NEW BRIGHTON, Minnesota — Hurricane Ida made landfall on the coast of Louisiana on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane, later downgrading to a Category 3. Ida made landfall exactly 16 years after Hurricane Katrina did.
Sandra Feist was a law school student in New Orleans at the time. She and a couple of friends evacuated the day before Katrina hit, expecting just a long weekend away. They ended up stranded in Arkansas.
"I remember I woke up the morning of the 29th, 16 years ago, and went to the motel front desk to get some bad coffee and asked them what was going on with the hurricane kind of expecting the usual which is that the strength weakens as it hits the wetlands as it nears land. They said that it had strengthened and was as strong as it could possibly be and it was headed straight towards New Orleans which was a shock," Feist said.
Feist and her friends had family in Minnesota so they headed north. Feist expected to stay in the state temporarily, then never left.
"William Mitchell [College of Law] took me in and the very first day I was standing in line in the cafeteria and I met my husband standing in line and so I stayed," she said.
Feist is now an immigration lawyer and state DFL representative living in New Brighton.
In 2019, she took her husband and two kids (ages 11 and 9) to New Orleans on vacation.
"I was able take my kids down to New Orleans just to see the French Quarter and to see the city and to really experience just the weirdness of New Orleans that I loved and lived in for awhile," Feist said.
As Hurricane Ida made landfall, Feist was in contact with some of her friends who had chosen to evacuate the area.
"I know that everybody is obviously, especially in Louisiana, dealing with COVID. I have a friend whose baby was diagnosed with COVID nine days ago and now they're on a journey evacuating," Feist said.
Feist remembers the outpouring of support she received after Hurricane Katrina. She worries about compassion fatigue as natural disasters become more frequent.
"As a state representative, we talk a lot about clean energy and climate change and when I see another once-in-a-century hurricane bearing down on the city of New Orleans because of those rising ocean... temperatures, we just know we need to do something because I just don't know how much our country can bear," Feist said. "I just fear that if we have these storms happening so frequently with Hurricane Maria not that long ago and now Hurricane Ida... I just worry what capacity for empathy and generosity that we have and I know that there will be so many people in need."
On Sunday, Hurricane Ida knocked out power to the entire city of New Orleans.
Feist added, "My heart just really goes out to everyone in New Orleans."