Katrina Anniversary Thread

[Category 5]

[DESTRUCTION5]

The precurser of what was to be the legend of Katrina...

[MGC]

Sunday August 28, 2005............awoken by my mother-in-law at about 7am screaming on the phone "its a Cat-5, you gotta leave!" Not exactly the first thing you want to hear in the morning. Since we had pretty much prepared the house Saturday all we had to do was throw the suitcases in the car and run. We left around 1pm and drove east along HWY-90. There was no haste as we knew the coast we returned to would not look the same. Never in a million years did we expect it to look as bad as it did though. We made good progress all the way to Mobile. It was there that we got the first taste of Katrina. The first feeder band came though. Winds were gusting to TS force already and the hurricane was still 15 hours away.......MGC

[Scorpion]

It was just surreal how Katrina looked. It was like the perfect hurricane. Nearly annular in appearance and packing 175 mph winds, headed for New Orleans. I thought New Orleans would be wiped off the map.

[vbhoutex]

I will never forget the almost perfect "buzz saw" I saw out in the GOM!! That image is stuck in my mind forever! At that point I was worried sick about my stubborn mother In NW FL(obviously safe now) and for all of my friends along the Gulf Coast. Still didn't know who was going to get that "buzz saw" but at the point I had no doubt in my mind wherever it went....we know the outcome.

[Steve]

>>... however, the issue of New Orleans, while some might blame this on God, was strictly a man-made issue, from building a city below sea level, to ignoring the warning signs...

I hate to start my post with this, but the city is not below sea level, only parts of it are. As for the warning signs, they're everywhere and always will be. We've been hit my numerous storms in the last 100 years, and there has been minor flooding from most all of them. This was different.
---------------------------------
Katrina sucked. Story edited from history

Ah well, 2 years later and I don't worry about stuff too much anymore like I used to.

Steve

[Ixolib]

Ah well, 2 years later and I don't worry about stuff too much anymore like I used to.

If nothing else, those of us who were so significantly impacted by Katrina can mostly ALL agree to that statement!! A life-changing event, no doubt.......

[Steve]

>>If nothing else, those of us who were so significantly impacted by Katrina can mostly ALL agree to that statement!! A life-changing event, no doubt.......

Indeed. I've got a truck, custody on 2 of my kids and room to pack those two bins of photos and a few suitcases. Ain't gonna be in the position to lose it all again any time soon.



Steve

[Steve]

[TSmith274]

I have a question... need some help from yall. I've decided to get a large picture of Katrina to frame. I'd like to have it at her height in the GOM. I've seen some really amazing photos... some even in color. Can anyone steer me to a place or website that can produce such a photo worthy of framing? I'd like it to be maybe 18"X18". I'm going to hang it in my fishing camp in Buras, La. Since my last one got wiped out, I have a whole wall filled with before and after photos of my place. I want the centerpiece to be a nice photo of the beast herself. Any help would be apprieciated.

[baygirl_1]

Can I get a show of hands from the Gulf Coast folks who got calls from panicked relatives on that Sunday morning as they awoke and turned on their TVs?! As we were trying to finish our preps and get the heck out of Dodge, my DH got so ticked off because the phone was ringing off the hook. He wouldn't talk to them ("We'll call them back once we're on the road..."), but I guess I needed to hear their voices and tell them our plans. I will say this, those calls really got my mother in gear. She'd been making noises about wanting to stay, but after seeing the news and hearing relatives concerns, she was in the car ready to go.

[PhillyWX]

http://philadelphiaweather.blogspot.com ... dfall.html

Here's a collection of links of TV picture grabs, satellite, radar, and a bunch of stuff from Hurricane Katrina. My heart goes out to all of you down in NO, LA, MS, AL, and elsewhere that were impacted by that storm.

[LaPlaceFF]

Ah well, 2 years later and I don't worry about stuff too much anymore like I used to.

If nothing else, those of us who were so significantly impacted by Katrina can mostly ALL agree to that statement!! A life-changing event, no doubt.......

A lot of things has happened in my life those past two years, even though my area didn't get the full effect of Katrina. My father passed away two days after the storm. Later on in the year my wife left me and filed for divorce. But now things are looking up for me. I am dating a girl I used to date 12 years ago and now me and my girlfriend are expecting a child!!

[duris]

[quote="Steve'] Ah well, 2 years later and I don't worry about stuff too much anymore like I used to.Steve[/quote]

True, but could you see that my wife gets the memo? We both said when looking at all our ruined stuff that it was time to downsize. Riiiiiight.

Seriously though, other than the fact that I don't know how I lived without HDTV, stuff is stuff. Still being safe and (reasonably) sane is enough.

[simplykristi]

I am still haunted by the bulletin that came out at 3 PM on August 28th. I sat at my computer and cried.

Kristi

[Ixolib]

I was looking over some old threads of mine from the days and hours just prior to Katrina. Here's one of 'em. I unfortunately overestimated my height above sea level. In actuality, I was only 19.5 feet above sea level - and STILL took three feet of sea water...

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=1022685#p1022685

Here's a link to the page from which that thread came from. Interesting stuff seeing what we all had to say in those few hours before landfall.

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&author_id=2188&start=550

[Frank P]

The day after the storm after seeing all the complete and total devastation along the coast, and being a Camille survivor knowing how much worse Katrina was in comparision, I told my wife we would be extremely lucky to be able to rebuild in two years... well I guess we were one of the lucky ones for I can now say that we are pretty much back to "normal".. as normal as can be post Katrina... ...

there are still so many people who have not been able to rebuild, and still living in FEMA trailers, or displaced to other areas... people who lost their homes and may never be able to rebuild again... to all those peope. and especially to those who lost family, friends and pets and all their possessions, and whose lives have be so disrupted by Katrina... I feel your pain and hope one day you will be whole again... I've had friends commit suicide because of Katrina... they just couldn't deal with it all... and I can understand why they felt that way...

two long years have passed, its almost surreal... for those who have not visited the MS coast, you need to ... you need to drive down HWY 90 and see absolutely nothing but empty lots... with just a few new high rise condos... two years later and practically still no new business construction projects and just a sprinkling of new homes... emply lots galore... I'm talking about 26 miles of beach front nothing.. its incredible... but I did read today that they are going to replace the wooden boardwalk that lined the sea wall with one made of concrete.. that's really good news for all the homes on the beach as the boardwalk probably contributed to the massive damage along the beach front.. I kept a small segment of the boardwalk as a memento of the storm... my dogs sunbath on it...

two years later and life is good for me again... little did I realize how much my life would have to change because of Katrina... speaking from experience... if you are ever unlucky enough to be struck by a major hurricane, and expect to be in or near any part of the eye wall... you need to prepare yourself mentally for what will come after it... because as Iloxib said... it will be a life changing event... you can count on it...

[Ixolib]

AMEN to that, Frank.

My life today is so significantly different than it was pre-Katrina. I can't hardly even remember the "good old days". I spent my entire life since age 12 thinking I had seen the worst with Camille, and that I'd never see or experience anything like that again. In my world, Katrina at least quadrupled - if not more - the heartache of Camille. Since August 29, 2005, I believe I've aged many more years than I otherwise would have.

And of course, although I've tried, I could never really put into words the true significance of what's transpired over these last two years - especially to someone who hasn't yet had an experience like this. And I'm just one of thousands - perhaps millions - who are in the same boat.

It truly is amazing how one night, a mere 12 hours or so, can have such a long-lasting impact that is virtually indescribable via the written word.

[wiggles]

It is still hard to look back at pictures and programs that are replaying what happened two years ago. I have a 17 year old daughter that gets a look of horror every time the news hints at something. It is hard for adults to get their head around what happened but it is even worse for the children.

[Category 5]

The most frightening satelitte pic I've ever seen