Amelia Aguda watched the floodwater rise in her condo in Metairie, La., until it was up to her ankles.
Around her, Aguda heard the sounds of her world being destroyed.
"You could hear the winds blowing trees over -- big trees were uprooted," she said.
When authorities told her that she would have to leave, Aguda, now 63, put her cat in the car and started driving away from the storm.
She reached Memphis, realized that he didn't know anyone there and kept going. In Atlanta, she called a cousin who lived in Winston-Salem and asked: "What are you all doing?"
They invited her to come to Winston-Salem, she said.
Aguda, a former dice dealer at a casino, did.
She is on disability for fibromyalgia, but she has still looked for ways to contribute to her new community.
She has volunteered at the Shepherd's Center and driven people to doctor appointments.
And she's made the long trip back to New Orleans several times to recover what she could, but mold damaged her belongings.
She lived in an apartment complex in Kernersville. A string of contacts led her to the Experiment in Self-Reliance, a local nonprofit organization that helps people become economically self-sufficient. Agudo was able to get into a program there and save up for a home. She now owns a three-bedroom house in the southeastern part of Winston-Salem.
She gets together with her cousins for seafood once in a while, but she said that it's not quite the same as New Orleans.
"I tried to do seafood up here," she said. "They tell you it's fresh, but honey...." She shook her head.
These days Aguda works in her yard a bit and copes with her health problems. She had counted on working until she died, she said, so time weighs heavy on her at times.
She recently contacted a local agency about becoming a foster parent.
"All I can promise," she said, "is it would be a peaceful home."
mgiunca@wsjournal.com
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