Phones are working now in a limited fashion. Now that I have Internet access, I will be able to bring you up to date with the happenings here from my vantage point. The following is a diary through Tuesday. I need to write about yesterday still.
I am overwhelmed by the comments. I have not read them all, but I know some of you asked questions about people and places. I will do what I can to obtain that information for you and post it here.
John Strain
Cut Off
Monday, August 29, 2005 7:00 PM
Katrina finally cut off all ties with the outside world. Although I have generator power, the phones no longer do long distance. No cell phones at all. I can make local calls and that is it.
I am sure folks are worried about me and it is frustrating not to be able to get word to them I am fine.
I don’t know when I will get to post this, but here is what happened the for the rest of Katrina’s visit.
I continued to watch the storm. It was fascinating and addicting. The building had an inset doorway where we could open the door, but be out of the wind. We watched pine trees snap and the air smelled like a Christmas tree farm pungent with pine. An adjacent building slowly yielded all of its siding to Katrina as homage. The intensity continued to increase. Occasional gusts gave short bursts of very powerful wind to overwhelm trees, road signs, and rooftops.
At one point, we feared the wind would cave in the front lobby. It is made of metal frames with large windows. The wind gusts were causing a visible movement and sounds of metal creaking was a bad omen. The maintenance crew fashioned a brace with some two by fours which took care of the problem.
Good news trickled in. The hurricane weakened slightly to a category four storm. Then she turned ever so slightly to the east and the feared direct hit became a near miss. The passed to our east and that meant we were on the weak side of the storm. We felt lucky and we felt concern for the poor devils taking Katrina’s full impact.
At noon or so, things were tapering off to the point, I rode with my friend Marty to do a recon mission to check out our houses. The damage was wide spread and severe. Roads were covered with green leaves and entire trees. Rows of trees were bent in one direction as though a giant hand reached down and reformed them.
Signs were down, traffic lights were broken and lying in intersections, trees sprawled across houses. Things looked blown up. A gas station over hang fell over, a live oak tree was uprooted. The damage was extensive and wide spread.
We had to turn around several times and try alternate routes because of tree covered roads. Eventually, we were a block from my house so we parked and walked. I have a large tree in the back that fell, but it fell in such a way, only the top corner of my shed was damaged. This is a huge water oak tree and it looks even bigger lying on the ground. The house was fine, no damage, broken windows, or anything else (from a quick assessment).
Trees were down all over the neighborhood. Trees that did not fall were stripped of their foliage. I looked across the street into what seemed to be too much light. Then I realized that the trees left standing had no leaves. Things are different indeed.
I took some perishables from the refrigerator and packed another change of clothes. After getting back to the truck, we set out to see how Marty fared. Unfortunately, we could not get to his house. He has large pines around his home and the fear of course is one or more hit the house. A policeman stopped us and made us go back.
It is going to take a long time to get things back to “normal.” Another coworker made it to her house and reported even more devastation. More trees and many of them are on houses. A large oak tree next to her house was uprooted and is leaning against it. The roof damage it caused opened it up to the elements and she has water running down her walls and into her downstairs kitchen.
Reality is beginning to sink in. I made a stellar financial move this year. I wanted to save on my homeowners insurance so I increased my deductible to $1,000. Very shrewd. Now that I need to make a claim, I am responsible for a grand instead of just $500. That’s life.
You all probably know a lot more about the damage than I do. Without phones and electricity, information is spotty. We do have a TV around here and the local station has been on. I need to go check out the aftermath.
Katrina is another chapter in my book now, but she churns on north, no doubt making the lives of millions of people interesting.
I am thankful to be safe and to have my family safe. This has been an adventure, now I have to pay for the thrill. Does anyone have a chain saw I can borrow?
Thanks once again to everyone for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers. In my book, they changed the course of my destruction and made a lady named Katrina take one step to the right.
Until the next time
John Strain
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 11:00 AM
Man that floor is hard. I woke up in the middle of the night several times with a bad pain in my shoulder and neck. As uncomfortable as it was, I thought of the folks sleeping on rooftops and my pain did not seem so bad.
Before I went to be, the Mayor of New Orleans came on television and recited a litany of damages to the city. It appears the I-10 twin spans from Slidell to New Orleans east was destroyed – it is completely gone. The Causeway has shifted and traffic is limited to essential emergency vehicles. It may be closed. Water in the city is still rising and they do not know why for sure. The levees are breached in several spots making it impossible to pump water out of the city.
Many bodies are floating in the water and they are being ignored for now as rescue workers are turning their attention to rescuing people who are still alive. They suspect houses, now under water contain the bodies of those who were trapped in their attics. When the water rises, people go into their attic. If they do not have an ax to break out and the water continues to rise, they drown.
An oil tanker was beached and is leaking. The flood water is tainted with sewage and chemicals. The roads are impassable even if the flood waters were to recede. New Orleans will never be the same and it will be months before anyone can return. The entire electric grid will need to be rebuilt. The water and sewers are destroyed. New Orleans is a city without infrastructure.
In Covington, thousands of trees are down. Roads are being cleared. Power is out and water is off. Many homes are damaged or destroyed. To our east where the eye traveled, Slidell is even more decimated.
Jim the security guard went to check on his house in Slidell. He came back this morning and said he could only get to within half a mile to it in his truck. He waded chest deep water and crawled through trees to get the rest of the way. His house was smashed under the weight of four huge pine trees. It will be a total loss. Jim was on his way to Houston to stay with family. He looked dazed.
Jan’s new home met a similar fate and sustained tree damage. Susan’s house has a tree on it.
I thought Katrina side stepped us at the last minute. That may be, but she slapped the hell out of us with her left hand as she passed by.
I awoke at 5:00 am to go on my 4 mile run. This is taper week for the Tupelo Marathon. It is important to keep your life as normal as you can. Not running would be far worse to me. Sometimes people go into panic mode and let their routine completely slide. Running is one thing to confirm to my mind and body that life is still sort of normal. I thought about that as I watched a beautiful sunrise. The brilliant blue sky, the morning colors, and the cool air were in sharp contrast to yesterday’s weather with Katrina.
I ran on a bed of pine needles and branches. The streets had been semi-cleared. During the night, crews drug trees or cut them up to open one lane of traffic. The smell of pine was strong. Trees were broken off everywhere and usual sights looked starkly different.
I sensed a difference in moods. Patience was being strained as folks were being pulled between their responsibilities at the hospital and wanting to see about their homes and families. We are still without communication and now, local calls don’t even work.
I was fortunate, very fortunate, but I really did not worry about my house or things. My relationships and memories are what I most cherish. A hurricane may kill me, but it could never destroy those important things. Material goods can be replaced or lived without altogether.
I walked through a neighborhood across from the hospital with my camera. I spoke to some of the residents and we compared notes about the storm. We are all amazed at the shear power of it all. We all have the same concerns and that makes a bond. It is too bad we only seem to cooperate and help each other in tragedy and not at other times.
We all have a lot of work ahead of us; there are homes to repair, trees to haul away, and other unseen obstacles to endure. I do not like to think of being a survivor, that sounds to passive. I will be an over comer. This is just another day. I will take it as it comes and do the best I can. When I get tired I will rest, when I get hungry I will eat, and when I get thirsty I will drink. Isn’t that what we do every other day?
Until the next time
John Strain