After six years, Hurricane Katrina evacuees struggle with staying in Texas or going home

Derranisha Braud's memories of Hurricane Katrina are far more vivid than the peeling, dull green and white paint on the Outspan apartments in San Antonio.

The brown grass is dying beneath the searing rays of the Texas sun as Braud, a rising junior at Sam Houston High School, stands in the shade of a still green tree.

At the age of 11, Braud lost her New Orleans home Aug. 29, 2005, when the force of Katrina wiped out the city's aging levees and unleashed waves of floodwaters into its neighborhoods and streets.

"The roof caved in on my mom's bed," said Braud, just one of the 25,000-35,000 displaced evacuees still living in San Antonio.

The hurricane was predicted to be Category 4 (out of a possible 5). But it was reported to actually be Category 3 when it hit land, with wind speeds between 111 mph and 130 mph.

The family slept at an elementary school, then moved to sleep on a bridge where they were given military rations. They had only the clothes on their backs and were forced to sleep on cold wet concrete without blankets or pillows.

Helicopters with searchlights flew around at night. Braud remembers having a dream about a week before in which she was "sitting on a hard surface with lights flying in my face."

She now believes the dream was a warning of what would transpire.

A helicopter finally picked up Braud and her family and took them to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner. An Army plane then took the family to the former Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio.

From there, the family spent nearly a month at a shelter at Windsor Park Mall. Because most of her family and friends' homes were not as badly damaged, many of them stayed behind in Louisiana.

Fast forward nearly six years and we see the frightened preteen girl transformed into a young 17-year-old mother to be.

She is still unused to living in an apartment.

"We always did live in a house," she said.

It is difficult for Braud to be away from her extended family after years of being close to them.

"I miss being home," she said.

Not living near the family is especially hard on Braud's mother, who has been planning to go back to Louisiana since last year. They will leave in November. Braud said that her mother doesn't like to live in one place for a long time.

"She wants the best life for us," Braud said about her mother's decision about going back to Louisiana. Braud also wants to go, but thinks she will come back after living awhile in Louisiana.

"This is home too," she said.

Her child's father, who is also from New Orleans, lives here in San Antonio. This is another reason for Braud to return to San Antonio.

She keeps in contact with friends and family members through Facebook and texting.

"I don't really need new friends," she said. "I just need to concentrate on my education and my baby."

Braud compared the Texas schools as "caring a little more about us" than her school in Louisiana. She doesn't have much to remember her old life by. A few childhood pictures were salvaged but they don't bring any memories.

"I don't really remember much of them pictures," she said.

Asked if she thought about Katrina often, she said, "It runs through my mind a lot."

Even so, Braud doesn't like to cling to her "bad past." She tries to forget.

"I don't really hold on to memories," she said.

Where is Braud's home? Here in San Antonio or back in Louisiana?

"It satisfies me to be here," she said.

Too many bad memories

Nina Roma, 18, another Katrina evacuee, lived in Metairie, La., before her home was flooded in the hurricane. She is now a 2011 Marshall High School graduate, but was in eighth-grade at the time the storm hit.

Roma said she didn't realize how bad the storm was going to be until a friend suggested she evacuate.

Because Roma's family car was being repaired, she and her mother drove from Louisiana to Memphis, Tenn., in a rental car.

They packed for only two days, thinking they would return home soon.

"We all just took off," she said.

Because of the circumstances, she and her mother did not have to pay the rental fee on the car.

The Romas left with Nina's friend and his family to stay in Tennessee. They were there for almost two weeks, then went to South Haven, Miss., to be closer to Louisiana.

A church there provided Roma's family with food and shelter. Roma was so grateful for their help that she even volunteered at the church to help others like her and those with even less.