Upstate Family, Displaced By Katrina, Reliving Nightmare With Tropical Storm Gustav

    Their eyes glued to the television, for Chris and Stacy Faia, this is more than deja vu.  It’s their worst memory back on the big screen.  “It was bad.  Everything like what you saw on tv.  It was bad,“ says Chris, recalling three years ago when they lost their home in Hurricane Katrina.  The couple both lived all of their lives in Louisiana, before the storm hit in 2005.  Now, the warning of Tropical Storm Gustav this week is hard to ignore.  Still lurking in the gulf, but possibly headed for Louisiana, it’s a painful reminder for the Faia family.  “When we went back, and the first time I saw the house, and the complete devastation, I realized it wasn’t home anymore,“ says Stacy. 

    One of the few things that was spared:  a piece of furniture passed down from Chris’s grandmother.  It’s now what the couple has used to start their new life in the Upstate.  They’ve relied on the kind community here, they say, to rebuild.  “People come here, and you’re a stranger.  They just hold out their hand,“ says Chris.  Now, they’re holding out that same generous hand to friends and family back in their home state.  They’ve already received calls this week, seeking shelter from the storm.  “I just got a call from our friends, and parents, saying can we come?  Do you have a place?,“ says Stacy.  “I say, of course we have a place for you!  We always have a place for you.“

    Unsure of what Gustav will bring, the couple is glad Louisiana is prepared this time.  “At least they’ve thought about it,“ says Chris.  “You can’t move a population of a quarter of a million people in two days.“