After all, it was just another storm, and that's what beach people do.
"We were at home in Gulfport when the storm came in - myself, my daughter and my three little grandchildren," Ferrell said. "We knew there was a storm coming, but we never expected it to be this bad. I guess we should have listened more to what the weather people were saying on the radio."
By the time Ferrell and her family realized how bad the situation was, it was almost too late.
"We were in the house, all huddled in the kitchen, when the roof caved in," Ferrell said. "The roof was gone, and the storm was still going strong, the wind and rain still coming hard as it could."
At that point, Ferrell said she accepted the fact that she was going to lose her home. But she refused to let her family go with it.
"We just made a run for it, ran to the car and got in and drove," she said. "We made it over to a friend of mine's, and we stayed there one night then went on to the shelter in Gulfport."
But after almost two weeks in a shelter, the Ferrells knew it was once again time to move on. The problem was, they didn't have any way to move on.
"We pretty much lost everything except the clothes on our back and a few other pieces of clothing," Linda's daughter, Lawonia Ferrell, said. "My aunt lives in South Carolina and wanted us to come there, but we didn't have any way to get to her and she didn't have anyway to get to us."
But then, out of nowhere, the Ferrells heard about a relief effort on their local radio station.
"They said there was a plane coming to Mobile to pick people up and take them back to Myrtle Beach," Lawonia Ferrell said. "As soon as we heard that, we called to see if we could go."
On Wednesday, the Ferrells and several other Gulf Coast residents were evacuated from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to South Carolina's Grand Strand via a joint effort by Hooters Air and The Divine Dining Group.
The businesses joined with local churches to gather relief supplies ranging from bottled water to clothing, packed those supplies into a Hooters Air jet and took off for Mobile. After hundreds of boxes of supplies were unloaded, the Ferrells and several other residents boarded the plane headed for new horizons in Myrtle Beach.
Michael Wheeler and his girlfriend, Sheila Whisnant, formerly of Theodore, Ala., were among the hurricane victims aboard the flight. They lost their home and almost all of their belongings. Both said they are just thankful to be alive.
"Our house was totally destroyed, so we have nothing to go back to, really," Wheeler said.
"It's so hard to take - one minute, you have everything, the next, you have nothing," he said, choking back tears at times. "We went to a shelter, but we couldn't stay there forever. We knew we had to do something, go somewhere. So we were thrilled to hear about this, a chance to make a new life in Myrtle Beach. We just want to to go and start over as far away from here as possible."
Jack Divine, of Divine Dining, said he jumped at the chance to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
"I had some friends from Myrtle Beach who came down here last week with $20,000 they collected to buy supplies," Divine said.
"They were telling me about the needs, and we started trying to figure out how we could supply a little support," he said. "I mean, we've got hotels, restaurants and a lot of people who want to help. So I started asking around and the whole thing kind of took off when the folks at Hooters Air offered to provide an aircraft. Since then, it's just evolved into a much larger operation than we ever imagined."
Residents who were evacuated to Myrtle Beach were taken to Breakwater Hotel, which will provide them with rooms for three months at no cost.
"Our goal is to help them get back on their feet in Myrtle Beach," Divine said. "We don't just want to hand them a couple of bottles of water. They've lost everything, and we want to help them to get back to some kind of normal life."
The residents of the Grand Strand donated so many items that many of the relief boxes had to be shipped by truck.
"We filled the plane to its weight capacity," Divine said. "We've got two truckloads on the way, and we hope to make another flight next week to take more supplies and bring more people back.
"Right now, a lot of them are worried that if they leave, they won't get any aid or assistance. But hopefully, some of those hurdles will be overcome in the next week or so and we'll be able to bring back a much larger group next week."
Let us know what you think of this story | Send us a letter to the editor