I lived a few blocks from the beach in Pass Christian prior to Katrina.. At 6 am Sunday morning, a friend of mine called me and said that she was a Category 5 and I started getting reallly worried.. My fiance and I decided that we needed to leave our house and at least get somewhere more inland, so we packed up, took some pictures of the house and went to her sister and brother-in-law's in Woolmarket.. Several other of her family members ended up there as well..
We kept debating on whether we were going to evacuate further and kept saying that we'd see the next report and make a decision.. Finally, around 4 o'clock we decided we were evacuating to her grandmother's in Ferriday, LA, about a 4 hour drive from the Coast.. Well, needless to say, that 4 hour drive was more like 8 hours, and that included taking backroads.. Some of the first feederbands were making landfall and it made driving difficult.. As we were driving, I remember hearing tornado warning reports for the area we were driving through, so that increased my worry.. I just knew that we were going to either get stuck somewhere or get hit by a tornado..
We made it to Ferriday around midnight, and we all got a little bit of sleep before waking up to see the destruction on TV.. We all stayed tuned into the TV all day..
I talked to my parents, who stayed north of the bay in Biloxi, around 9 Monday morning and my mom said it was getting bad at her house.. I had wanted them to leave with us, but they've never evacuated and probably won't ever.. After talking to her that time, I wouldn't talk to her again until Thursday.. It was gutwrenching not knowing what had happened or if they were ok..
In some ways, I wish I had stayed, either at my parents or with friends.. But in some ways I'm glad I didn't experience it firsthand..
On the morning Katrina struck, what were you doing?
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timNms
- Category 5
- Posts: 1371
- Age: 62
- Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2002 5:45 pm
- Location: Seminary, Mississippi
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For my family and me, life was going on as it normally does a couple of days prior to Katrina's visit. We kept updated on her progress and strength, of course. As she neared, we decided it would probably be a good idea to buy a few supplies...batteries, candles, stuff like that. What we failed to do was stock up on the canned goods and nonperishable food items. Being 100 miles inland, we didn't think we'd need them. (looking back, I see just how wrong we were!). We made our weekly run to the grocery store Saturday before she arrived. While there, my wife asked if I thought we needed to skip buying the normal stuff (meats, eggs, milk, etc) and buy what we would need if the power went out. I told her we'd just buy as we normally did and if we lost power, we'd take our frozen foods 20 miles to our south to her mom and dad's since they had a generator. (Smart, huh? LOL)
Saturday night into Sunday was uneventful. We watched in awe as Katrina strenghtened. The satellite pix gave me chills as I watched her churning out in the Gulf. I was only 7 when Camille struck the MS coast, but I remember hearing horror stories from my mom. Katrina looked as if she might be another "Camille". IF ONLY she had been......but she was worse in many ways.
By late Sunday night our local weatherman was warning people that it was going to be bad in our area. He kept stressing that we would definitely have power outages and that numerous trees would be downed. It still did not dawn on me that it was really going to be that bad.
I got up Monday morning around daybreak. It was a little breezy, but nothing to be alarmed about...really not as bad as a thunderstorm. But as the morning hours passed, the wind increased. Around 8:30 am, my kids and I walked next door to my mom's to check on her. She was standing on her porch watching the wind blow thru her huge oaks and asked us what in the world we were doing out in the wind LOL. We told her we were worried about her and tried to talk her into coming to our house where there were no trees that could fall on the house. She was hard headed and wouldn't come.
At around 9 am, my daughter's ex fiance who lived in Waveland called her on the cell phone. He was begging her to tell him when the eyewall would pass over them. He said it was bad there. They were staying at the Holiday Inn (i think was the name of it) on the corner of 90 and 603. He said there was water in their parking lot! And it looked like it was getting closer to their first floor room. We pulled up the radar image on the puter and told him that it looked like Waveland was going to take a direct hit, or very near. The cell phones kept cutting them off. By 10, he and my daughter were talking again and he was scared to death. He said the winds were horrible and the water was still rising. They lost their connection and it was Thursday before she heard from them again. We were afraid for them, to say the least. Thinking the worst after we say all the pics of the damage down there!
By 11 am, our power was going on and off and the winds had begun to howl in squalls. I think a tree was on the powerline because our electricity was still on, but the lights were burning dim. There was enough power to run the TV and we were getting updates from our local met. He kept telling everyone that the worst was yet to come. We were switching between our local station and the weather channel trying to keep up with Jim Cantore. Last we heard, he was on the phone to the WC and was frightened by the water coming in. At 12:15 our power was lost permanently. We were cut off from the outside world. Phones were out. We only had the NOAA radio to listen to. Thank God we bought batteries for it!
My daughter, son and I kept stepping out on our front porch (which was facing west and had a wall on the south and north). We were protected from the wind, but WOW, it was howling. Our house would vibrate, creak, pop, and shutter when the strong bands would blow thru. The trees across the road from our house looked as if they'd touch the ground.
At 2, the NWS issued a tornado warning for our county as the eyewall was about to move thru. I thought the winds were strong before that, but man, was it blowing as the eyewall began to effect us. Before, we'd get strong gusts, but once the eyewall began moving over, the winds never died down. It was a constant WHOOOOOOOOOOO and ROARRRRRRRR. My kids and I watched if on my porch. I was afraid to stay in the living room cause my wife wouldn't let me board up the sliding door that faced the east in the Living Room....the glass breathed in and out with the wind.
By 3 or so, the worst of the wind was over. The only major happening at my house was a few lost shingles and an attic vent blown off the roof, which led to a pond in my bedroom. We had put a big black trashcan in there to catch the water, but the darned thing had a hole in the bottom LOL. Floor got soaked. (Insurance adjuster finally came in FEBRUARY and we got almost $5,000 for the damages.)
Ok, so the wind stopped and I tried to patch the hole in the roof by climbing into the attic. Didn't work, so when the backside of the storm came in, more water fell into our bedroom. By 5, all was over as far as the high winds and there was very little rain left. So we decided we'd better try to get my wife to work (Had to be at the hospital in Collins by 7 to start her shift). Couldn't go north on my road because a huge oak was across my driveway and the road. So we went south toward Seminary (it's 4 miles south of me). Didn't get 1/4 mile down the road when we ran into trees and powerlines all over the place. Finally, by 6, neighbors with tractors had cleared a trail to Seminary. We got there and saw a sherrif's deputy. My wife asked him if she could get to the hospital by going north on US 49. He said there was one lane open on the southbound side, but wouldn't advise trying it. So she could not go to work that night. We couldn't call anyone 'cause the phones were out.
No phones meant no way to talk to our relatives in Hattiesburg and Moselle. My brother finally made his way to my mom's house late Tuesday on his 4-wheeler. We finally got to my in-laws Wednesday. It was HORRIBLE not knowing how everyone was. Needless to say, we didn't take our frozen meats to my inlaws because we couldn't get them there
So we had a feast on Tuesday after all of it thawed out. We went from Tuesday until Saturday without Ice. We'd caught up enough drinking water, but man, it doesn't taste good hot! Food was getting low also. Thankfully, the roads were cleared enough and there was finally gas so that we could go get food and ice.
It was HORRIBLE for us for the first few days, but we suffered nothing compared to many many others. I lost my uncle on the wee hours of Wednesday. I had to go to the hospital thru tree tops and debris to get an ambulance. I knew he was gone when I checked him, but I had to get some medical personel and the coroner there to document it and remove his body. I'll never forget that experience. I was alseep on my mom's porch when my aunt (mom's sister from next door) drove over in her truck. I thought she was coming to get me to restart her generator, but she told me she thought "Jim" was dead. It scared me so bad!
I didn't mean to write a book here, but there is soooo much that can be told. Words cannot describe the emotions and hardships people went through. We had no local tv station to watch because they were off the air. ALL the local radio stations were down. The only station we could get a signal from was from the coast...and then only if we were in a vehicle listening. Phones were out for days, in some cases weeks, after the storm. Power was not restored at my house until 2 weeks to the day after the storm. My mom was a COPD patient on Hospice and didn't see her nurses until the a week and 2 days after the storm and only then to tell her they were cutting her off from Hospice because I put her in the hospital. My uncle's funeral was just a grave side service with no wake because the local funeral homes had no electricity. They had to take his body to Jackson to have him embalmed.
Our friends in Waveland lost everything they owned excpt the clothes they were wearing. They were blessed to escape the surge with their lives. The water level was to the 2nd floor of their hotel. Some boaters resued them and put them on the 2nd floor before they drowned. They lost their cars, 3 homes, all of their clothes, etc.
God was good to us at my house. We still had a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in. We may have had to go without power for 2 weeks, but it could have been so much worse.
I hope we never see another Katrina in my lifetime!
Saturday night into Sunday was uneventful. We watched in awe as Katrina strenghtened. The satellite pix gave me chills as I watched her churning out in the Gulf. I was only 7 when Camille struck the MS coast, but I remember hearing horror stories from my mom. Katrina looked as if she might be another "Camille". IF ONLY she had been......but she was worse in many ways.
By late Sunday night our local weatherman was warning people that it was going to be bad in our area. He kept stressing that we would definitely have power outages and that numerous trees would be downed. It still did not dawn on me that it was really going to be that bad.
I got up Monday morning around daybreak. It was a little breezy, but nothing to be alarmed about...really not as bad as a thunderstorm. But as the morning hours passed, the wind increased. Around 8:30 am, my kids and I walked next door to my mom's to check on her. She was standing on her porch watching the wind blow thru her huge oaks and asked us what in the world we were doing out in the wind LOL. We told her we were worried about her and tried to talk her into coming to our house where there were no trees that could fall on the house. She was hard headed and wouldn't come.
At around 9 am, my daughter's ex fiance who lived in Waveland called her on the cell phone. He was begging her to tell him when the eyewall would pass over them. He said it was bad there. They were staying at the Holiday Inn (i think was the name of it) on the corner of 90 and 603. He said there was water in their parking lot! And it looked like it was getting closer to their first floor room. We pulled up the radar image on the puter and told him that it looked like Waveland was going to take a direct hit, or very near. The cell phones kept cutting them off. By 10, he and my daughter were talking again and he was scared to death. He said the winds were horrible and the water was still rising. They lost their connection and it was Thursday before she heard from them again. We were afraid for them, to say the least. Thinking the worst after we say all the pics of the damage down there!
By 11 am, our power was going on and off and the winds had begun to howl in squalls. I think a tree was on the powerline because our electricity was still on, but the lights were burning dim. There was enough power to run the TV and we were getting updates from our local met. He kept telling everyone that the worst was yet to come. We were switching between our local station and the weather channel trying to keep up with Jim Cantore. Last we heard, he was on the phone to the WC and was frightened by the water coming in. At 12:15 our power was lost permanently. We were cut off from the outside world. Phones were out. We only had the NOAA radio to listen to. Thank God we bought batteries for it!
My daughter, son and I kept stepping out on our front porch (which was facing west and had a wall on the south and north). We were protected from the wind, but WOW, it was howling. Our house would vibrate, creak, pop, and shutter when the strong bands would blow thru. The trees across the road from our house looked as if they'd touch the ground.
At 2, the NWS issued a tornado warning for our county as the eyewall was about to move thru. I thought the winds were strong before that, but man, was it blowing as the eyewall began to effect us. Before, we'd get strong gusts, but once the eyewall began moving over, the winds never died down. It was a constant WHOOOOOOOOOOO and ROARRRRRRRR. My kids and I watched if on my porch. I was afraid to stay in the living room cause my wife wouldn't let me board up the sliding door that faced the east in the Living Room....the glass breathed in and out with the wind.
By 3 or so, the worst of the wind was over. The only major happening at my house was a few lost shingles and an attic vent blown off the roof, which led to a pond in my bedroom. We had put a big black trashcan in there to catch the water, but the darned thing had a hole in the bottom LOL. Floor got soaked. (Insurance adjuster finally came in FEBRUARY and we got almost $5,000 for the damages.)
Ok, so the wind stopped and I tried to patch the hole in the roof by climbing into the attic. Didn't work, so when the backside of the storm came in, more water fell into our bedroom. By 5, all was over as far as the high winds and there was very little rain left. So we decided we'd better try to get my wife to work (Had to be at the hospital in Collins by 7 to start her shift). Couldn't go north on my road because a huge oak was across my driveway and the road. So we went south toward Seminary (it's 4 miles south of me). Didn't get 1/4 mile down the road when we ran into trees and powerlines all over the place. Finally, by 6, neighbors with tractors had cleared a trail to Seminary. We got there and saw a sherrif's deputy. My wife asked him if she could get to the hospital by going north on US 49. He said there was one lane open on the southbound side, but wouldn't advise trying it. So she could not go to work that night. We couldn't call anyone 'cause the phones were out.
No phones meant no way to talk to our relatives in Hattiesburg and Moselle. My brother finally made his way to my mom's house late Tuesday on his 4-wheeler. We finally got to my in-laws Wednesday. It was HORRIBLE not knowing how everyone was. Needless to say, we didn't take our frozen meats to my inlaws because we couldn't get them there
So we had a feast on Tuesday after all of it thawed out. We went from Tuesday until Saturday without Ice. We'd caught up enough drinking water, but man, it doesn't taste good hot! Food was getting low also. Thankfully, the roads were cleared enough and there was finally gas so that we could go get food and ice.
It was HORRIBLE for us for the first few days, but we suffered nothing compared to many many others. I lost my uncle on the wee hours of Wednesday. I had to go to the hospital thru tree tops and debris to get an ambulance. I knew he was gone when I checked him, but I had to get some medical personel and the coroner there to document it and remove his body. I'll never forget that experience. I was alseep on my mom's porch when my aunt (mom's sister from next door) drove over in her truck. I thought she was coming to get me to restart her generator, but she told me she thought "Jim" was dead. It scared me so bad!
I didn't mean to write a book here, but there is soooo much that can be told. Words cannot describe the emotions and hardships people went through. We had no local tv station to watch because they were off the air. ALL the local radio stations were down. The only station we could get a signal from was from the coast...and then only if we were in a vehicle listening. Phones were out for days, in some cases weeks, after the storm. Power was not restored at my house until 2 weeks to the day after the storm. My mom was a COPD patient on Hospice and didn't see her nurses until the a week and 2 days after the storm and only then to tell her they were cutting her off from Hospice because I put her in the hospital. My uncle's funeral was just a grave side service with no wake because the local funeral homes had no electricity. They had to take his body to Jackson to have him embalmed.
Our friends in Waveland lost everything they owned excpt the clothes they were wearing. They were blessed to escape the surge with their lives. The water level was to the 2nd floor of their hotel. Some boaters resued them and put them on the 2nd floor before they drowned. They lost their cars, 3 homes, all of their clothes, etc.
God was good to us at my house. We still had a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in. We may have had to go without power for 2 weeks, but it could have been so much worse.
I hope we never see another Katrina in my lifetime!
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MSRobi911
- S2K Supporter
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- Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2003 1:55 pm
- Location: Pascagoula, Misssissippi
I was living a nightmare that I won't ever forget. My story would be longer that the one above. I have been promising Southerngale that I would write it up for the Newsletter and haven't had the heart to do it yet, I think I am now in an OK place to try and do it. I will type it on word and send it to her. I guess ya'll will just have to wait to read my story
A little tidbit is that I was at the Jackson County Sheriffs Department in the Jackson County Courthouse and heard the awful bone chilling cries for help from people on the phone begging someone to come and rescue them from on top of their homes as we ourselves watched water poor into the courthouse. When it finally got up to the dispatchers ankles, my husband ran them all out before they got electrocuted and the phones were still ringing off the hook. All they could do was take down names and locations and next of kin information and tell them that we would check on them once the hurricane has passed and someone could get to them. That still haunts me to this day.
Mary
A little tidbit is that I was at the Jackson County Sheriffs Department in the Jackson County Courthouse and heard the awful bone chilling cries for help from people on the phone begging someone to come and rescue them from on top of their homes as we ourselves watched water poor into the courthouse. When it finally got up to the dispatchers ankles, my husband ran them all out before they got electrocuted and the phones were still ringing off the hook. All they could do was take down names and locations and next of kin information and tell them that we would check on them once the hurricane has passed and someone could get to them. That still haunts me to this day.
Mary
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My family and I evac’d Sunday afternoon to Vancleave, MS. When I saw Katrina Sunday morning, I knew we had to go. We live in a mobile home in Woolmarket, which is a little northwest of Biloxi, and had a place to go if we needed to. We didn’t expect to come back to anything.
A few things I remember vividly:
Even in Vancleave, watching the storm was unreal. I knew Biloxi was gone. I sat at the top of a staircase watching the trees bend and break for hours. I often think back to that morning and think of all those who were fighting for their lives.
I remember scrolling across the AM and FM bands of my radio and receiving nothing but eerie static from one end of the bands to the other. That’s when I knew it was much worse than I had thought. I learned in the days and weeks following I was mistaken. It was much, much worse.
A few things I remember vividly:
Even in Vancleave, watching the storm was unreal. I knew Biloxi was gone. I sat at the top of a staircase watching the trees bend and break for hours. I often think back to that morning and think of all those who were fighting for their lives.
I remember scrolling across the AM and FM bands of my radio and receiving nothing but eerie static from one end of the bands to the other. That’s when I knew it was much worse than I had thought. I learned in the days and weeks following I was mistaken. It was much, much worse.
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ncupsscweather
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LaPlaceFF
- Category 5
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LaPlaceFF wrote:I was sleeping at my parents house when my brothers woke me up at about 6:30am and said that we had no power. I had my portable radio on WWL-AM when I heard about the levee breaks. 9:30pm the same day power was restored.
But that was only the beggining of a life changing week......
2 days later my father passed away. A week after the storm power was restored to my apartment. For weeks after stores had lines of people waiting to do shopping. I had to travel to the Gonzales Wal-Mart, 50 mi away to get meat and other groceries.
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timNms
- Category 5
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- Location: Seminary, Mississippi
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LaPlaceFF wrote:LaPlaceFF wrote:I was sleeping at my parents house when my brothers woke me up at about 6:30am and said that we had no power. I had my portable radio on WWL-AM when I heard about the levee breaks. 9:30pm the same day power was restored.
But that was only the beggining of a life changing week......
2 days later my father passed away. A week after the storm power was restored to my apartment. For weeks after stores had lines of people waiting to do shopping. I had to travel to the Gonzales Wal-Mart, 50 mi away to get meat and other groceries.
LaPlaceFF, I understand what you are going through with the loss of your father. My uncle passed away during the night of the 30th..probably sometime around 1 or 2AM on Wed. morn, the 31st. I was the one who had to go see if he was dead, then make the drive in the dark to the local hospital (5 miles thru downed trees) to get an ambulance. My aunt was almost in shock. Then, my mom, who suffered from COPD stayed sick following the storm and passed away Jan. 12, 06. THis was the first Christmas in 44 years that I didn't go to Mom's house.
I can also relate to having to go several miles to find groceries. For the first 4 or 5 days , there was nothing here open to buy food. Finally, on Saturday after the storm, my wife and cousin made their way to Magee (20 miles north) to wal mart to buy some food. We thought we'd died and gone to heaven when we finally had something besides vienna sauges and potted meat LOL.
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MSRobi911
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- Location: Pascagoula, Misssissippi
Here in Pascagoula which was about the only place open that didn't get torn up but had no power, they had lines of people waiting outside the store. You had to wait until a sales person could escort you to whatever it was you needed to buy. If you needed socks and underwear they took you to the socks and underwear section and that is the only place you went, they then took you back to the register where you paid in CASH! They only let I think 2 or 3 people in the store at one time. Always escorted to exactly where what ever you wanted was and then out. Those were some horrible times. No gas anywhere in Jackson County to be found for a long long time. But that was really OK because most people didn't have a car that ran because they all went under water if they were still in town.
Mary
Mary
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MGC
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- Location: Pass Christian MS, or what is left.
My son brought about 50 gallons of gas with him when he came down here to help us out. We traded some of the gas to get some trees cut off my house in Diamondhead. Gas was more valuable than money right after Katrina. Glad I didn't have to wait in gas lines, that would have been flashbacks to the 70's.......MGC
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timNms
- Category 5
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- Location: Seminary, Mississippi
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MGC wrote:My son brought about 50 gallons of gas with him when he came down here to help us out. We traded some of the gas to get some trees cut off my house in Diamondhead. Gas was more valuable than money right after Katrina. Glad I didn't have to wait in gas lines, that would have been flashbacks to the 70's.......MGC
Gas lines...Did that here when the stations finally got power. My wife is an RN at the local hospital. Her supervisor (at the time) has a brother who runs a convenience store in Collins. A few days after the storm, she told my wife for us to take our vehicles to his store and leave them because the power company was planning to get the power back on in town. We took my car and left the keys with him around noon. My wife had to be at work by 7pm that evening. We went back to the store around 6 and waited. My wife left us there. We didn't get gas until 11pm and my car was first in line. Power crew ran into some probs getting the power grid back up. They were only giving people 10 or 15 gallons (can't remember) but since my wife was a nurse, he filled my car up. I bet the line for gas was at least a mile long in 2 directions. It was freaky! Never had seen anything like it.
What was really weird was driving up or down US highway 49 and seeing abandoned cars...left where people had run out of gas trying to find a station that was selling it.
After the first fill up, we had to get some gas for my wife's ride. We went to Seminary this time as we heard thru the grapevine that the station there was going to be pumping gas later that day. We waited in line there for about an hour. It was strange seeing that many cars parked along the side of the highway in such a small town (popualtion 400 at the most).
I hope we NEVER have a storm as bad as Katrina.
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docjoe
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- Location: SE Alabama..formerly the land of ivan and dennis
I remember being glued to the TV that AM. Our power blinked on and off but didnt stay out long. What I remember most of all was the report from the NHC when the sustained winds reached 175 MPH. Having been through Ivan and Dennis I had a good idea how bad it could be. Knowing that made me realize how much worse Katrina was going to be. It left a knot in my stomach. It was like watching a car wreck happening and knowing there was nothing to do about it
docjoe
docjoe
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Derek Ortt
what was I doing that morning.
Being very thankful that Katrina did not have even 12 more hours over the Atlantic. Had it have had 12 more hours, it would have been another Wilma for us here in Miami. Had it have had 24 hours... well... Miami would have joined the Gulf Coast as a scene of utter and total devastation (we did though get our storm 2 months later, unfortunately, but even Wilma in Miami was not as bad as Katrina to the GC).
I was also thankful that I was able to sleep in my own bed the night before. Had to stay on the Rickenbacker Caueway for the previous 3 nights (one of which during Katrina's passage, the other 2 for 6 A.M. conference calls with NOAA and the US Navy as a part of RAINEX)
Being very thankful that Katrina did not have even 12 more hours over the Atlantic. Had it have had 12 more hours, it would have been another Wilma for us here in Miami. Had it have had 24 hours... well... Miami would have joined the Gulf Coast as a scene of utter and total devastation (we did though get our storm 2 months later, unfortunately, but even Wilma in Miami was not as bad as Katrina to the GC).
I was also thankful that I was able to sleep in my own bed the night before. Had to stay on the Rickenbacker Caueway for the previous 3 nights (one of which during Katrina's passage, the other 2 for 6 A.M. conference calls with NOAA and the US Navy as a part of RAINEX)
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Janie2006
- Category 5
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- Location: coastal Ms aka home of the hurricanes
I was waiting for it. Who could sleep, anyway? I was in a house in Bayou View (Gulfport, about 7 miles off the beach) and it got bad. The storm surge put in an appearance, too. The water flowed up and through those little channels between my cousin's house and the beach, and it got up to the first floor window.
I'd rather forget the rest of that time period. Strange things happened, like finding wildlife (and sea-life too) on your doorstep and military helicopters flying across what used to be your house every 5 minutes. It quite literally looked like someone had set off an atomic bomb. Literally.
Ja. You see, it's things like this that still get to me. I suppose in some sense they always will, but the story has to be told so that future lives will be saved.
I'd rather forget the rest of that time period. Strange things happened, like finding wildlife (and sea-life too) on your doorstep and military helicopters flying across what used to be your house every 5 minutes. It quite literally looked like someone had set off an atomic bomb. Literally.
A little tidbit is that I was at the Jackson County Sheriffs Department in the Jackson County Courthouse and heard the awful bone chilling cries for help from people on the phone begging someone to come and rescue them from on top of their homes as we ourselves watched water poor into the courthouse. When it finally got up to the dispatchers ankles, my husband ran them all out before they got electrocuted and the phones were still ringing off the hook. All they could do was take down names and locations and next of kin information and tell them that we would check on them once the hurricane has passed and someone could get to them. That still haunts me to this day.
Ja. You see, it's things like this that still get to me. I suppose in some sense they always will, but the story has to be told so that future lives will be saved.
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I just read this whole thread for the first time. I too find it interesting there are not more posts. I live in Pascagoula, Mississippi on the Gulf Coast and stayed for Katrina. I used to visit this website everyday (pre-Katrina). Post Katrina, I bet I have only been on here less than 10 times. It is way too difficult.
The day before Katrina (Sunday afternoon) I had evacuated with my mom and 2 cats to a hotel about 3-4 miles inland. About 11 am Monday (Katrina Day) I was watching my small color handheld tv on the hotel bed getting updates from WLOX in Biloxi. I was watching the radar images trying to estimate when this thing was going to get north of us. Being a tornado storm chaser people kept asking me when can we go home, etc. I kept saying later this afternoon. We'll go home, but we won't have electricity and we'll start the clean up process tomorrow morning. Then about 11:30 I remember looking out the window and saying to my mom .... What the **** is that? Then I said it 2 more times. Then my mother jumped on me for using the F word so I switched to hell and the S word. She finally got up and looked out window with me while I was video taping. She asked me "what is that?" I said, "That's what I'm trying to say" Then I said, "I hope to God that is not the storm surge from the Gulf" Then mom said "well if it is what does that mean?" I said, we are in F-ing trouble...again being a 37 yr old I still got in BIG trouble...but it was stress talking. I video taped water rising almost 4-5 feet in under 10 min. Mom was yelling at me to move one of our 4Runners to high ground .. I laughed. Where in the hell was I going to move a 4Runner in a 5 ft storm surge in the middle of Katrina??? And even if I did make it to the Interstate ... how in the hell was I going to get back to the hotel? by shark? floating cars, floating trees, etc. It was a surreal moment (that we laugh about today) that quickly turned into a freaking nightmare. Thank goodness we were on the 2nd floor of the hotel. While watching this unfold from the window you don't realize what is beginning to happen on the first floor until you hear the screams. I ran down the hall to the stairwell and saw the water pouring in the doors downstairs. I went down and started helping people carry pets, luggage, food, kids, babies etc up to the hallway on the 2nd floor. It's very weird to see several feet of murky water outside of the hotel door knowing that when all this water equalizes out the first floor will be flooded (not to mention not knowing exactly how high the water was going to get anyway). After a few hours of that mess ... it starting getting hot and muggy. It was beginning to sink in that this wasn't going to be a normal clean up and then people were asking me what does this mean .... I kept saying this is really not good and I'm afraid we are in store for a surprise (understatement looking back). Fast forward to about 5 pm and somehow once the surge went down we went to our flooded out 4Runners and somehow got one of them started and drove down to our homes on the beach...or should I now say the beach. What a shock (another understatement) to see everything gone and I mean gone! Slabs and pilings. I looked at my mom and said what are we going to do? Answer from mom...F (which I thought was funny). Sorry for the language guys we normally don't speak like that but the situation brought it out. Anyway, that was the day in a nutshell. Scary, uncertainty, shock, disbelief, stunned to lose everything in a matter of about 6-8 hours. My story is longer and alot more detailed but that is a shortened version.
The day before Katrina (Sunday afternoon) I had evacuated with my mom and 2 cats to a hotel about 3-4 miles inland. About 11 am Monday (Katrina Day) I was watching my small color handheld tv on the hotel bed getting updates from WLOX in Biloxi. I was watching the radar images trying to estimate when this thing was going to get north of us. Being a tornado storm chaser people kept asking me when can we go home, etc. I kept saying later this afternoon. We'll go home, but we won't have electricity and we'll start the clean up process tomorrow morning. Then about 11:30 I remember looking out the window and saying to my mom .... What the **** is that? Then I said it 2 more times. Then my mother jumped on me for using the F word so I switched to hell and the S word. She finally got up and looked out window with me while I was video taping. She asked me "what is that?" I said, "That's what I'm trying to say" Then I said, "I hope to God that is not the storm surge from the Gulf" Then mom said "well if it is what does that mean?" I said, we are in F-ing trouble...again being a 37 yr old I still got in BIG trouble...but it was stress talking. I video taped water rising almost 4-5 feet in under 10 min. Mom was yelling at me to move one of our 4Runners to high ground .. I laughed. Where in the hell was I going to move a 4Runner in a 5 ft storm surge in the middle of Katrina??? And even if I did make it to the Interstate ... how in the hell was I going to get back to the hotel? by shark? floating cars, floating trees, etc. It was a surreal moment (that we laugh about today) that quickly turned into a freaking nightmare. Thank goodness we were on the 2nd floor of the hotel. While watching this unfold from the window you don't realize what is beginning to happen on the first floor until you hear the screams. I ran down the hall to the stairwell and saw the water pouring in the doors downstairs. I went down and started helping people carry pets, luggage, food, kids, babies etc up to the hallway on the 2nd floor. It's very weird to see several feet of murky water outside of the hotel door knowing that when all this water equalizes out the first floor will be flooded (not to mention not knowing exactly how high the water was going to get anyway). After a few hours of that mess ... it starting getting hot and muggy. It was beginning to sink in that this wasn't going to be a normal clean up and then people were asking me what does this mean .... I kept saying this is really not good and I'm afraid we are in store for a surprise (understatement looking back). Fast forward to about 5 pm and somehow once the surge went down we went to our flooded out 4Runners and somehow got one of them started and drove down to our homes on the beach...or should I now say the beach. What a shock (another understatement) to see everything gone and I mean gone! Slabs and pilings. I looked at my mom and said what are we going to do? Answer from mom...F (which I thought was funny). Sorry for the language guys we normally don't speak like that but the situation brought it out. Anyway, that was the day in a nutshell. Scary, uncertainty, shock, disbelief, stunned to lose everything in a matter of about 6-8 hours. My story is longer and alot more detailed but that is a shortened version.
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MSRobi911
- S2K Supporter
- Posts: 1259
- Age: 68
- Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2003 1:55 pm
- Location: Pascagoula, Misssissippi
Bluefrog, I'm sorry, but that made me laugh so hard...I can just hear your mother getting on to you and I know well the feeling of using the nasty F word! It is so funny when thinking about your Mom telling you to move the 4Runner to higher ground, the Sheriff got mad at Robi and the Chief for not moving their patrol cars to high ground...like you could find some in Pascagoula and they were already under water before anybody could do anything about it. I remember looking out the 4th floor windows and only seeing the top parts of cars and I am talking about the roofs, not the hoods......and the National Guard Trucks were all under just as much water and they couldn't do a thing about it, actually they had to gather all their stuff and had to haul it up the stairs in the other part of the courthouse too.
Mary
Mary
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prettywitty
- Tropical Depression
- Posts: 95
- Joined: Mon May 14, 2007 9:25 am
It's astounding to me that with all of the members on this site, there are so few posts in this thread. However, I can say with certainty that it's not something I feel like talking about with hurricane season right around the corner! I don't want to relive any of that, or manifest that kind of energy. I'll post my story on December 1 of this year; how's that?
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I sat on the civic center floor holding an elderly womans hand until the heating pad could do it's magic on her overtired body as she was soooo cold. She was exhausted, scared, overwhelmed and unable to communicate in an English speaking world alone with her 5 grandchildren. The mothers of these children were her very own 2 daughters who were both LEO in New Orleans and couldn't be here with her. I was blessed as she was the same age as the grandmother I'd lost just 2 weeks earlier...................and my grandmother didn't speak English either; only cajun french. We talked, we cried and we rejoiced. I will never forget that beautiful lady as long as I live. She didn't have to watch the tv to know what was happening...............she knew deep down in her soul.
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