Katrina 5 Years Later: 73-Year-Old Evacuee Makes Friends, Learns Spanish In New Home Of El Paso

Five years ago, Joann Lawrence came to the Sun City with more than a little bit of uncertainty.

At 68-years-old, she was one of several Hurricane Katrina evacuees brought to El Paso.

She liked the city so much, she made it her new home.

“I have lots of friends here,” she said in an interview with ABC-7 at a common room in Central El Paso’s Chelsea Housing Complex.

Now 73-years-old, the blue-eyed, good-natured Hurricane Katrina evacuee said she’s learning the local culture.

“At first I didn’t know Spanish, but I’m picking up a little bit,” she said.

Lawrence isn’t just picking it up– she can now carry a tune in Spanish.

She and her friends from the housing complex get together at least once a week to sing mostly-Spanish songs.

Lawrence is one of more than 700 evacuees who were brought to the convention center downtown in the hurricane’s aftermath. About 200 decided to stay in the Sun City.

“I’m tough, you know?” she said.

Lawrence isn’t kidding. She stayed in her New Orleans home even after the hurricane hit.

“Three days later the National Guard came by and said ‘Come with me” and I said ‘yes sir!'”

She decided to settle in the El Paso because, “I had nothing to go home to, I lost everything.”

Like many evacuees, Lawrence touched down in El Paso with little to her name.

“Most of (the evacuees) came out literally with just the clothes on their back. Some of them were wearing trash bags for shoes,” said Mark Matthys, the Executive Director of the El Paso Red Cross.

Matthys said Fort Bliss, donors, and volunteers helped emergency responce agencies and city officials prepare for the influx of evacuees.

He said he won’t soon forget the reaction of the first wave of 435 displaced people who were bussed into the convention center. “You could see the relief wash over them, that they were happy they were away from this devastation and were in a very safe, warm and loving place,” he said.

Lawrence said that feeling of security was important to her since she made the trip to El Paso without friends or relatives. Lawrence’s husband died several years ago. She says she has 3 children who still live in Louisiana.

“I’m pretty much on my own,” she said. On her own– but not alone.

“I’ve been very blessed with many good people that helped me,” she said. A nurse comes to check on her once a week to keep an eye on her thyroid condition.

Though she said New Orleans is on her mind, El Paso is now in her heart.

“It’s a very lovely place and I’ve met lots of lovely people. And I like Mexican food too!”