By Bonnie Boyd
BYU student Allison Anderson from Mississippi has more than just the start of a new semester to worry about. She and hundreds of other students like her are glued to TV screens, newspapers and the Internet helplessly tracking Hurricane Katrina.
?I?ve been on CNN often checking the pictures. It?s amazing,? Anderson said. ?You see the water pouring down streets. It?s just awful. I can?t even imagine.?
Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana coast, moved inland into Mississippi and created problems on the Alabama coast. More than 100 people are confirmed dead, thousands of buildings and homes irreparable. Floods are causing severe problems and the breaching levees are adding to the devastation. While Louisiana is in turmoil, other sates are suffering. Diberville, home to 8,000 residents in Mississippi, is reported as being completely underwater.
David Badger, from DeRidder, La. a senior studying neuroscience have been calling family every day.
?I talked to my mom and watched the news this morning because Gulfport [Miss] was blown to pieces by the wind,? Badger said. ?I was born there.?
Not all students, however, are eager to learn of the latest damage at home. Tatiana McCreary, a sophomore from Natches, Miss. said she stays away from the TV.
?I just don?t want to see the damage,? McCreary said. ?Only occasionally will I flip through the channels and see what?s going on.?
The safety of family continues to take precedent over other concerns, she said, but the news from home is not always comforting.
McCreary related her phone call with her mother: ?She told me, ?This is your call. ? The whole state is blacked out. ? I love you. ? Bye.? It was really hard.?
Rebecca Sharp, a resident of Baton Rouge, La. now studying visual arts, is also having trouble staying in touch with family members that were in the path of the storm.
?We can?t get through on any cell phones at all. They are all down,? Sharp said. ?Even using the hard wired phones, we only reach them about one out of ten times. It has been really frustrating.?
While natural disasters of this size easily disrupt normal life, students say they are trying to keep themselves busy.
?I?m focusing on school,? McCreary said. ?As long as my family is alright everything else can be replaced.?
