The official population in my town of Winnie is 2,430 but right now it’s at least 300 more.

The reason is well known by now but starting around Aug. 28 through early September Hurricane Katrina forced more than 220,000 people from their Louisiana homes into Texas.

I’m sure many Texas towns, large and small, also are busting at the seams with hurricane victims who lost their homes in New Orleans and surrounding areas, but the tragedy really hits home in Winnie.

We are in Chambers County in Southeast Texas, just 15 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and a stone’s throw from the Louisiana border. Many residents here have family ties to Louisiana and many, like myself, are former residents of the neighboring state.

Watching Katrina flood such a wonderful city as New Orleans is heartbreaking, especially when you know its streets and corners intimately, like myself.

I have been visiting the Big Easy since I was a small child. My grandmother had a sister who lived in the French Quarter.

Once I was able to walk, I’ve been enjoying the streets of New Orleans, seeing the entertainers on the street, eating the wonderful food, all while the sounds of jazz filled my ears.

The history of the city was a constant learning experience that I continued to partake of up until this tragedy occurred.

Watching the streets of “my city” fill up with water filled my heart with sorrow. I have friends in the greater New Orleans area who were able to evacuate before Katrina’s wrath, but the real question on their minds is “now what?”

Immediately the victims needed shelter and food and Texas stepped up admirably. Most of the victims were sent on buses to the Houston Astrodome. But many ended up in smaller towns.

The same stories are being played out in communities across Texas, but I am particularly proud of my town. Officials set up a large shelter in Winnie that cared for about 500 people off and on over the entire week, and our town has rallied superbly.

In less than a week, many of the victims had been placed in temporary housing and were fed three meals a day, at the shelter, provided by the community.

I know that there are countless towns around Texas doing exactly what we are doing and this should make us especially proud of the Lone Star State.

This disaster has not only changed Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama, it drastically altered Texas as well, and estimates are that Texas has added roughly 220,000 people in one week. Many of those are children of families displaced by the hurricane who will enroll in local schools and take classes alongside their Texan cousins.

How will Texas handle the influx of victims, many of whom will become permanent residents? No one knows for sure but right now at least Katrina’s victims have a dry place to call home while they rebuild the Big Easy.