When A Second Home Becomes The Only Home

My sister and brother-in-law, who live(d) in New Orleans, evacuated their home last weekend. After several days in a motel in Birmingham, Alabama, are now caravaning to their vacation home, a condo in the Massachusetts Berkshires. This is an aspect of second homes that before the Katerina catastrophe, I never thought of -- a second home can also be an emergency first home. However, my heart goes out to the hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents who also evacuated and are now stranded somewhere with relatives, with friends or in a motel somewhere. I'm also mindful that thousands have lost beloved vacation homes in ravaged towns along the Gulf.