously closed Walmart near me in McKinney, TX that they turned into a temporary housing for some evacuees. I remember hearing people talking about the crime rate in the area going up as well. Not sure if the uptight folks in North Dallas were making a bigger deal outta the situation than it needed to be.

They said the same thing in Philly, but we didn't believe it. They ran a report a few years later (I believe it was the local ABC affiliate?) that the rumors were false, and there was no uptick in crime that occurred with the Katrina victims moving in (at least in our area).

 

[psychojoe]

Incredible devastation, some still not repaired ten years . If memory serves, D. J. Fluker and his family were also uprooted by Katrina.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Incredible devastation, some still not repaired ten years . If memory serves, D. J. Fluker and his family were also uprooted by Katrina.

http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/10/13/dj-fluker-san-diego-chargers-inspriational-stories

Excerpt:
For all the natural disasters that come without warning, Hurricane Katrina’s reputation preceded her arrival. In August 2005, residents of New Orleans knew a storm was coming. That included the Fluker family: D.J, his mother, two sisters and brother had left town and taken refuge in nearby Biloxi, Miss., when the storm hit. They were safe, but when the muddy Mississippi breached its banks, the Flukers’ modest home in the Lower Ninth Ward was destroyed. Without insurance or their possessions, they were suddenly consigned to living in their Ford Escort, all five of them. D.J. was 14 at the time and already weighed close to 400 pounds.

Often homeless and penniless, the family pinballed across the Delta, to Mississippi to Alabama to New Orleans in search of stability. “We struggled and struggled and struggled some more,” Fluker recalls. “We went church to church, shelter to shelter. Sometimes we couldn't do that so we would sleep in the car.”

D.J. remembers nights when the family would have no food and would eat out of the garbage dumpsters at fast food restaurants. Other times, he says, he and his siblings would wear pants smelling of urine because they had nowhere to wash their clothes.

-------------------------

My heart truly ached reading that .. :smh:

 

[psychojoe]

D J certainly has seized his opportunity. It is a tribute to his character that he hung tough through all that.

 

[planomateo]

Just caught this on a local news station here in Dallas. Two brothers were separated post katrina, adopted to different families. The younger one's family decided to go watch a HS football game and he recognized the name of one of the teams RB (his brother). They met up after the game and had a very emotional visit.

Cool story.

Brothers Reunited 10 Years After Katrina Ripped Them Apart