NATCHEZ — Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, many displaced people have rebuilt their lives in Natchez, making their presence known by their food, hospitality and the organizations they serve.

Paul and Linda Melancon, came to Natchez from Metairie, La., shortly before Katrina struck.

“The day before is when we packed up and left,” Linda said.

Natchez wasn’t unknown to the couple. Paul said he often came up to hunt at Sedgefield Plantation and had a hunting camp there with a camper.

“Thank God we had it, because that’s what we lived in,” Paul said.

When the couple left the Sunday before Katrina swept through, they, along with Paul’s mother, stayed in the 8 by 30 ft. camper for the first two weeks after the storm.

In the end, they would live there for eight months.

Christine Tims was living in St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans when Katrina struck. She and her husband, Byron Tims, had gone up to Natchez to work on Bisland House, with the intention of turning it into a bed-and-breakfast.

“When we left it was a category one and it was going to Florida,” Tims said.

Soon, their daughters and other family members joined them in Natchez as they fled the storm’s changing path.

“By Sunday we had a good 15 people here,” Tims said.

As time went by, that number increased, with air mattresses cropping up all over the house.

“We had 20 people, five dogs, a cat and a bird for the first month,” Tims said.

Over in Slidell, Ed and Claudette Songy had made the decision to leave two days before Katrina hit. They said they had visited Natchez before for the Festival of Music, and Ed was originally from Natchez.

The two also had friends in the area.

“We were invited to come here so they could take care of us,” Ed said.

Returning home

Once it was safe to return, all of them went back to see what had happened.

“Because we owned a business, we could get in first,” Paul said.

Paul said their Metairie business, Cajun Cookin’ Caterers and Stepbrothers Bar and Grill, was able to reopen in six weeks because it was elevated and the water could leave.

Their house was a different story. When the two were able to return home, Paul said they found approximately 2 feet of water.

They also found something else.

“The mold was 5 feet up the walls,” Linda said.

The effects of the mold sight of it made Linda vomit, she said. The water had ruined a lot of things they had left behind, even if the water hadn’t touched them.

“Even the light fixtures rusted,” Paul said.

Tims’ son-in-law was also able to go back early because of his job for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, bringing back photos of Tims’ house and neighborhood in September. The photos showed the roof gone from Tims’ house, and a radically altered neighborhood.

“Everything I knew growing up is gone,” Tims said.

When Ed Songy went back to Slidell, he made the trip using the back roads.

“The main roads were almost impossible,” Ed said.

Ed said he saw trees had had their tops ripped off, leaving the trunks with a corkscrew-like appearance.

But Ed considers his neighborhood to have been “blessed.” Ed said their house wasn’t damaged at all.

“Not even a shingle,” Ed said.

The decision to stay

Even though their house wasn’t damaged, Claudette Songy said they heard utilities would be out in Slidell for six months, making the area unlivable.

Claudette said it was too long to stay with friends, so they bought a house three doors down from where they had once found a safe harbor.

Although the two had family who went back, and they maintained a second house in Slidell for a few years, the couple eventually made the decision to stay.

Ed said it was difficult not to be near their children anymore.

“But they love to come here,” Claudette said.

The Songys quickly immersed themselves in Natchez, becoming involved in the Festival of Music they had once attended as guests. Ed was a board member for the festival for approximately three years, and is now an honorary board member.

Claudette became involved with the festival too, and has helped cook for performers.

“They can’t wait for when it’s Claudette’s day to bring the chicken pot pie,” Ed said.

The Melancons also made the decision to stay in Natchez, only with food as their focus. The couple had considered retiring in Natchez when they lived in New Orleans, Linda said.

“Katrina pushed us early,” Linda said.

The two own Cajun Cookin’ on Martin Luther King Jr. Street, which opened approximately two years ago.

“This is what I know best,” Paul said.

Now, Paul works on bringing “a taste of New Orleans” to Natchez through serving up gumbo, muffalettas and po’boys.

Paul even served dishes in Natchez’s 2014 Food and Wine Festival.

“He ran out,” Linda said.

Tims opened Bisland House as a bed-and-breakfast, although not after some difficult months. Tims said she was welcomed by neighbors though, and her daughter Michelle Tims began attending Cathedral School.

At the time, Tims didn’t have money for tuition, but Cathedral and the Archdiocese of Jackson helped her.

“They took my daughter in,” Tims said, referring to Cathedral.

Among other things, Tims is now president of the Natchez Bed and Breakfast Association, welcoming tourists into Natchez.

“We have people from all over the world,” Tims said.

But Tims said she still misses New Orleans.

“All the time,” Tims said.

Tims said she still loves Natchez though, a sentiment on which Paul Melancon agrees.

“This is home now,” he said.