My ordeal began when I couldn't locate my grandkids for almost a week after the hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast.

I cried when I saw them at the airport. It felt like I was in a third-world country. They had dirty T-shirts, shorts and sandals -- the same clothes they wore when the fled from the hurricane.

Hurricane Katrina wasn't done when she unleashed her fury on America's Gulf Coast, wiping out New Orleans and devastating other coastal areas. She also dealt a severe body blow to consumer confidence across the board.

There are 26 refineries in the Texas-Gulf Coast area that are potentially in the path of this hurricane.

I'm from the gulf coast of Louisiana.

Hurricane Katrina exposed the harsh reality that we have been skating on thin ice when it comes to this country's energy concentrations on the Gulf Coast.