Katrina Evacuee Happy With Her New Life In Oklahoma

Wednesday, August 29th 2007, 4:08 pm

By: News On 6

It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. It has been two years since Hurricane Katrina flooded 80% of New Orleans and killed more than 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi. Many Katrina evacuees will never go back to New Orleans, some don't have homes or jobs to return to, and others who relocated have created new lives in new cities. News On 6 anchor Craig Day visited with one Katrina survivor who relocated to Oklahoma. He reports she says Katrina and moving to Tulsa was one of the best things that happened to her.

When Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, hundreds of thousands of people had to flee the city. Doris Allen was one of them, she remembers Katrina like it was yesterday.

"Grab a few things, we've got to go! I said we've got to go where? The hurricane is a category five," Katrina evacuee Doris Allen said.

Doris left with a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, her purse, medication and a toothbrush, nothing more. Everything else was left behind in her 9th Ward home. Although all of her belongings were lost, there are few things she misses about New Orleans.

"You couldn't walk the streets in the evening or at night, somebody would mug you if you were by yourself or whatever. The rape, all that, the drugs, all that, I was just fed up," said Allen.

Crime had gotten so bad in her neighborhood that a few months before Katrina hit Doris Allen had actually prayed for a way out of the city.

"Fell on my knees on my birthday and cried like a newborn baby. When I got through crying I said Lord clean my heart, and give me a new life, but I had no idea it would be through Katrina," she said.

Allen realizes there are many New Orleans residents, that two years later, would like to return to the city they love. She often thinks of what they've lost, but for her, relocating to Tulsa has been good.

"Here in Tulsa I got the opportunity of my life,â€ said Allen. â€œI always wanted to own my own home, and it was hard for me to do that in New Orleans. It was hard."

In her new home, on the second anniversary of Katrina, Doris Allen says she's thankful to be alive, and for a fresh start.

The local Katrina Survivors Coalition will hold a celebration of life ceremony Wednesday night at Tulsa's Mt. Zion Baptist Church, located at 419 N. Elign. Organizers say they'll share success stories from people who overcame the tragedy.

Watch the video: Katrina Survivor Finds New Life In Oklahoma