Katrina Survivor Makes Washington Area Home

SILVER SPRING - Hundreds of families from New Orleans came to the Washington area seeking refuge after Hurricane Katrina five years ago. Many have since returned but some have stayed.

When Rose Davis arrived, she had nothing, but the people she met taught her that there really are good people in the world,

People who helped her get back on her feet. She has a new life now, far from New Orleans. "Today my life is ten times better and I'm happy," said Davis.

She lives in a four bedroom townhouse in Silver Spring, with five of her children. Saturday they sat on the couch singing songs to a children's show on television. Her older son was at the computer on Facebook, where he still keeps up with old friends from his hometown.

For the family, Katrina was a turning point, dividing the past and future. Davis lost everything in the storm. She showed us the new pictures on her bookcase as they make new memories.

"I look at it as a blessing. It was my way out of New Orleans and I've been blessed ever since I've been here," she said.

She prefers not to think about the hurricane. Davis and two of her children were trapped in their second floor apartment. Her daughter Diamond was three at the time.

"Outside I saw the water going up, up, up. That scared me when I saw it going up the stair," said Diamond who is now eight years old and getting ready to start third grade.

Davis and her children escaped when her sister came floating by on a mattress. "It was a box spring mattress and they had a board paddling and I was like 'oh my God.' I got on there and two other people got on there," Davis recalled.

They found their way to Memphis, Tennessee and got on a bus. She and 20 relatives from New Orleans eventually made it to her sister's house in Laurel. The fire station nearby gave them clothes and a place to shower.

"We had been on a bus for days. We had the same old clothes on," she said, "you have no idea how good that felt."

Colesville Presbyterian Church gave her furniture and a place to live, paying her expenses for more than a year while she went to school and got a job. "My kids are happy. I'm happy. I'm doing things I've never done before in my life. My kids have a better education," Davis said smiling.

Her kids hated it at first, begging to go back. "I have family that went back. I won't go back," she vows.

Davis was born and raised in New Orleans but says that part of her life is over. "Yes a piece of my life is always going to be in New Orleans, but to be honest with you that piece is buried."

Davis says she knows people in New Orleans, who are still living in trailers or with other families. She has no regrets about coming here and says today she feels like she is really living. The Washington area is now her home.