NATCHEZ &045; Simple things, such as real orange juice or plastic storage containers, brought squeals from sisters Donna Gunn of Chalmette, La., and Debra Schaefer of the New Orleans West Bank as they shopped Wednesday at the Abundant Life Church distribution center on Lower Woodville Road in Natchez.

What’s so great about small plastic containers? &uot;Look, you can put things in them and they stack,&uot; Schaefer said.

After living with 40 or more family members in an unfinished hunting lodge since fleeing Hurricane Katrina two weeks ago, the sisters and their immediate families have rented a camper, where now only six live together.

Their parents are next door in a mobile home.

Gunn, her parents and her brother and his family have lost everything. &uot;Chalmette was under water until about four or five days ago,&uot; she said. &uot;Now there is just sludge. We think there was an oil tank that spilled, and we might be in that crude oil.&uot;

The experience has overwhelmed the family, Gunn said. Her 13-year-old son, Joshua, has asked repeatedly to go home to get his bicycle. She cannot imagine what she will find at home.

Her parents went to make an assessment and returned with bad news. Marie Celino, Gunn’s mother, said all is lost &045; houses, cars and the auto parts business her husband and son owned together.

&uot;We think they’re going to condemn our house because of the oil. And the business burned down. We don’t know how that happened, whether it was electrical or someone set the fire,&uot; Celino said. &uot;It’s total ashes.&uot;

A freelance photographer, she fears her equipment and large portfolio &045; as well as all her business papers &045; will be ruined by mildew on the second floor of her house. Water did not reach the second floor, but it is impossible to get to the second floor, she said.

&uot;The oil is so think on the bottom floor that your boots stick and make it impossible to walk.&uot;

Gunn said the experience is overwhelming. She is not ready to return to deal with the devastation. The tragedy has been a lesson for her, she said.

&uot;I’ve learned that you can live with that many people. With all of us in that lodge, there was never a bitter word. Everybody was encouraging,&uot; she said.

Her mother agreed, adding, &uot;I want the people of Natchez to know how wonderful we think they are.&uot;