Katz: When did you first realize that the hurricane was going to hit Miami?

Lakis:. Around noon on Saturday ...my husband was in New York City and I called him and asked him, “what happens when a hurricane is about 110 miles per hour,” and he said, “Not to worry, that it was a mild one and it wouldn’t make an impact here in Miami.” But then my daughter called me and said the winds had increased, so I watched the news and they said, yes, it had increased. Since I was alone myself with my three kids, I decided it was best to be safe, rather than take a chance and that’s when I began to prepare.

Katz:What exactly did you do?

Lakis: Basically I already had plywood, a portable stove and toilet and batteries in my house but I didn’t have enough food and water so I used our camping equipment... and I bought all kinds of canned goods. Then we began to nail up the plywood with a neighbor’s help. My husband kept calling and even trying to fly back home but he just couldn’t.

Katz:So now it’s you and the three kids and it’s Sunday night... and everyone knows it’s coming. Did you stay in the house?

Lakis: Yes, it was me, my three kids, a friend of my daughter’s and her mother because they were alone. Basically, we made dinner and sent the kids upstairs to bed. My husband kept calling. Finally everyone but myself went to sleep ...but I just couldn’t, it was my house and I felt I had to stay up. And you know what I kept doing... I kept cleaning the house. It was nervous energy and I went to sleep at 1:00 thinking from the news that it was going to hit a bit farther north of us... in Miami. By three o’clock I put the news back on and heard it was going to hit south of Miami... I woke up the children but not until I made my bed and straightened the room... I told them, “get your clothes on, bring a pillow and blanket ...we’re sleeping in the hall.”

Katz: Did you just know to do that or did you get the info from the news station?

Lakis: First of all, I did what the news reporters said. My husband had told me to leave one window open ...but then the news reporters said to close the windows so I did. I also heard that once the lights began to flicker, you should shut off your main circuit breaker. I remembered to do that later. What didn’t dawn on me was that my hallway was on the second floor... so I went downstairs and listened to the wind howling on the glass sliding doors ...then they went. So my son and I went for the bookcases and starting removing the books so we could push the cases against the broken glass doors. The funny thing was that one of the cases had my brandnew Encyclopedia ...and I kept yelling, “no, no,”, to my son. I had just finished paying for them in June! My son turned to me and said, “Mom, they got to go!” We pushed the cases against the doors as the other glass doors went and the windows started to break. Suddenly, it was hopeless ...the wind was inside the house, everything was swirling, it was unbelievable...we went upstairs and the walls were shaking unbelievably, all the windows and skylights blew out, the walls and the second floor began to lift like it was paper, I said we had to get out of here ...then we heard that train sound... like an actual train barreling down on the house... I said, we have to go back downstairs, everyone was frantic. I took each of my children piggyback, covered them with a blanket, downstairs. My daughter was frantic for her cats, but they ran away. We grabbed the dog and all went into the half bathroom downstairs... imagine it, two adults, three teenagers and another child and the dog in this 2 x 2 halfbath. We pushed blankets under the door but we had to keep pulling it out to get some fresh air ...we heard things flying around outside the door...bombs were going off it seemed... everything, windows were exploding ...the girls were nervous and they got so sick, vomiting, everything... everyone on top of each other... Things began to quiet down ...the wind died down and it was raining ...there was devastation everywhere ...the family room was in the kitchen ...all the paintings, bookcases, curtain rods, glass, water everywhere and the plywood was in the yard ...but we found one of our cats in the garbage can and one was in a closet, my daughters were so happy. Eventually, it was just drizzling. We went out and tried to use the plywood to cover the gaping holes. We had no phones but we did have an AT&T call answering and there were frantic messages from our husbands who couldn’t understand why we weren’t answering that we were not able to listen to until the power came on weeks later.

Katz: What did you see as you ventured out?

Lakis: Neighbors came out in a daze... amazed that they were still alive... going out in the middle of the street to see what their houses looked like ...they couldn’t understand why the one place they stayed in had made it. One girl had used a mattress as protection but glass had cut through it and she was cut up pretty bad...

Katz: Now let’s move ahead to Monday ...when did it dawn on you that it was a work day? That your office might be looking for you?

Lakis: On Tuesday I thought I should find a phone and see if I should report to work ...but my car had been “stoned” to death by flying roof tiles ...I asked neighbors if anyone had a phone. You know, it was neighbors that I’d never spoken to before ...now we were asking, “how are you,” we became very personal, each night someone would barbecue and we’d all go over there ...but it wasn’t until Thursday that I found a phone. I found out my husband had flown to Orlando, rented a car and was driving home with supplies. I kept cleaning up, trying to get a routine, cleaning kept my sanity...

Katz: When did you hear from downtown?

Lakis:Actually, they went ahead and called my parents to see how we were doing. “Put a hold on work,” they said, “ worry about your personal survival but try to come to school the next Wednesday.”

Katz: Did they have a plan?

Lakis:The people in the north end had worked last Thursday, Friday and through the weekend, organizing crews to go out and find staff, visiting them, seeing what they needed for survival. Trying to find our Foster Grandparents clients, our Meals on Wheels people. It was people first ...yes, it was people first, business second. The concern wasn’t, can you work? but rather, what do you need. They surveyed us and would have brought water, plywood, maintenance people to help us ...people first. They were particularly worried about staff they couldn’t find...

Katz: Did they have a big meeting to decide where to go next?

Lakis:Yes, the agency did. They formed Teams for each of the areas, splitting the south in three areas, to check on community, staff and then the facility building assessments came next. The first group went down and helped the army. We met with the army ...they needed staff who knew the area. They didn’t know where the people lived there ...where were the homes ...we were mapping out for them the different locations using Goulds as a communications center. A lot of our staff didn’t come back, they themselves were devastated ...but there wasn’t more I could do at home ...my children were safe, they were covered... I couldn’t stay in my house ...the frustration, the helplessness, was so strong ...because at least I could go to work and help others ...they were worse off and at least I could do something; and it helped my sanity... getting my routine back. Definitely it helped.

Katz: How are people doing now, eight weeks later?

Lakis: Physical recovery is there ...the buildings are coming back, services are provided, but the psychological part isn’t back. We can’t concentrate, that emotional unconscious is still there.

Katz: What did state education officials tell you?

Lakis: Commissioner Wayne Horne came back, our regional Head Start person came that first week. First of all, they couldn’t believe it ...they are much more receptive to our problems. You know Head Start monies are very restrictive ...but they are loosening up that and maybe for the first time they are thinking of letting us buy our new buildings for the first time. One of the things they talked about first was the mental health plan for staff and children ...that had to come first. Right now you’re in a crisis, they said, but six months from now, we’ll be here, we’ll be here if you still need mental health services .... On the outside it looks like we’re going, classes are going ...but that mental health... it will be awhile before the staff can concentrate like before... it’s going to take time... a lot of time.