On August 17, Iriel Evans went out into the streets of Baton Rouge, Louisiana to find the untold stories of the Great Flood of 2016.
I met Robin Patton and here is her story. I was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In all of my 32 years of living in this area, I have never experienced anything like what our city witnessed on August 13, 2016. The Great Flood of 2016; an overflow of the Amite and Comite River, forceful enough to break barriers leaving water lines up to the roof of over 7,000 people's homes in the area. It wasn't long before our city turned into an impoverished area, leaving many families homeless, careless, and displaced away in shelters away from their loved ones.
Junk piles on every lawn, people taking boats to their homes instead of cars, and a stench so strong in the air so familiar to the smell of an over sized dumpster. Needless to say this experience has not been easy. Although, we lost our home, I'm thankful that our family remained unharmed, and I was able to retreat from our home with my 5 month old baby to safely. It took about three years to get our home how we wanted it, furnished and decorated carefully and meticulously at an affordable price point, and the last thing we would have ever imagined is that it would be all swept away by flood.
Being that we are not in a flood zone, no flood insurance was purchased, leaving us to remodel and refurnish our home from the ground up. I am a registered nurse and my husband is a manager at Best Buy, but we spend most of our spare time making subtle improvements to our home and renovations that we can afford.
My dream is ultimately to become an interior decorator. We idolize Chip and Joanna on fixer upper, and we carefully study their tactics in hopes of making our home even a pinch as beautiful as the homes they've worked on. Not only do we admire their style and expertise, but we admire how devoted they are to family. Like Chip and Joanna, in the future we hope to raise more children in the home that has been attached to so many memories in our lives. We know that they normally don't come out of Waco, but it would be our dream for them to come and remodel our home in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area.
My husband and I pride ourselves on being humble people that don't usually ask for much, but this experience has taught me not to hold back, and to never stop reaching for my dreams. After hearing Robin's story, I realized that this is the reality for many Louisiana residents today. If you would like to help Louisiana in any way please contact local charities or share this article to bring awareness to Louisiana.
Pictures provided by Robin Patton and The Times Picayune.
