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Raceland, La., house of Houma Principal Chief Brenda Dardar Robichaux, where 20 Houmas have taken shelter from Hurricane Gustav.Courtesy photo

Listening to the 'Howling' Winds and Cooking Gumbo

By Brenda Dardar Robichaux

Sept. 1, 11:12 a.m. CDT, Raceland, La.:

After a relatively quiet night, the winds picked up this morning and now we're getting hit hard by Hurricane Gustav. Our power went out at 6 this morning, and we're working off a generator now so the refrigerator works and we can watch television for news and go on the Internet to get information and contact people on the outside.

Family and friends are worried about us, but we're surviving. Our spirits are up and we're safe. Although smaller trees are falling down all around us, the 60-foot oak trees are bending but not breaking and the cypress trees are leaning but haven't broken. Magnolia branches are down and there are tree limbs everywhere.

The skies are just gray and there are patches of light color but you can't recognize any clouds. It's not really raining a lot.

But you can hear the winds, with its tremendous howling sound. The trees are absorbing some of the sound and well inside the house where we're protected you can't really tell what's going on.

So we just watch the news and unlike Katrina where we totally lost all communications, we call people and text-message family and friends when we can. I'm worried because we've been told that Terrebonne Parish has suffered major wind and flood damage and lots of Houma are there. We're just concerned that they are hit very hard by the wind and water.

Did I get any sleep last night? Not really. We slept but we didn't really sleep. But the children here are doing fine and maybe it's because they are so young. They amaze me.

We've got a gas stove that works now so we're cooking a big pot of gumbo.

Brenda Dardar Robichaux is principal chief of the United Houma Nation of Louisiana.

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