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Sailor crushed by family's loss in Louisiana, vows to help by collecting donations

Posted at 8:13 AM, Aug 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-16 12:34:48-04
SAN DIEGO - A San Diego-based sailor is doing what she can to help her flood stricken community in Louisiana. 
 
Miranda Weimer moved to Ocean Beach with her wife, Megan, eight months ago, but she's from Baton Rouge. 
 
Friday's torrential rain storms nearly wiped out her hometown.
 
"I got a picture of my grandmother on a boat with her elderly neighbor and when I got that it really, it really hit me," said Weimer. 
 
The pictures kept coming. 
 
"My father's house. My parents' house is flooding. My grandparents' house is now flooding. Everything I've ever known as a child, all the pictures, all the memories is gone and that's all of my family, all of my friends," said Weimer.
 
The 22-year-old sailor was crushed.
 
"I cried all weekend and I said, you know what, I'm done crying. It hurts too much to sit here and cry. What can I do to help right now," she said. 
 
The couple decided to start collecting donations. Initially, just for their family in Baton Rouge, but then they decided to try to help the whole community.
 
 "That's what we gotta do, just come together you know."
 
The couple is spreading the word on social media and through fliers posted around Ocean Beach. Just hours after putting out the call for help on Facebook, people began dropping off bags of clothes and other supplies at the cul de sac at the top of the OB Pier.
 
"These people in Louisiana are destitute. It's almost as bad as Katrina," said Ann Clauson.
 
Erick Brown knows what it's like to lose everything. He's from Arkansas. His family lost their home when it was hit by a tornado. 
 
"When you lose everything, it's just, it's unrepairable," said Brown. 
 
Weimer and her wife are planning to fill a U-Haul and drive it to Baton Rouge Sept. 3. 
 
Donation boxes are set up at the OB public library, Vintage Revivals, and the Newport Avenue Antique Center. 
 
The couple is asking for donations of gently used and new clothes, blankets, toiletries, diapers, school supplies, pet supplies and shoes. In addition to the drop off locations, Weimer will be at the top of the OB Pier from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day for the next week or so.