Katrina evacuees still calling N.C. home

A year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, many of the storm's evacuees -- who originally relocated to North Carolina -- have decided to remain in the Tar Heel State.

Waldeen Mitchell keeps a scrapbook in her office that she thumbs through when a rare unoccupied minute allows her to reflect on the chaotic journey that tore her from her beloved New Orleans [according to the Associated Press].

The book could be a reminder of loss. Her mold-covered house, the destroyed European clocks collected during her military service, the series of strokes her elderly mother has suffered in the year since Hurricane Katrina changed their lives.

But for Mitchell, a former Marine with an unwavering trust in her divine path, the photographs illustrate a time of healing, growth and education.

"I can tell you 100 bad things that came out of Katrina, but I can probably tell you 102 good things that came out of it," said Mitchell, who now lives in Raleigh and works for the Capital Area Workforce Board helping fellow hurricane evacuees find work and rebuild their lives in North Carolina. ...

Mitchell and her college-bound son are among hundreds of families that have stayed in North Carolina since fleeing the strong Category 3 storm that battered the Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines last August.

Thousands sought shelter in North Carolina: More than 5,000 applications from evacuated individuals, couples and families listed a North Carolina address when asking for hurricane-related assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Renee Hoffman, spokeswoman for the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

The state didn't track how many evacuees came through and it is unclear how many have stayed, though public safety officials guess hundreds remain scattered throughout the state. About 200 families are still living in and around Raleigh, Wake County community health director Gibbie Harris said. ...

In Charlotte, which along with Raleigh took in the bulk of the state's hurricane evacuees, the Red Cross helped about 1,400 displaced families and received about 200,000 hurricane-related calls in the weeks after the storm, Red Cross spokeswoman Elaine Spallone said.