Clothilde Mack, the elderly New Orleans woman who spent several months here after Hurricane Katrina left much of her home city flooded almost exactly five years ago, will mark her 94th birthday on Sept. 24.

In a telephone interview with The Greeneville Sun on Friday, Mrs. Mack said she is back in her Lower Ninth Ward home after a recent hospital stay following a fall that broke her pelvis.

Since her injury and hospitalization, Mrs. Mack said, she is continuing rehabilitation therapy and is now "feeling much better."

When Hurricane Katrina barreled into the Gulf Coast in late August 2005 and unexpectedly caused the levee system in New Orleans to fail, Mrs. Mack became trapped in her attic by floodwaters that engulfed her low-lying area of the city.

She was finally rescued a harrowing 10 days later by members of the Oregon National Guard and, along with numerous others from New Orleans, evacuated to an American Red Cross shelter at the Clyde Austin 4-H Center off East Allens Bridge Road in southern Greene County.

Mrs. Mack, a cheerful, modest, warm-hearted widow whose husband died in 1969, became quite a celebrity in Greene County after her story of survival became known.

She resided in Greeneville for the next four months following the hurricane, including for a time at Morning Pointe of Greeneville, an assisted-living facility along Mt. Bethel Road.

But in mid-January 2006, she accepted an offer by an Idaho man to be driven back home to New Orleans in a borrowed motor home.

She later lived in the motor home, which was owned by a radio personality from Idaho, until a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailer was provided for her in a lot about 20 blocks from her Clouet Street home.

Mrs. Mack was eventually able to have her house repaired and move back into it.

"I have my house mostly completed now," she said on Friday.

In addition to losing her home and most of her possessions as a result of the Hurricane Katrina-related flooding, Mrs. Mack's three cherished cats -- Jill, Mike and Cindy -- also perished in the flood water.

After hearing her story, J.R. and Shannon Arnold, of Greene County, who were volunteering at the Red Cross shelter, brought Mrs. Mack a kitten, which she named "Jill" after one of her beloved cats.

The elderly woman didn't know at the time that the kitten was actually a male. But that didn't matter. He is still known as "Jill."

"Jill is doing fine," Mrs. Mack said with a laugh, referring to her constant feline companion. In fact, at the time of the telephone conversation, she said Jill was lying nearby.

She said many of her former neighbors in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans did not rebuild following the flooding.

Although there has been some rebuilding in her neighborhood, she said she no longer has neighbors in close proximity to her house as she once did.

Mrs. Mack asked this reporter to extend well-wishes to all of her friends back in Tennessee.

Because she was recovering from her recent injury, she said, she regretted that she was unable to stay in touch with as many of them as she would like.

Those who would like to send Mrs. Mack cards of well-wishes and birthday greetings are invited to do so at the following address: Clothilde Mack, 2006 Clouet St., New Orleans, LA 70117.