Remembering Katrina - August 29, 2005

August 30th ..... A rising sun greeted us and brought back the unbearable heat of August. It is a suffocating heat that requires drinking plenty of fluids to ward off dehydration. The baby was being affected by the heat. We would sponge her down and take turns fanning her. I was very worried about her but wouldn't voice how I felt. She could die. Please Lord NO! We kept the windows open and on rare occasions we were able to create a draft. There are no screens on the windows and various insects came inside. The biting flies were the worse. The 2 yr. old girl had fly bites all over her body. Another worry that she could contract a disease.

What ice we had melted in the refrigerator along with the rotting meat. As a morale builder for the worried parents, I would tell them that help was coming soon as it had during hurricane Camille. Water and ice was brought to our doors and in rural areas dropped from helicopters. So we held on to that hope and waited.

Still no relief on August 31st. We had jugs of water but we desperately needed ICE. The tremendous heat and humidity was beginning to affect all of us. Something as simple as ice was uppermost in our minds. There was no electricity, running water, or telephone. A decent meal could not be cooked as grill had been under water. Oh yes --- we had cans of potted meat, spam, crackers and pork "n" beans but still we were hungry! We were dirty and tired. The heat was sapping our strength. I was the older one in the family and on three medications to control blood pressure. My medications would not last much longer. It wasn't a senseless oversight in preparation on my part as phamacist's will not let you stock up on drugs. No blame people ---- who could have known the disaster that would befall our beloved Mississippi.
Insects were invading the house. Mosquitos, beetles, flies and the dreaded ROACH! A praying mantis took refuge on ceiling in the kitchen. I was thankful that there were no snakes!

Aug.31 cont.. It is day 3 and our struggle to survive another day was in rapid decline. Depression was setting in living under such deplorable conditions. Sewage had backed up in the house and mold was beginning to grow. Although we had taken the wet carpet from the house water continued to seep through the slab. The flies swarmed because of the rotten meat in the garbage cans. Mosquitos thrived in the heat and dampness. There was no way to keep the insects from coming into the house as we had to open the windows or suffocate.

My anguish in not knowing if my home had survived was becoming increasingly more stressful for me. We didn't have transportation to get to the house. On several occasions the son in law would ride his bicycle in search of ice or milk for the children.. Should I lay yet another burden on him with the request I was going to make?

If my home was still there and livable I could take my daughter and her family to my house where they would be more comfortable. SO I asked and he said YES! Before departure on his bicycle I gave him my keys to bring the car back with him if all was well. Within the hour he drove up with the car. When he walked in the door and looked at me my heart was pounding waiting for him to speak. He simply said, "Your house is fine." I began to cry from a gamut of feelings. They had lost so much and I didn't lose anything. The emotion of that was hard to bear. Later that day I drove to the house. There was no power and although I knew it would be very uncomfortable to stay the night, I was HOME!

Sep 1 ... Arose early in the morning more exhausted than ever because I had slept in a leather recliner and was so hot that my body was literally stuck to it. I went outdoors and inspected the house for damage. Three back porch screens were torn loose and a very tall pine tree was leaning toward the house. The once pretty yards were ankle deep with debri. Oaks were stripped of their leaves. A wooden privacy fence in the back yard was now listing.

Inside the house I took thawed and rotting meat out to the garbage can. Furniture that I had moved was put back in place. It was now time to go back to Anita, Dave and the kids. We had no way to contact one another and I was worried about them as they were about me.

I inched my way down the streets carefully avoiding debri in the roads. In the light of day the devastation was breathtaking and unbelievable. It was so eerily quiet. Was like the world had ended and this ONE lone car was taking this lady back to the devastation she had left just the night before. I cried all the way to their house!

Upon entering the neighborhood where my daughter, son in law and four grandkids lived I was filled with apprehension. I had experienced this same feeling when my husband was diagnosed with cancer. Flight or Fight. Run a way from what would bring me much pain or stay by his side and face whatever came. I stayed. We had nine more happy years together. So.... knowing this was also at times going to bring me pain I opened the door to their house and said "I'm back!" The day was no different than the three days before. We were tired, dirty and so darn HOT. Please God please! We took turns mopping up the water seepage through the floors and did all we could possibly do to keep the children content. A neighbor came to tell us that a semi was in the area with supplies. Dave ran down the street to get what we needed off the truck. Diapers, lots of water, can goods, toilet tissue etc. Friends of another neighbor had gotten the supplies and drove them into the subdivision. We decided to call my next door neighbor and ask if they needed water. He said he had been trying to call but couldn't get a connection. The power was on. You have never seen anyone move as fast as we did gathering supplies, and getting the children into the car. We knew it was after curfew so we drove with bated breath. Nothing was going to stop us. We were headed for air conditioning!!!!

What could only be a five mile drive seemed like an eternity as night had fallen and we had to avoid obstacles such as trees and power lines laying across the roads. When we arrived at the house, I quickly unlocked the door and hurried through the house turning on lights to "light" my way to the a/c unit in the hallway. "Hurry, hurry! Get the children inside!" "We can unload the car later!" I realized I was barking out orders like a drill sergeant but earlier I talked about flight or fight where I had chosen to fight and be d----- if I could be stopped now. The baby needed special attention, the 2 yr. old girl already had what we then diagnosed as dysentary and the 7 and 8 yr. old boys were just plain listless. All of our faces were of a bright red color. NOW we had a chance to recover. The children were bathed as were my daughter and son in law. When my turn came there was no hot water. That's when we discovered the hot water tank wasn't working. We had simply used up what was left in the tank. In the desperate state of being we were in, none of us thought about contaminated water until much later. We were thankful we only drank bottled water. Our flushed faces took on a paler color as our bodies cooled down. The daughter and her husband slept in my bed with the 2 yr. old girl and the baby girl in a playpen and a baby carrier respectively. I slept with the 7 and 8 yr. old boys in another bedroom. I say slept but during the night I had to move them over so I wouldn't fall from the bed, remove a foot from my back and an occasional arm flung across my face. None of that mattered as we were SAFE and going to live much better than we had during the previous days. There is something I forgot and wonder how I could have. Daughter had rescued a mother cat and 4 newborn kittens just before Katrina struck. They were bedded down on the back porch. And then there was "Judge", a border collie that stayed inside. He was a great houseguest!

It has been over four months since Katrina made landfall and it would take me at least a year to write about it in detail so I have decided to still speak of Katrina but in a different way. It will affect our lives for a very long time but we will overcome. We will be made whole again and our children and grandchildren will be here to see a new Mississippi. It's right over the horizon! A new beginning!

Dave, Anita and grandchildren stayed with me for 12 days and then returned to their home where they are making repairs to their house. A slow process but accomplishments are being made.

Another daughter and her two sons lived in an apartment in Slidell, Louisiana and had evacuated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to a private church shelter. Their apartment was destroyed. An older daughter in Florida helped her sister get to her home where she stayed a few days before going to a hotel. The Red Cross picked up the tab. I sent money to bring her and the boys here with me until she could get back on her feet. They stayed a month and she returned to Florida where she is doing well.

I also have a daughter in Gulfport, Mississippi. Her home sustained only roof damage. She is an avid gardener and in June of 2005 there was a glowing article with pictures of her beautiful yards. Katrina swept the garden away.

Although my home was spared my sufferings came from the afflictions heaped on my daughters and their children. Before I end this post, I would like to give special thanks to my older daughter for her concern about the welfare of her sisters.

May God Bless You My Daughters!

The distant rumbling of thunder tonight reminds me of another evening twenty years ago. At that time we lived in the Poplarville/Lumberton area. There wasn't much in the way of entertainment in these small areas but it was a great retreat to get away from the stress that an active job can inflict on a person. We lived next door to the superintendent of one of the schools. He offered us tickets to go see some entertainers that were coming to Lumberton. Of course, my husband said, "Thanks but I don't think so." I said, "Wait! Who are they?" The neighbor replied, "The Platters." That was all I needed to hear. We had to wait almost a month and when the night of the concert finally arrived there was a fierce thunderstorm... I mean dangerously fierce. My husband said, "I'm sorry Ruth but we can't go out in this." I suppose had I not detected a hint of relief on his face I would have stayed home.

He, I and our youngest daughter drove through a heavy downpour with many lightning bolts making contact with the ground. We made it into the theater and took our seats. When the Platters walked out on the stage in black slacks , purple sequined jackets and started singing, time rolled backwards. The rain outside was so heavy that it made a roaring sound as it hit the roof. The lightning was loud and close but they didn't miss a song.

The one movie theater in Lumberton was shut down many years ago and the building was used for other local occasions. As it so happened, one of the occasions was ... the Platters came to Lumberton! Only You

Yay!!!! We Won!!

Mississippi has been named #1 in our country for having the most obese people. I want to know.... did we win by having 1 or 2 more hefty people than other states or were there thousands more of us that are FAT? I was just wondering because when I watch the news from around the country I see many people who would fit into that category. I can't be sure though that the people I see in New York for instance are not Mississippi transplants. By all means, don't "rub elbows" as further studies could show that FAT is contagious.

VICTIMS TRAINING TO REBUILD AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA

The above plant is a papyrus. It loves the hot dry weather.

I suppose many people might want to know how I feel about the upcoming second year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. To be honest, I don't feel anything. It will just be another day. Last year I was at the celebration and what I noted was a handfull of city leaders congratulating one another for a job well done. Governor Haley Barbour made an appearance and what I got from his speech was that we should "hitch up our britches". I can honestly say that this is the first time I have ever used that expression. Bear in mind please, that I didn't say it.

Biloxi's mayor is being praised because of the revenue that is coming in from all the casinos. Gulfport's mayor is being criticized about everything he has tried to do. Most disheartening to me is that many projects are way into the future. We need things now. I realize that what is missing in not only my life but many other lives, is joy. To be without joy is to have a sad and depressed spirit.

When the Chevron refinery had a fire last week at its plant, they denied an explosion although many of their workers said there was and they were running for their lives. The daughter, her children and I went to my house in Moss Point knowing if the entire plant blew up that we wouldn't stand a chance. It would be like the wave of fire after a nuclear explosion. Why is something that is so dangerous to the inhabitants located here? People were complaining to Chevron that their cars had oil spots on them and Chevron offered to wash them if they had proof. I found one on mine and scraped it off with my fingernails and took the car to have it washed although the grit that cover our cars on normal days remains in the paint job. Chevron was praised for the fine way they handled the situation.

I have been reading about the floods in the mid west and I am sad for the people. Believe me, we know down here what they are going through. I am sure that many of the victims probably have been volunteers to our area and, that if there is a way, Mississippi will return the goodwill.

There are only six days until the anniversary ... maybe I will change my mind.

Pascagoula

Pascagoula

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Your Hometown News - Pascagoula

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Your Hometown News - Pascagoula: " Katrina Volunteers Continue In Record Numbers After Katrina, we here in South Mississippi were grateful and amazed by the numbers of volunteers who rushed to our aid. Now the federal government says more volunteers than ever are working in hurricane affected areas along the Gulf Coast."

M & M Bank

It seems that we can't quite get out of survival mode in our coastal cities. We had a near disaster Thursday when the Chevron refinery had a tank explode. The picture that my daughter took is from her front porch, across the street from the house shown. (pic is in Thursday's post) Immediately, we went into survival mode. Where do we go? I reside on, what I call, the outskirts of Moss Point so we decided that we would distance ourselves from the potential danger by going to my house. The children couldn't play in the yard as Moss Point has discovered West Nile in the area. They are concerned about only a five block area which I am not in but .... mosquitos can fly can't they? Then there is Hurricane Dean. Before noon today the phone rang and it was a recorded message from Governor Haley Barbour alerting us to prepare just in case Mississippi is the target. What a way to start the day. I wish I could have said, "Hi Governor Barbour .. can you commandeer all the lodging in the state for people that live in the state"? "Can't you do something about the hotels that charge us whether we use the rooms are not"? "You know as well as I do that it is hard to predict exactly where a hurricane will make landfall and the hotels are requiring a 48 hr. cancellation notice that we are not coming". I didn't get to say that but I sure wish I could have. We are Mississippians .. we should take care of our own first!

Today is the anniversary of Camille which I also experienced and it should not be dismissed because Katrina appeared 36 yrs. later and caused more death and damage. Why shouldn't it be dismissed? Because we can't rewrite history... it happened.

Miscellaneous pictures of Pascagoula are below.

Washington Avenue

Pascagoula St.

Pascagoula St.

Pascagoula Beach Park Pier

ANNIVERSARY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE AUGUST 17/18, 1969

The picture below is a tugboat that was washed from the gulf two blocks inland. It was later chained and dragged back to the beach where it was displayed as a souvenir of Camille. Later a souvenir shop was built on the site. For 36 yrs. she stood as a reminder of what happened in 1969. Strangely, Katrina could not dislodge her from her post.

Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge

Heat, Hurricanes, Evacuations And A Refinery Explosion

What's going on with the heat? It has been in the mid to upper 90's for so long now that there is almost no way to beat the heat. Last week the compressor on my a/c went bad .. it was patched. A proposal was handed to me with a $1750.00 price tag. Wouldn't you know that the coil I needed was obsolete? The guy left saying, "Sure hope you get through the summer with it." There was an article in last week's local paper stating that we will be paying high electric bills for the next 12 yrs. so they can make up their losses. My last two bills were $229 and $240. They suggest you turn the thermostat to 78 but that doesn't stop it from coming on and running after your house heats up to 90. I will let you know how much my next bill is.

I should be worried about Hurricane Dean and I am, but not in the way I should be. Come on folks, we have nowhere to go when we do evacuate. Shortly after Katrina we decided (Dave and Anita) that we would drive to Mobile with the little gas we had left and find a cool motel room to spend the night in. We couldn't at the time call ahead to make reservations as our phones were out of whack. Every motel or hotel that Dave stopped at had no vacancies and we were using the little gas we had left. All the gas stations on the outskirts of Mobile had no gas to sell so we had to go back home. Now there will be evacuation buses to take people to a safer unknown place should another hurricane threaten. Not me .. it is still too fresh in my mind that the people who evacuated during Katrina were not allowed to come back home. It reminds me of old war movies where people were put on evacuation buses, taken to some wooded area and shot. Perhaps I feel this way since Katrina because we were not recognized as taking the full brunt of the storm. Mississippi is a state!. Saying New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is not recognition. Also what about all the parishes and small cities in Louisiana that suffered severe damages? Have we turned into people that seek only what is sensational? When I watched the rescue of the people on roof-tops and all the helicopters that were flying , I thought, "Why can't they at least drop much needed "ice" to us"? In Pascagoula, there was only one designated area to get ice and no set time when any would be delivered. In my daughter's neighborhood all the cars were destroyed. When I found that my car and home survived the storm, I went to the area and attempted to get ice. I was told that the expected truckload was diverted elsewhere. I suppose the only way to sum up the entire situation that exists in our nation is that we apparently can't handle disasters.

I wrote the above earller this morning and at 1PM I went to my daughter's for a visit. At 2:15PM a tank at Pascagoula's Chevron Refinery exploded. The sky was filled with a billowy black cloud. Terror set in. I took the two boys and Anita had the two girls and it was so slow getting to my house because other people were trying to get as far away as possible too. As I drove I was thinking just a short time ago Pascagoula's complete portion of the money for our schools that Chevron agreed to back in the 60's was split with the other cities in Jackson County. The outcry was loudly proclaiming it wasn't fair. Well, in the evacuation we found ourselves in unexpectedly today, Pascagoula was in danger. It has been said if Chevron has a major explosion it will wipe out 1/3 of our city. The pic below is Anita's. We didn't get many as we were in a hurry to get out of the close proximity to the refinery.

Something my 9 yr. old grandson said as we hastily made our way to what we hoped was a safer place was poignant for one so young. He said, "Nana if it blows up and destroys our house again and all my things, I don't think I can take it this time." Children hurt too!

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Official: Chevron Refinery Fire Contained, But Still Burning

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Official: Chevron Refinery Fire Contained, But Still Burning: "An oil fire at Chevron's largest U.S. refinery was mostly contained about two hours after it started, a company official said Thursday. But a large plume of black smoke could still be seen over the Mississippi coast."

AUGUST 16, 1977 - Elvis

HEAT WAVE AROUND THE UNITED STATES

And The Building Goes On

Ingalls Avenue

Katrina Cottage

Washington Avenue

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE AND EMILY!

My son in law, Dave, and his two year old daughter, Emily, share a birthday. We think of her as a Katrina baby. Ironically, her middle name is Camille.

More Than Dawn Is Breaking

What dreadful days we are all having around the country. If this doesn't apply to you, then I sincerely beg your pardon. Maybe I have spoken too broadly including you in what I am experiencing as I try to get back to the "good life". I realize that there are people who claim to have never had a bad day in their lives. Then your life is charmed, mine isn't at this time. I lived the "good life" for many years but it wasn't anything like I see on television. It didn't exclude the responsibilities that I owed to a boss, a husband, children or God. My saying that I am trying to get back to the good life does not mean that I am trying to recapture the past. In the six years after my husband died in 1999, I was well on my way to begin a new phase in my life. What happened? Katrina! Two years in survival mode can take a toll, it changes the way one thinks and handles what was once normal situations. My mindset is that I have "paid my dues" so I should be exempt from further aggravations. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

In late July, the emission light on my car's dashboard seemed to be taunting me as it set there aglow. I went to the dealer with it and a mechanic asked if it was a blinking light or a steady light. It was steady so he said bring it in next week as the switch probably flipped. Have any of you noticed that when a warranty runs out on your car that a light WILL come on? This was on a Tuesday. Thursday night I jumped out of bed to the sound of a shotgun blast. I checked the house, went back to bed and soon heard a soft rain falling. Good!! We needed the rain. The next morning, I went out on the porch to drink my coffee and gasped. The flowerbed running along the wall at the back of the house was underwater, a pipe had burst. The first question I asked the plumber was, "Can plumbing explode"? He said, "Yes Ma'm it can." Normalcy returned quickly, the emission switch was repaired as was the plumbing. What I learned from these two incidents is that a shotgun blast is plumbing exploding and a steady emission light meant that I can drive it without harming the converter. So why did I have it repaired? Because I was developing a fixation looking at the steady light to make sure it hadn't turned to "blinking".

Did anything break today? Yep! My new dryer overheated and the electric garage door doesn't open or close. I can hardly wait to see what happens tomorrow. Our weather is hot, hot, hot! Not nice at all. We are melting!

Biloxi Lighthouse New Symbol on Mississippi License Tags

Biloxi Lighthouse New Symbol on Mississippi License Tags

Well, it's the dog days of summer down here. I run out every now and then and move the sprinklers trying to save the lawn. When I moved to this house in 2005 the lawn was very pretty, front and back. A headway has been made in bringing it back to what it once was. I have spent hundreds of dollars in water fees to do it too. As far as working in the yards in August, the chance of heatstroke is high. This morning Biloxi's Mayor, A. J. Holloway was taken to the hospital and was found to be suffering from dehydration... he spent the past weekend working in his yards. I have often spoken aloud that our world is growing old. It seems that not too many years ago, everything was new and now much is rundown and has become downright "seedy" in all of our states. The catastrophe in Minnesota, did it have to happen? Are we in such a hurry to build something else that we don't maintain what we have? The list of deficient bridges in the United States didn't surprise me. An official from MDOT said Mississippi didn't have any defective bridges. Yes we do, we all do. The Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge that went down in Katrina was heavily damaged by Camille in 1969 and steadily got worse. The shocks on our cars were most likely damaged riding across as you bounced so much that your head would sometimes hit the top liner. If children were in the car with you they would be saying, "Wheeeeee - this is fun!" We need to slow down and enjoy what we do have. I was out driving around today and I got a few pictures. It's all so slow. We are not out of survival mode.

Washington Avenue

Ingalls Avenue

Moss Point - Telephone Road

A Moment In The Spotlight

Many of you have read my writings on Katrina and most certainly have ascertained that I would have to be of a certain age and you would be correct. I have given clues to my age simply by recalling things from a time many of you have only heard about. So once again I am going to tell you a story. The year was 1971, the 18th of July... our fourth child was due in August. My husband's brother asked him to go floundering with him. Because my husband probably felt a little guilty leaving me, he came up with the bright idea that we all go and not wanting to disappoint everyone .. I agreed. It would be nice sitting on the beach in the evening. We were a party of four adults and six rambunctous kids. Within a few minutes I realized I should have stayed home, I wasn't feeling well. Any of you women that have had children would know how cumbersome I was at 8 months, right? Well, as it turns out I was actually 9 months. I assumed the guys had checked the rising and falling of the tides. You flounder when the tide is out, surely they did that. I was sitting in a lawn chair when the obviously unexpected tide came in. I found myself no longer on the beach... I was surrounded by gulf water but still seated in the chair.*** My husband and his brother came in a flash and got me to shore. They surrounded me on both sides and picked me up from the chair and lifted me until my feet weren't even in the water.*** I didn't know it then of course but that was to be my first experience with how fast water can come to shore. My baby was born three days later and she was the one I would later call my little fishing buddy. I was in the hospital for a week not from complications from being in the water but from other factors that were present.

I told the above story to get to the one I am going to tell you now. The office had a Christmas party each year and l hadn't recovered enough to attend so my husband said when I was well he would take me out for a night on the town. My night out was a long time in coming but in the spring of 1972 he made reservations in Biloxi to take me to dinner and dancing. The entertainer would be Morey Amsterdam, a comic, on the Dick Van Dyke show. I had been "cooped" up so long that I was literally bubbling. Morey didn't get off to a good start with the crowd because he said when he came through Biloxi the first thing he saw were masoleums and that the town was just as dead. He said, "What do you people do around here for entertainment?" No laughter, not even a giggle, came from the people. I am quite sure I laughed because I was still bubbling, everything was exciting. The audience finally warmed up and enjoyed his performance. Here's what happened. I thought his act was over so trying to beat the onslaught of the crowd I jumped up from the table and dashed toward Morey and before I could say a word to him a huge beam of white light came from the ceiling and encircled Morey and me. I couldn't leave as the light was so bright that I couldn't see how to leave. Should I make a blind run for it anyway and maybe with any luck I would come out at the EXIT or should I just stand here smiling? Maybe the crowd will think I was planted in the audience and I am part of his act. If only I could sing but Morey wasn't singing . I could dance but Morey wasn't dancing either. He stood there as though he was waiting for a longhandled giant hook that would jerk this crazy woman out of HIS spotlight. Without turning my head, I rolled my eyes to the left to look at Morey and all I can say is that Morey Amsterdam was not a happy camper. Shoot! All I wanted was to shake his hand!

When I returned to our table, although my husband was sitting somewhat lower in his seat, he acknowledged that he knew me and laughingly said, "WHAT did you do?"

***Obviously I was in fanasty land when I talked about how my husband and his brother rescued me from the rising gulf tide. Here's the real story. They scooped up the kids and ran for the "new shoreline". Because of my condition, I couldn't run. On reaching the shore they began talking and laughing in loud voices so I suppose that when I called for help it would have sounded like, "help"! So I folded the lawn chair and tucked it under my arm with my strapped purse hanging from my shoulder. Another bag that contained snacks, dry clothes and shoes, I carried in my right arm. The tide comes in rough swells, I was moving slowly so I wouldn't be knocked off my feet. I reached the shore breathing heavily and shivering from being soaked to the skin. When my husband saw me, his expression was one of belated recognition that I hadn't been among the rescued. Although I had both feet firmly planted on land he attempted a rescue anyway by saying, "Ruth, where have you been, let me help you!" He gently placed a WET towel over my shivering shoulders as I stood there still holding all the "stuff" I carried to shore. Amazingly, women think their men are special no matter how tarnished their armor becomes . I did too! ***

Pascagoula, Mississippi