I’m still alive! Those were the first words I
said to a lady friend when I was finally able to
get out on the Cell Phone "when she heard my
voice she started to cry" I guess she had seen
the devastation here on the news, my brother and I had
to drive 20 miles east and stop and walk up on
the over pass to get a signal, we were unable to
get out to the interstate at all because the roads were completely
blocked until the day after the storm had passed.
Hurricane Hugo
and the Ice storms of North Carolina taught me
the wisdom of preparedness, and it has served me
well before during and especially after Katrina.
I had a feeling
that something was coming, I had even told
people in the chat why I was making the changes
and setting up the other room, I didn't know it
would be Katrina until I saw the storm forming
in the Atlantic I had already started to set up
the backup chat room and had most of the
regulars or as many as I could, go and register
their nick names and set the moderator ops, but
I ran out of time before I could set the
homepage and mail server up on a hosted site, I bought extra food and
even though I have a generator I bought some 100
hour candles and had put some survival food in
the closet, I have my generator on natural gas
and hooked up to run the whole house, so I felt
fairly secure, I had been through Georges "
category 3 hurricane" my
first year in Biloxi, and thought “How Bad Can
it be?” so I wasn’t very worried, until I saw
the storm had reached 180 mph winds and 215 mph
gusts the gulf was warm, even hot, so I thought
this could be a Super Storm, but since I had
never seen a “Super Storm” I had no clue what
that meant "I do now".
My family had
planned to come to visit in Biloxi and we were
all waiting to see the final track of the storm, on Friday
night it looked like the track was going to take
Katrina in over Biloxi, so I called and said,
“yall don’t come” when I woke up the next
morning I went to accuweather.com and clicked on
the eye path and it showed the new track going
in about 50 miles west of New Orleans so I
thought, well we mite get some wind and rain but
its migrating west, we'll be ok, so I called
and said come on over, it will be ok “bad
mistake” by the time they got here the track was
moving back towards Biloxi.
They kept telling
us that the winds were decreasing, but it was
looking very bad, so the only thing to do was,
“go to Sam’s and get Hurricane party munchies”
right? Isn’t that what you would do? Since
I had gone through Dennis and Ivan and Georges
and a couple little storms I cant recall, I
thought I knew which way the wind would come
from so I felt pretty safe, well… all those
storms had gone in east of Biloxi or in the case
of Georges the eye came right over us, but I had
never seen a storm come in west of us with 175
mph winds, so as much as I hate to say it, “I
didn’t board up” bad mistake, when I saw the
ferocity of the storm I began to think that if
the windows blow out then the roof would surely
go, then a pine cone broke one of the front
windows, … my heart sank, at that moment I
thought that there was a high likelihood that
one or more of my family mite be seriously
injured, that was the first time that I was
really worried, there was no way to board up those
windows now, the wind was roaring at 175 mph and
I felt sure that the roof was about to go. "2
other houses in my neighborhood did lose their
roof" but no one was in them at the
time, those folks had “buged out”.
My mother was
sitting in the most protected part of the house,
my sister in law was having a freak out episode,
screaming at my brother to take her home “right
now” she went and hid in the bedroom with a
pillow over her head, all I can say is “be glad
you weren't here” I’m writing this on Sunday
6:30 pm the 4th
of September I went on generator power on August
28 Monday
morning about 5:30 and I’m typing this still
running on the generator, the phones just came
back on about an hour ago, the storm killed my
satellite dish and I have one local channel I’m
pulling in on rabbit ears, I called DirecTV and
they say they can get someone to fix it on the
22nd of September.
My house is the
laundry mat for the neighborhood since I have
power and we are getting some water back now,
however
they say we cant drink it, its hot and humid, “no air
conditioner” so I go and stand in the shower in
the water I cant drink, just to be cool for a
few minutes.
There are some
real Heroes here in Biloxi though, people that
have lost everything, their homes and all their belongings
washed away in a 35 foot storm surge,
but they went to work and did their jobs. Nurses, doctors, police officers, paramedics,
and firefighters, city and county employees of
every kind of job description, the line crews
working on the lines, utility workers of all
kinds. People streaming in to this devastation
with truck loads of water and ice and gas and food
and generators. Tree workers clearing roads and
removing downed trees from houses, volunteers of
all kinds, people from as far away as Canada and
California, and then there are the plain next door
neighbors, the lady across the street comes over
to plug in her coffee pot, her daughter and
boyfriend were completely wiped out they had an
apartment a couple blocks from the beach, they
went back to find the apartment complex gone,
but found some clothes in the mud, they are
sleeping on my air bed, and washed their clothes
at my house, tonight the lady brought me a plate
of food they had gotten at the local church, I
have plenty of food, but the gesture meant so
much. My other next door neighbor came over to
try to help me get my satellite working again.
For a while we had no water here, but I had put
back 200 gallons of flushing water and 24
gallons of drinking water, so they used some of
the water that I had put back.
What a world we
live in, where a Disaster takes us past race, religion, and nationality at 175 miles an
hour, and winds and storm surge uncover the bare
spirit of who we really are. Give us a battle to
fight or a disaster to over come and we
become who we were meant to be, if only we could
hold onto that greatness. Tragedy brings the
best out in most of us and the worst out in a
few, we are having some looting here now and I’m
sleeping with my 9mm handgun.
Some people are
looking for someone to blame, looking at the way
the plans failed and what went wrong with the
response to this disaster, here on the Coast and in New
Orleans, we need to get past the photo ops and
political one upmanship and be productive, the
people that are living in the rubble of this
devastation are just looking to find homes for
those that have lost everything, heal our sick
and injured, bury our dead and repair or
rebuild our homes, and go back to work, there will be plenty of time
to critique this response and develop new plans
“educated plans” on how to respond to disasters
that will certainly come in the future.
I don't
think we needed a Katrina to wake us
up to what could happen, but what it has done
and will do for America is beyond calculation ,
America became a family over night, and that's
really something, its a hard thing to
consider but nuclear devastation is only a heart
beat away in the world we live in now, other
disasters will befall us, or someone we know and
love, possibly even worse ones than Katrina, "if
you were here you would find that hard to
believe".
As for me, I'm
just trying to think how I can be of use at a
time like this, half my shingles are gone, the
down spouts were ripped off and blown down the
street, one broken window, and a broken storm
door glass, I have a hole in my roof and some water damage in
the house, I'm one of the lucky ones here, but like I said “I’m still alive!”,
and you know? I think I’m more alive now than I was
a week ago.
9/8 - 10 days after Katrina
FEMA disconnects us when we call "grrrrrr"
Phones are messed up, cant get thru to the
Operator or telephone repair, can't hear what
people are saying on the other end
People cant call in on the Cell Phone, I can
call outside of the 228 area code but cant call
locally.
Still no Internet "ADSL"
Insurance Adjuster still hasn't shown up.
No Roofers to be found "man I hope it doesn't
rain"
I thought I'd change from Satellite to Cable,
"can't get through to the cable company"
cant find a tree worker, "a 75 foot pine is
about to fall on the house"
update, I finally got through to BellSouth
Repair, they said that it may be November 15th
before ADSL Internet service is Restored, can
you say "Mr. Happy"
9/9 - 11 days after Katrina
Still no insurance adjuster "Allstate"
The cross the street neighbor lady came over and
asked if I would like to ride with them to go
and sign up for the Blue Roof program, I said
yup, and we went to the FEMA office and me and
my 2 cross the street neighbors signed up, "good
neighbors are worth their weight in gold"
you cant sign up for anything but Blue Roof at
this place, you have to go somewhere else to
sign up with FEMA and another place still to get
the blue tarps "only had time for the Blue Roof
thing", lines a mile long for everything you try
to do here now, but you know we are all in the
same boat here, I didn't see anyone lose their
temper. We
stopped by the grocery store on the way back,
UPS had held up my dog food order in Jackson and
had sent it back to the shipper, "sigh"
still no mail running here.
They
are picking up the trash though, "thank gawd"
everyone who didn't have a generator lost
everything in their Freezers, the air was foul
with the odor of rotting meat for a few days
before the trash pickup started.
Still no internet, the Bellsouth lines are still
so bad that either they don't work or you cant
understand what people are saying, Cell phones
are reliable now though, or seem to be, I think
people can even call in now.
Haven't been able to do anything about the roof
yet, I think a guy will do some temporary
patches for me tomorrow till the Blue Roof guys
arrive.
No Taxi service in Biloxi, "sigh"
No Steak Out either, man I miss Steak Out.
I was able to pull in another TV channel now I
have 2 channels :) :) "happiness is broadband
internet, 160 channels on the TV and a beautiful
woman cooking breakfast in nothing but an
apron".
Yup, I mite be going crazy. You think I should
change the title of this to "Diary of a Madman"?
9/10 - 12 days after Katrina
My neighbor picked me up a huge tarp at Lowe's
$99.00 - 30X50 should cover most of the damage
over the house part, I have a small tarp for the
garage I think his grandson will put the tarps
on for me tomorrow.
Phones and internet are still out, I called
Bellsouth again, they said all they can say is a
blanket statement for the area , they are still
saying their services "phones and internet" will
be back up by November 15. "sigh"
Still no insurance adjuster.
Hope the rain holds off.....
There are 2 chances of finding a Roofer, slim
and none.
9/11 - 12 days after Katrina
I'm remembering how I felt on that
fateful day, how angry I was after the attack,
we are still at war with those that would
destroy our way of life, murderers that kill the
innocent with no remorse. I'll "Never Forget!" I
hope you never do either.
The last I heard, we have 86 dead here in
Harrison County, and rising, thousands homeless,
standing in line is the new normal here now, how
do we make war on natural disasters, the only
way I know is planning and preparation, County
and State Store Houses, underground utilities
where practical, pre staged fuel, ice,
water and food trucks, roving response vans to
carry food, ice and water to those who are
elderly, disabled or have no transportation, a
registry for such people should be kept at the EOC.
Still no insurance adjuster.
Still no phone, still no internet. Bellsouth
tech support tells me that I should have
internet by the 16th of September
I saw the Mayer of Waveland speaking today at
the EOC, he is the Mayer of a destroyed city
here on the Coast, his voice quivered with
emotion, and he had tears in his eyes, his City
completely destroyed by winds and storm surge,
Waveland a small City of 8000 people was one of
the most picturesque Cities on the Gulf Coast.
I was able to find a "free" tree service to help
the lady across the street get the tree off her
roof, I haven't been over there I hope it didn't
damage her roof more "she already had a huge
limb sticking through her roof"
the across the street lady's daughter told me
that the free tree service guy had got the tree
off their house, one guy wanted 500.00 to remove
that tree, how bout that free guy eh?
I called and canceled my DirecTV, gonna go back
to cable, I just cant wait till the 22nd for TV,
ya know ?
I Slept late today, got up and got the tarp
ready to go on the roof, to hot here now to get
up there and try to work. The guy next door will
help me put it on tomorrow, man I'll be glad to
get that roof damage covered.
9/13 15 days after Katrina
Still Cant drink the water, running low on water
storage now, I'll have to start boiling water in
3 days if they don't clear it to drink "did I
say it was 15 days after Katrina?" I'm going to
have to get more water storage Containers or a
big one,
Still no phones or internet, I called the phone
company again this morning, first I called
telephone repair, the kid on the other end said
it would be November 27th, before I would have
my phone fixed, well, ..... I tried to explain
to the idiot that everyone else in my
neighborhood except me and my next door neighbor
had phone service, this kid was actually
smirking at me on the other end, so, finally I
just went off, you know that wide eyed, hair
sticking straight up, arms waving, screaming,
fist pounding the desk, bug ------- crazy, thing
that you do when you have gone over the edge
without your parachute? can you say, "holy cow
he's gonna have a stroke?" so finally the kid
called someone else and they said it would be
Thursday before 7, I didn't believe it, so I
called the internet support section, and
explained my situation for the 9th time, they
gave me a months credit, wonder if they will pay
for my private psycho ward, I then was able to
call a here to fore unknown number at Bellsouth
and talk to a person who promised me that they
would send someone out today or tomorrow.
When I call people at Bellsouth they tell me how
bad it is here in Biloxi, people in the
Bellsouth Central Office, far from Biloxi
Telling me how bad it is here, how bout that eh?
As far as I know there is one Taxi running in
Biloxi, just contacted her today, I bet you have
to make an appointment to get a ride, but hey,
its a ride eh ?
Verison Cell Service, "sigh" Can you hear me
now? "all circuits are busy now, please try your
call later" read above for the description of a
madman.
I rode with the neighbor to get a couple tarps
yesterday, its amazing how close that storm
surge water got to my house, just a few blocks
away. We had noticed that there was about 3
inches of water in the street here, that had
never happened before, so that water must have been
the top of the storm surge. House after house had piled all their
belongings out by the street, ruined by the
storm surge. I have to say, as bad as it is here
at my place, I was and am very lucky.
Still no insurance adjuster, hasn't even called
, well he mite have but the phone is screwed up
so he may have just hung up, I think I should
try to call him today on the Cell, I'm going to
have the Cell Phone bill from hell next month.
Cant call the adjuster on the Cell, "all
circuits are busy, please try your call later".
I got the tarps on the roof yesterday, I'm much
relieved about that, I used shingles to tack
around the edges of the tarp to keep the wind
from ripping it and blowing the tarps away,
looks like it will work fine.
Another channel came up on the TV yesterday, a
FOX channel, I watched Judge Judy, that has to
speak volumes about how a man can be driven over
the edge by the lack of satellite TV, Internet
and phone service. Judge Judy, "gawd". I
have 3 fuzzy static channels when I turn the
channel I have to get up and reposition the
rabbit ears, "I'm putting myself up for
adoption!!" so anyway, I get Judge Judy, Big
bird on the PBS channel and ABC "Democrat TV",
God knows I'm a Republican and is playing a mean
prank on me, don't you think? I will never
Complain
about nothing worth watching on Showtime again.
"so, for my sins i have to watch Judge Judy, ABC
and Big Bird" I was bad, but not that bad, ya
know ?
Cant call out on the Cell today, maybe get out
one out of 10 calls, people can call in though.
seems like the important calls are the ones I
cant get out on "sigh"
9/14 - 16 days after Katrina
Bellsouth "Rhonda in the Bellsouth Business
repair in Georgia" promised they would have my phones
fixed by 6pm this evening, that hopefully means
"Internet" to, "can ya hear the hallelujah
chorus tuning up?"
I'm 4 miles from the Cell tower and cant call
half the numbers I'm trying to call, "Verison"
Can you hear me now? huh? can ya?
I've lost 5 pounds, how bout that, 7 more
disasters and I'll be where I want to be. "be
careful what you ask for eh?"
Well... Bellsouth lied, its 6pm, no one has been
here to fix the phone service,, I called the
Internet support section and they tried to be
helpful, they put me thru to the Bellsouth
business Repair, the girl was not helpful at
all, "Kim in Georgia at the Bellsouth Business
repair" first she told me that I should know
that there was a hurricane here and they didn't
expect to have service back until November 15,
she had to know that would set me off, so I said
that everyone else in my neighborhood had phone
service except me, then she said that my phones
were scheduled to be repaired before 7 tomorrow
evening. now why would she say that crap to me
about November, knowing what a stressful
situation this is if that 7pm tomorrow stuff was
for real? they say that my internet should be
fixed by Thursday, but without fixing the phone
connection, there will still be no internet
9/15 - 17 days after Katrina
I got up early this morning to start calling
Bellsouth, I spend my days now, calling
Bellsouth!, "first I ask for help, they say, no!
then I whine, then plead, then it ends with
demanding, and once in a while yelling". I have to say that the Bellsouth
Internet section is far more helpful than
Bellsouth repair, but finally I got through to a
Bellsouth Business Repair person in Jackson
Mississippi, as soon as I heard her voice I knew
she was from Alabama or Mississippi, "so I
turned on the Southern Charm, Southern Women
love that stuff, "pet um a little and you can
have your way with um every time :) :) ;) I
said, where you from, she said Jackson MS, I
knew then I'd finally get some help, I said, I'm
so glad that I'm finally talking to someone that
knows what's going on down here. I pleaded my
case and told her how special she was ;) She called my
phone to see what the problem was, I explained
that I Host websites and run servers, she
was great to talk to , I expressed my gratitude,
and that's that, I think something will
finally get done about this mess.
Insurance Adjuster finally called, said she
would be by in a couple of days to prioritize
the property then be back in a couple weeks to
determine the damage.
My neighbor went out today and picked me up a
couple wireless cards, they "my neighbors are
going to let me use their wireless connection to
connect to the net" like I said, good neighbors
are worth their weight in gold, so hopefully
I'll be able to at least surf and contact some
people I badly need to contact, and get back to
the backup chat room.
I think its going to rain tomorrow, I'll know if
there are any leaks that I missed
I've lost 8 pounds, how bout that eh ?
Emergency Management has cleared the water to
drink for my area, "just in time", I was almost
out of the water I had stored. I think 30
gallons of water storage should be enough for
the future. A water filter is definably next on
the survival equipment list, I recommend
Emergency Essentials
for survival and preparedness
foods and equipment, I purchased my water
storage containers, 100 hour candles and some
freeze dried foods from them, and I've been
satisfied with their products
what a survival plan is and what it
isn't
a survival plan "is not" a cell phone and 3
backup condoms.
a survival plan "is not" Going to the shelter
expecting to bum food and water from others.
a survival plan "is not" thinking that the red
Cross will be here tomorrow, or that the
Government can ramp up a massive rescue effort
in less than 4 days.
a survival plan "is" Taking responsibility
for yourself and for your family.
a survival plan "is" Doing the Bare
minimum to take care of yourself on your own for
no less than 3 full days,
three days can be as little as 3 cans of Dinty
Moore, 6 energy bars, and 2 gallons of water and
a couple tea bags
but we own that responsibility, its on us to
make sure we and those we love can make it for a
specified time.
And I assure you that it "is not" thinking that
local officials have made and will make the
right decisions even in cases where they have
done the studies, seen the potential for
disaster and have the data in front of them to
make the proper choices, New Orleans is the case
in point.
Still no TV, I decided to go with dish network,
now I cant call them on the Cell Phone, "sigh"
cant call lots of numbers, "all circuits are
buy, try your call later" but well, I cant get
to mad, I called Verison this morning to buy
more minutes for my cell, they gave me 1000
minutes free as a bonus, now that's pretty
decent, don't you just hate it when they pull
the rug out from under your mad spell like that?
Trying to recall why it was that I moved to
Biloxi.... oh yeah.... I wanted to play
Baccarat. "its a gambling card game"
I'm back online, holy cow, my adsl came back up,
the story continues but I'll tell it in the chat
Josh
Terrell
Biloxi, MS
