Enduring any hurricane can be traumatic enough, so imagine surviving four. That is Port Arthur resident Cheryl Battiste’s reality.
“Katrina, that was the first storm we ever left for,” Battiste told KHOU 11 on Sunday. “You can say my front yard was the Mississippi River.“
After Hurricane Katrina, Battiste moved to Port Arthur, Texas.
“We stayed for Ike, we stayed for Rita," she said.
Now she has added Harvey to the list of hurricanes she has survived.
“Of course we all lucky but that’s life,” she said.
Four catastrophic storms that have destroyed livelihoods, killed thousands and left Battiste to start life over, four different times.
“It’s hard. It’s aggravating, but you do what you got to do," she said.
As she continues to persevere, she’s just grateful to be alive.
“God ain’t ready for me,” she said with a laugh. “Something I ain’t doing right or something I’m doing wrong.”
Handling life with a little bit of sense of humor and a lot of faith.
“My mind says it constantly, the Lord is the strength of my life. Whom should I be afraid of? That keeps me strong," she said.
Battiste plans to eventually make it back to Port Arthur where she’ll put her house on the market and leave to start life over one more time.