(Editor's note: This post is from an e-mail Maria Russell sent to her friends and family on Sept. 5. The photos were taken by Maria and her husband, Dave.)
After spending Sunday night (of Labor Day weekend) in Gulf Breeze, Florida, we made our way to Bay St. Louis on Monday. Evidence of Katrina was seen on I-10, beginning just east of Mobile and then it got progressively worse; trees were downed, billboards knocked over, cars that had run out of fuel parked on the shoulder. Passing Biloxi, we spotted big boats high and dry, in the middle of nowhere. The damage was more severe the further west we headed, and when we got off at Exit 13, Bay St. Louis, the reality hit us like a ton of bricks.
Service stations that we had done business with were totally obliterated.
We turned onto Central Avenue and tried to get to our neighborhood, but we had the camper on the truck and couldn't get under the telephone lines that were precariously draped over the road. So we drove around town, trying to scope out a place where we could "set up camp" for a few days. We noticed several tents in the post office parking lot, and that's where we spent Monday night. Families without anything left became our new neighbors, and we shared some of our supplies, like gasoline (a REAL premium item) and cold beer (even more premium!). For this they were so grateful. We would have shared more, like our food, but everyone only took what they absolutely needed. Nothing more.
Sharon, one of our new friends, seemed to be really dialed into not just what supplies were needed and not coming in, but WHO really needed them. Command posts had been set up at the Wal-Mart and K-Mart shopping centers, but if people couldn’t get to them either by foot or automobile, they were SOL. Sharon knew of a makeshift relief site down Hwy. 90. She had heard that these poor souls weren’t getting ANYthing from the outside, and asked if there was something we could do.
Prior to coming down here, I had talked to a friend in Knoxville, and remembered that she was gathering up a bunch of supplies and heading for Mississippi. I immediately called her on our satellite phone (cell phones weren't working) and asked WHERE in Mississippi was she headed. She answered "Lumberton," which was about 80 miles north of Bay St. Louis. Would she consider coming down with some special supplies for us? Of course, her answer was YES. She would arrive sometime Wednesday
Sharon gave me a list of things the people down the highway desperately needed. Items like deodorant, toothbrushes and toothpaste, sunscreen, bug repellent, vitamins, diapers, Wet Wipes, tents, sleeping bags, charcoal grills and pots and pan, and the list went on and on, not to mention food and water. I called Shari back with the list and thanked her in advance for anything she could do.
Electricity was not restored yet, so it was pitch black out there on Highway 90, the main road going through Bay St. Louis and Waveland. A curfew of 8 p.m. - daylight was in force. Several times Jim (our dog) would get up and start growling or barking; Dave peered out and saw people "wandering around" with the intention of doing who-knows-what? It was, after all, about 3 a.m. Neither of us slept very well.
Before and after
EMAIL THIS
TRACKBACKS
Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do no appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b0aa69e200d835336aa969e2
advertisement
I live in Canada = Ontario, and I don't think many people here really know what you guys went through and are still going through as I write this note.
But thanks to this great web site of msnbc.com I have so much more knowledge re: your situations.
Anne, Halton Hills, Ontario Canada (Sent May 2, 2007 12:31:27 PM)
SEND A COMMENT
PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.