News & Current Events

Sights and Sounds of the Storm Day One You awake to sounds of what seems like a war zone. You immediately feel some nervousness and begin to realize the loud booming noise is not a bomb, but thunder. Thunder like you have never heard before. Then the sound of the down pour comes. Rain some people listen to on sound machines to relax is now anything but. You think the rain will soon stop, but hour after hour it beats on the windows and sides of your home. Unable to get out, you rely on the news, and begin to see the effects of all you have heard. Day Two Well aware that your community is in a state of emergency, you watch...

I'm not native to Baton Rouge. I'm from California, and I've only lived here 3 years. Growing up in California, I'm used to people keeping to themselves. I'm still not used to strangers in the South waving at me, saying hello and asking how my day was, much less the courteous "yes ma'am" I always seem to get. I've also never been through a hurricane, and the worst "disaster" I've experienced is what most Southern Californians would consider a relatively minor earthquake that was more of a traffic inconvenience than anything else. So what I've seen these past few days with the flooding in the Baton Rouge area has been a huge eye opener. My family is among the lucky ones. We left our Prairieville...

This is surviving the flood, from the perspective of a mom with a medically fragile, technology dependent child. Hurricane Katrina During Katrina, we evacuated to Baton Rouge from Ascension Parish. We found out then that we were pregnant with our son, Braden. Hurricane Gustav During Gustav, we evacuated with our medically fragile, technology dependent son to a building and place we believed would be safer and would get power restored faster. Instead, we endured loss of power, taking cover for a tornado, the roof being torn off and water coming in, and a medical crisis with our son. He needed resuscitation; we had done all we could for him. We called ahead to the designated shelter for special needs, and they told us they...

South Louisiana, specifically Baton Rouge (and surrounding areas) and Lafayette, have been devastated by the recent flooding. In an effort to share the most up to date information for our Red Stick Mom Blog readers, we’ve compiled this list of resources and information to help Louisiana flood victims. We’ll keep it as updated as possible in the coming days – please leave a comment if you know of any drop off or donation opportunities that are missing. Many families in South Louisiana have lost absolutely everything, and the need for help and service will last for a while. All contributions of all sizes will make a positive impact on those who are suffering right now. Note :: if you are...

I never thought this would happen to us. Awakened by my husband bringing a bottle to our baby at 4:00am on Friday morning, I was told our street was already flooded. It was already too deep to drive through. We've suspected a drainage problem for a while, and the street had flooded before, so we didn't think anything of it. I was glad to get a little more sleep as opposed to getting up for work. By late morning, the water from our flooded street was now creeping onto our front lawn, already covering the sidewalk. We watched for hours as it slowly fluctuated up and down by an inch or so, gauging by a line on the concrete of our...