Back...From Gulfport

[MWatkins]

I actually was back at home...and safe...around 10PM Tuesday evening. What we saw in Gulfport is well beyond my ability to put into words. What makes this so hard to accept is the quality of the people we encountered in Waveland and Gulfport...everyone...and I mean everyone we spoke to bent over backwards to help us out...let us know the best places to set up...etc. Heck the manager of the Best Western (I think that's where we stayed) let us spread out the entire contents of Mark's Chevy Tahoe in the lobby Sunday Night/Monday morning as we reset the storm cases to be deployed...and even brought us duct tape (which we needed)...cold water and Red Bull (I had never had that before...but boy did that wake me up).

There is way too much to write in any one post about what happened...so I am keeping a blog updated as I go along...trying to put together a summary of everything that happened from the time we left Naples Saturday morning to the time I opened my fron door Tuesday night.

I sincerely hope that the good people from Mississippi do not get lost in the shuffle with everything going on in New Orleans. NO is suffering...sure enough. What has happened there is a disaster beyond description. But the good people of Mississippi have been absolutely devestated. Gulfport is gone. Biloxi is gone. Waveland has been wiped clean without a car running or a building standing before help arrived 2 days ago. So while NO is getting the national attention...please don't forget about the good folks in Mississippi and Alabama.

If you want...you are welcome to follow along as I update the blog from time to time here:

http://wxblog.com/main/index.php?blog=8 ... &tb=1&pb=1

This event has changed the way I think about hurricanes forever...no doubt about it.

Special thanks to Mark over at hurricanetrack.com for letting me ride along and contribute where I could...

MW

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Welcome back Mw. Happy you made it out ok.

[Brent]

Looking forward to hearing all about it.

How far inland were you and did the surge make it to your location?

[dixiebreeze]

Mike, welcome home and I whole heartedly agree with your sentiments about Mississippi.

[MWatkins]

Looking forward to hearing all about it.

How far inland were you and did the surge make it to your location?

Hi Brent...

The surge flood came up something called Turkey Creek (if I remember correctly) which ended up in the parking lot across the street from the hotel...which was just south of I-10 and about 3.5 miles inland.

It also came up over I-10 just to our east...I think again along that creek basin.

MW

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Wow 3.5 miles inland. Wow!!!


How strong was the winds?

[HurricaneQueen]

Mike:

Just read your Part 1 blog and can hardly wait to read the rest. It sounds as if you you had an experience of a lifetime.

I just got back in the country after two weeks in St. Maarten (where I had the pleasure of meeting msbee) but we hardly missed a minute of CNN even into the late hours of the night. What has happen to our country is unbelievable and I agree that too much attention has been focused on NO and we can not forget about all of the people of MS and parts of AL and of course SE FL received its share of damage. (I wish I had been home in Naples to meet you when you came through!!!)

Glad to hear you are home safely and am anxiously awaiting the rest of your "story".

Lynn

[Brent]

Looking forward to hearing all about it.

How far inland were you and did the surge make it to your location?

Hi Brent...

The surge flood came up something called Turkey Creek (if I remember correctly) which ended up in the parking lot across the street from the hotel...which was just south of I-10 and about 3.5 miles inland.

It also came up over I-10 just to our east...I think again along that creek basin.

MW

WOW... although I'm not truly surprised since Jim Cantore was about 5-6 miles inland it got to him.

Look forward to hearing more...

[hurricanetrack]

Jim was not 5-6 miles inland. He was right there in downtown Gulfport at the Best Western or certainly nearby. I saw him on Tuesday morning- he knows me from the Ivan work- and he was a changed man. I am going to leave it at that- but trust me when I tell you, he was NOT 5-6 miles away from the Gulf. He was right there when it all came rolling in. Jim Cantore almost died on August 29, 2005. Period.

And if Mike and I had gone to Waveland, there is no doubt that we would have nearly been killed too. I have the very last video ever taken of Waveland while it was in tact. We shot some video there in the last hours of the afternoon of the 28th. Now the video is a part of history. I have not watched it yet- still too soon. Too many emotions.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Hurricanetrack, what was the highest winds you got/gust. In is there any fact to the stories of dead bodies all over the place and hanging in the trees?

[Doc Seminole]

Jim was not 5-6 miles inland. He was right there in downtown Gulfport at the Best Western or certainly nearby. I saw him on Tuesday morning- he knows me from the Ivan work- and he was a changed man. I am going to leave it at that- but trust me when I tell you, he was NOT 5-6 miles away from the Gulf. He was right there when it all came rolling in. Jim Cantore almost died on August 29, 2005. Period.

Okay...... so let me get this straight. How far on average, along the coast, would you guys say the storm surge moved inland? 3.5 miles?

How many miles of the coast was hit by the worst of the surge? I know it was all the way to Florida to some extent but I mean the real bad surge.

Also, how far inland was Jim Cantore and can you tell us more about him almost dying. It seemed to be awhile before we heard from him and I was in fact wondering if he was okay.

[WhirlWind]

So happy to hear you are safe and back home. I received a call from the Red Cross, and will be leaving sometime next week to go to Mississippi to work in one of the shelters there.
I will be following everything you update, and again glad you are back safe and sound.

PS I think this hurricane has changed a lot of us and how we feel about hurricanes.
WhirlWind

[jes]

I'm so glad to hear y'all are safe and sound. Can't wait to read parts 2 through 4 of your experience. I know the storm surge did most of the damage, but am curious why the winds seemed so much more destructive than normal ---- in Mobile the winds were probably no greater than a Cat 1, but the wind damage was greater than a Cat 1 --- Do you know why?

[Terry]

Mike and Mark -- you guys are a tremendous resource. Thanks for sharing your expertise and experiences with us.

[Jim Hughes]

Jim was not 5-6 miles inland. He was right there in downtown Gulfport at the Best Western or certainly nearby. I saw him on Tuesday morning- he knows me from the Ivan work- and he was a changed man. I am going to leave it at that- but trust me when I tell you, he was NOT 5-6 miles away from the Gulf. He was right there when it all came rolling in. Jim Cantore almost died on August 29, 2005. Period.

Yeah you are right. I recall him mentioning something like a 1/2 mile inland if I am correct. He does seem like a changed man from what I saw during in his post landafall reports.

We all should think about Jim before criticizing NO residents or anyone else about their evacuation decisons. Here's a guy who is well educated within the field. He has gone through many storms ... and he looked into all of the important information regarding , elevation..stom surge etc....and HE WAS caught off guard by Katrina's strength/path and he could have easily been one of the victims.


Jim

[vbhoutex]

Mike we are so glad you and Mark are ok. I had a call form BB checking on you guys and others. Fortuantely I was able to let him know you were ok.

I understand how your life has been changed, to a point, after going through Camille and her aftermath, but I wasn't at ground zero.

As to the surge question I'm not sure of how far inland on average the surge made it, but we have members who lived North of I-10 in the Gulfport area who had 8 feet of water in their homes. That can only be from surge. We have confirmed intrusion of surge into homes in Pascagoula that were at 24 foot of elevation 2 miles inland and got 8" of water in them from one of our staff. The entire MS coast got at least a 20' storm surge from the reports we have gotten.

[scogor]

Mike,

So glad you made it back safely. We have finally heard from all of our friends in the affected areas and thank goodness they are all okay. Looking forward to the rest of your blog reports.

[no advance]

Lucky your not dead. No one expected a 30ft surge. Both of my wifes cousins lost everything in Biloxi they are living at nephew house north of there.

[vacanechaser]

Lucky your not dead. No one expected a 30ft surge. Both of my wifes cousins lost everything in Biloxi they are living at nephew house north of there.

See that statement is just false... I am sorry to say, but Max Mayfield was telling everyone along the coast there they could see 20+ feet of surge... That was on Sunday evening... Unfortunatley some people either did not get the message, or passed it off as hype I guess... Either way, I was hearing him talke about it Sunday...

Jesse V. Bass III
http://www.vastormphoto.com
Hurricane Intercept Research Team

[Brent]

Lucky your not dead. No one expected a 30ft surge. Both of my wifes cousins lost everything in Biloxi they are living at nephew house north of there.

See that statement is just false... I am sorry to say, but Max Mayfield was telling everyone along the coast there they could see 20+ feet of surge... That was on Sunday evening... Unfortunatley some people either did not get the message, or passed it off as hype I guess... Either way, I was hearing him talke about it Sunday...

Jesse V. Bass III
http://www.vastormphoto.com
Hurricane Intercept Research Team

A lot of people said "My house withstood Camille, so it'll survive this".

They didn't.

I saw that EXACT statement from a LOT of people though on TV.