Louisiana family finds haven in Valley

A woman's family members say their Louisiana homes are under water.
By KANTELE FRANKO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- To some people driving past the line of cars outside Dawnell Campo Link's home, it might appear the Wesley Avenue woman is hosting a family reunion or a party. But those inside will explain that this family reunion is anything but a party.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Link has begun to take in many family members who fled the southern Louisiana fishing community where she grew up, called Delacroix Island. She and her husband and five children have opened their home to about 10 family members, some of whom are staying in a local hotel, and others who are staying in her basement.
And as transportation routes and fuel become more available in the South, Link said, she expects many of the 50 or so other Campos she has contacted to follow their family to the Youngstown area.
Family members who left their homes in the southeastern tip of Louisiana before the storm struck Monday still show signs of exhaustion and confusion.
But the family has its priorities, explained Dawnell's stepmother, Peggy Campo, who left her home about 30 miles south of New Orleans.
One day at a time
The Campos' first goal is patience as they wait for word from family members who they can only hope survived. Then the family is encouraging survivors to join them.
Campo, who has always stayed during smaller hurricanes, said weather imaging on the television convinced her that Katrina was too big to challenge.
"I was scared to stay," she said. "At that point it didn't matter where I went because I knew if I stayed, I'd be dead."
She and her husband left Saturday afternoon and beat the rush of evacuees that clogged northbound highways as the storm approached the coast.
Campo said she would like to rebuild her home, and knows that the structure is either destroyed or under water.
Her son-in-law, 32-year-old John Pohlmann, said he believes nearly all of his coastal community is submerged, swallowed by waters from the Gulf of Mexico.
Pohlmann left the town late Sunday night and said the rising water was nearly to the top of the bridge he used to cross to the northern part of Louisiana, above Lake Pontchartrain.
He said his neighborhood, including his home and the two-story high school next door, is completely under water.
"This is it," he said, gesturing to a pile of belongings in the back of his pickup truck. "There's nothing to go back to," he said.
Not going back
Pohlmann, his wife, Cyndi, and two children don't expect to return home, but instead are holding out hope for starting over somewhere else.
Cyndi said that Arille, her 7-year-old son from a previous relationship, believes his father did not survive.
And Pohlmann is awaiting word from his own 9-year-old son and elderly father.
As he talks about them, he fights back tears and his voice wavers.
"I'm empty," he said. "It's just a lost feeling."
Anyone wishing to offer help to the Campos and their extended family can contact Dawnell Link at (330) 270-5257.