Houston Holds Hope, Despair for Katrina Evacuees

Two years after Hurricane Katrina emptied New Orleans, more than 90,000 evacuees live in Houston, permanently it seems. Their stories are a mix of sadness, loneliness and triumphant hope.

One of those Houston transplants is Terry Gabriel. At 40 years old and 6 feet 1 inch tall, Gabriel still seems very much the star basketball player she once was. Strong, attractive and charismatic, Gabriel carries with her an unshakable Christian faith.

Hurricane Katrina tested that faith. Gabriel, her sister and four children fled the storm in a rental car and began living on the floor of the Houston convention center.

Like her fellow evacuees, Gabriel was shell-shocked and disoriented. But she understood earlier than most that her life in Louisiana was over: After a week, she began looking for a job.



"It was so stressful; you were thinking, 'Work just yet?' But what I was seeking first and foremost was a church home … I needed stability and I didn't have it mentally," Gabriel says.

In the last two years, Terry Gabriel has come a long way.

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