In a weird way, this tragedy will make it a magnet for opportunity seekers. It's the irony of tragedies.

It makes you think. You can only take a loss so many years, then you have to look at the future, ... We've had a hard rain come in here and put down four to five inches and then we get it out. But this (water) has just stayed here.

As much as you want to get the water off your cane there's nothing you can do,

I've made it all my life, had some tough times and some good times, but I don't know how to make these (ends) meet, ... I thought in the spring I had one of the better crops around here and then overnight it took a different change.

There's no doubt that, especially after George W. Bush's victory in (the Texas election) this past November, that Latinos are now on the national radar, ... New American Foundation.

This whole hurricane brought on a whole new perspective.... Before this I think we all took so much for granted,

I saw one man who came with a big trailer and left with a few odds and ends - an old clock that probably won't run and about about 50 feet of garden hose,

I was built for this, ... I got those survival instincts. I'm like Robinson Crusoe, a neighborhood MacGyver.