Wow... Katrina. A group of horse enthusiasts here in my area gathered together ten of the largest horse trailers they could find, loaded them from front to back with supplies, and took them down to help. It took us over 12 hours straight to drive down, we delivered the supplies, helped people sort them and set up a supply depot, and then we turned around and made the return trip without stopping. We were exhausted, but it was a great trip.
Other way it changed things is that the oil companies started raising prices ($1.20 here before katrina) and prices didn't stop rising until two weeks ago.