���ϳԹ���

Having just spent weeks in the New Orleans area helping with restoration after Hurricane Katrina’s devastating blow, Keith Coleman was eager to get home.But just after arriving in his hometown of Sulphur, La., he found out he would have to get back in the car and leave. Hurricane Rita was coming.So this former meter services employee – now a senior engineering assistant – evacuated with his family to his brother’s house in Oakdale, La.As the massive Rita made its way onto land near the Louisiana/Texas border around 2:30 on the morning of Sept. 24, 2005, Coleman couldn’t sleep. In fact, he and his brother-in law, Warren Faulk (Entergy serviceman first class in Lake Charles), headed back to the Lake Charles/Sulphur area around 7:30 a.m. that same day because they wanted to arrive as soon as possible.When they got to Lake Charles, all the bridges were closed. It wasn’t until later that afternoon that Coleman was able to make it to the company’s staging site at the West Calcasieu Arena – and because he had left so early, he was the first one there.“It was so chaotic all over the area and hard to get around,” Coleman said. “But our staging site was still there. I waited a couple of hours before our crews safely arrived to get set up for work.”