19 years ago

[Riley Smith]

August 29, 2005

Everyone had watched as the monster came closer and when it stalled and gained strength for a bit, we knew the fan was going to be slinging stuff when it did hit. You have to have a plan for a hurricane and being a planner in a former life, I knew what that meant. Stuff was going to go wrong. We decided to evacuate, and that in itself is a big deal. There are people from all over the northern Gulf Coast that NEED to evacuate when a storm comes, but except for some really big oak trees, it isn't usually a big concern for us. We live above the coast about 15 miles and flooding isn't a problem. With the predicted winds, we decided the oak trees were too big a risk and decided to brave the motorways.

Now, South Mississippi is oriented north and south, and everyone thinks you have to run north, away from the coast. The trouble with that is that is there is little to go TO and we knew the motels were already full. After much consideration and watching the track closely, we decided to head east. The back way, along state highways and roads we knew. That's one of the things you learn about living in a place all your life; how to by-pass the interstate. I knew the Interstate 10 was going to be a nightmare, with people coming out of Louisiana and points west so we went through the woods. I had visons of being caught on the I-10 causeway over Mobile Bay with a storm coming in.

 We finally wound up in Pensacola, 90 miles away but we by-passed Mobile Bay through the woods. Once we stopped to get gas in sight of the interstate and it was a creeping cavalcade as far as you could see. So far we had made the right choices because there was little to no traffic. Topping off the gas was another right choice because that stuff is better than having gold after a big storm.
 
The decision to stop in Pensacola was made because Sonya's cousin, uncle, and aunt were in the Holiday Inn there and they had one more room. They put it on their card and we made our way there and paid them back. Whew! We were at least out of the total destruction zone. I was surprised though, because the weather there over a hundred and fifty miles from ground zero was BAD. Katrina was ENORMOUS.

Despite what you might have been led to believe from our lying media, Katrina didn't hit New Orleans. It hit Mississippi as it finally came ashore on the mainland. And New Orleans was on the "GOOD SIDE!" The news media was focused on New Orleans as levees failed and things turned bad. There was hardly any news from Mississippi, basically because of two reasons. We take care of our own and everyone pulls together, with the media being all about division. And you COULDN'T get in. It was too bad.

We were off the next morning when the wind began to die down. I'll never forget those people there in the Holiday Inn from New Orleans. They were devastated and being told NOT to come home. There was nothing I could do, so we retraced our steps through the woods. I knew the southern guys were out with their chainsaws clearing the roads of trees and I was right. We made it home before martial law, curfew, and highway closures were enforced. Only to find out our son had been rescuing himself and our house was full of refugees from the coast that had nowhere else to go. I think there were seven extra people.

Cue bathing in pool water, no electricity, no gasoline, no food or ice for two weeks. Communications were down. Sometimes late at night you could get on top of the house and text. No cell service. In one fell swoop we were almost back in the Stone Age. We made one trip to town finally to check on Sonya's childhood home and it was basically destroyed. It had an oak tree four feet in diameter on top of it. Her Mom and Dad had gone to her brother's house about 40 miles above the coast. During that trip that burned precious gasoline, we found out that we could get ice and gas for the employer where I worked, so it turned into an all-day affair. We cleaned out our freezer and had grand meals for days before the stuff ruined. I got my brother-in-law to bring me a generator and gasoline from Dothan, AL where they had evacuated but it took several days to get. They were in no hurry to get home. There was a haggard war-weary look to everyone you met. It was hell.

I can carry you to places where there are still slabs of former homes. I wound up retiring because of Katrina and needing to tend to in-laws and rebuild homes. I know a guy that saved half the neighborhood in his boat in the height of the storm, as the water came surging in. I saw gasoline tankers escorted by armed police. Coast Guard helicopters from Mobile were constantly in the air. For months the trees had streamers of insulation, plastic, and debris decorating them. There are a million and one stories and this little story is just a bare bones outline. You have no idea unless you've been in a really bad one. My never-ending thanks go to those that came in and donated time, money, food, and labor to get everyone going again.

That makes two bad ones for me, three if you count Hurricane Georges which was very bad in my local area. And countless near misses and tropical storms. Hurricane Camille was the standard before, because nobody could imagine it could get any worse. But it was small, although very powerful. I'll be happy if I never have to go through another one.
 
I'm really, really glad the storm season has been more or less a bust so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[Norm L.]

Yes, 19 years ago today, followed in 2 weeks by Rita on the LA/TX border.

while you may say N.O. missed the big wind.

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My neighbor in the condo above us was the head of the Boat US salvage operation. The staging area was located across the marina entrance channel, in sight from our condos.

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These were here for many months before auctions were set up to dispose of them. There were a small number that could be rebuilt.

This last one was after Rita. This is Holly Beach a "subdivision" of raised camps on the beach. It had the nickname Cajun Riviera. And there were over 30 camps, some very nice.

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The evacuation was a 3-hour drive that took 8. No Interstates involved. My wife was home in 10 days as the Northshore got power back. I went also to empty the fridge. And the fridge at the office. You don't want to do that after several hot weeks.
Our office was shut down for 3 months due to water damage from roof damage and blown out windows. That's when I lose my retired Commodore flag. For 3 months I stayed with Jeff and Janice Fuchs in New Iberia and worked out of a customer's office.
I had many photos as I had access to the city and other damaged areas, including eastern MS. This was to handle claims involving commercial vessels.

Not these as a friend did a lot of shrimp boats.

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I drove around New Orleans on what was a beautiful day. I only saw one other vehicle in 2 hours. A military truck. Very weird to see blocks and blocks of parked cars homes with a high muddy water line 3-5' high.

My biggest takeaway is understanding that what I saw and lived is the experience of other humans when I read about storms, floods and fires. Understanding that recovery will take many years.
It's 19 years and there are still empty lots in nice areas. On my dog walking path there are two homes side by side that have been abandoned for 19 years. I believe that their interiors have been completely torn out and their yards are still be kept up. One has fresh paint, and one has some peeling paint. In a city that needs housing these places sit empty.

I send a donation to damaged cities, mostly to Women's shelters, after vetting them. Some, sadly, are "non-profit" hustles.

 

[Timm R Oday25]

I remember that storm well . Us folks up here in the Great White North usually only see the hurricanes on the the news .
I wasn't real concerned that friday that we left to go to St Louis to buy our 25 Oday .
It was raining when we left Madison Wisconsin . By the time we got to St Louis ,I couldn't see past the winshield of our truck .
 "Man ,it's really raining like I've never seen before " . I had no idea that a hurricane several many miles south of us
would affect me . The boat inspected was cut very short and we hopped back into the truck .
It wasn't until we got home that we realized how big of a storm we had just missed .

[Riley Smith]

Looking at those pics brings that smell back Norm   I wish I had taken some pictures of all the streets in town that were basically a rabbit warren lined with debris. Can you say PTSD? I do remember that the refinery where I worked was in pretty good shape because of the actions they had taken after Georges did a direct hit. One of the last things done before they pushed the button was to inspect the shipping channel for debris! Everyone was really proud that we were faced by insane circumstances and yet got the thing making fuel without any injuries. Every time I see Vienna sausages I'm reminded of all we went through because they shipped tons of them in to snack on, as everyone wasn't eating very well.