Gulfport

Just wanted to share a link to a video: WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: News-scroll down to the video for "Gulfport: Before and After Hurricane Katrina". It is heartbreaking. I will be adding a before and after section to my website eventually. When I can bring myself to do anything but sit and wish things were different.

And now Rita

Rita is now heading for my hometown of Houston. If all weren't enough already. I haven't been to Houston since I left it in 1996, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see it destroyed too. Not Galveston. Not Houston. Please head on over to the area between Beaumont and Lake Charles-there isn't as much population there. I mean, I'd feel bad for anyone who does suffer, but first my families current homes in Gulfport and Long Beach are hit by Katrina, I do not want to deal with destruction of my family homes who are still in Texas. Good grief.

And the leevees in New Orleans are failing again. As long as the Quarter is ok. And the cemeteries.

I did find another website -the USGS website, of Mississippi coastline photos. I poured over the aerial photos when they came out. Now these show the same images from a plane just above the beach. It is truly amazing.

I miss Sharkheads. I wish I had bought more stuff there. Gators-I wonder if the huge snake is ok? I never got to tour Beauvoir-pulled into the parking lot twice and decided we couldn't really afford it at the time. Shame. The Tullis-Toledano Manor home, the Grand Casino Biloxi is sitting on it now. Old Brick House is destroyed. The Hurricane Camille Memorial-seeing it just breaks my heart. Will it be rebuilt with new names added for Katrina? The SS Camille gift shop-the old Tugboat that was supposedly plopped down there by Hurricane Camille, and a gift shop was built behind it. We walked around the gift shop. I wanted Camille souvenirs(books, photos), but they were sold out that day back in October. It was pouring rain and I didn't bother to take any photos of it-I thought "I'll get it next time". The tug still lies there, the gift shop is gone. Trinity Church in Pass Christian. I took so many photos at Live Oak Cemetery across the road, but forgot the church. It is destroyed. Well, they rebuilt it after Camille, I am certain they will again. Treasure Bay-I'm not a gambler, but how can you not just LOVE seeing a Spanish Galleon ship sitting there by the beach? It just made me smile every time I saw it. My little one and I stopped by it at about 4am on our way out last October and I managed some photos of it, lit by its purple lights. Then we took a self-timer photo on the beach there. I don't take photos of myself often, but I love that one. I may post that photo-the one of Treasure Bay that is.

Arbor Station Apartments

This is where my mom lived. Well, this is the downstairs apartment, she was upstairs. The stairs on the right went up to her place. The truck-it belonged to a Seabee that lived behind her. The truck is totalled. There were at least a dozen totalled vehicles scattered about. Some were buried under the debris. The force of the water must have been tremendous. I can't even imagine it.

Dancing With Katrina

I've added a link to this blog. It's been awesome and one of the best sources of information and photos. Please check it out.

Back from Mississippi

This is probably going to take numerous entries here. Especially since I may not find all the words to use to describe how I felt seeing the coast. I am not even sure where to start.

I suppose I could first give an account of our trip. Just a day-by-day on what we did and saw and then perhaps I can try to put into words how I feel.

Friday, September 16, 2005: We left at 7:30am. It was only a half day of school for the kids so, they weren't missing anything important. There was really nothing out of the ordinary for the trip until we hit Mobile. We stopped at a gas station/Arby's to fill-up, to make sure we had enough gas to leave the area on Sunday(although that ended up not being a problem.). It was really there that we first saw any hurricane damage. The sign for the McDonald's next door was pretty mangled. It wasn't the last really mangled McD's sign we would see. My mom drove from there so I could man the video camera and digital camera on the way in to Mississippi. Still, once inside MS there was only minor damage to be seen-trees down, billboards tore up. Then we got to the Pascagoula River bridge, and the traffic due to the repair being done on one side. We sat for nearly an hour, but it really wasn't too bad. We actually listened to Jeff Foxworthy CD's all the way down to try and get as much humor in us as possible, because we knew what was coming would be extremely depressing. We finally arrived at the Naval Construction Base and then at my sister's house. The Seabee base is a few miles away from the beach, and their home only suffered some roof and siding damage. We ate dinner and rested up for the next day. No cable or even regular tv, we listened to the local radio who is spending the days giving updates and taking calls from people with questions. From what I heard, it was quite the opposite of the AM stations. Those were only New Orleans stations, and every time I listened I only heard bitching and moaning. Give me a break.

Saturday, September 17, 2005: Curfew being over at 8am, we got up, had breakfast, and got ready to go. We left the Base through the south entrance and went straight down to the railroad tracks. My sister had gotten a pass for the "south of the railroad tracks" area. You have to have a pass. There is razorwire along the tracks. Nobody in who doesn't belong. We could have gone down Railroad St to Long Beach, but we went in here at Broad Ave, which is just west of the Gulfport port. Once we got over the tracks, the real damage began. About 5 blocks from the beach, the debris was piled as high as a 2 story home. There were boats back here. Containers from the port, destroyed eighteen-wheeler trailers, piles of things that had been in those containers. And then the smell. I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't pleasant. We got to the beach, where the familiar Domino's Pizza had been. I was overwhelmed. Absolutely nothing there. A slate wiped clean. I literally sat there in the back seat with my mouth open. I tried to take video and photos at the same time. I don't think I took nearly enough of either, but it is something burned in my head that will never leave. We drove as best we could westward on Hwy 90. Only the northside lanes are passable here. We stop here and there to sit and stare, stunned at familiar landmarks that are simply gone. We got as far as the USM campus, and the road was not passible any longer. We had to turn north, cross the tracks again, and head down to the Long Beach entrance. Once there, on Jeff Davis Ave, through downtown Long Beach, we made our way down this ravaged town. The Sonic, destroyed. Down at the beach, the Taco Bell we had enjoyed the view from back in July, gone. The pink house. The gray house at Lang. Gone. Then, we are at Arbor Station. The sign is gone, but the cell tower just beyond it(my landmark for always finding the apartments) is still standing. We turn up the drive. Garbage containers-gone. Office-gone. Front gates-destroyed. The second driveway to the left. And the building on the right. The stairs lay there on the ground, leading to the slab that was the downstairs apartment. Mom lived upstairs. There is nothing but debris in all directions. The next building north has been pushed by the 15 foot high or so pile of debris into the building behind it. We begin to walk around like zombies. Eyes down. Watching for nails and anything else that might hurt, hoping like hell to find something familiar. I wasn't wearing a watch, but I think we wandered around for at least 2 hours, maybe three. We found a mini Astros baseball bat that I had bought my nephew one of the times I had taken him to Astros games many years ago. A few pieces of my mom's wicker shelves. So much of other people's lives. Photos, dishes, video cameras, tvs, piggy banks with their change strewn about. It was just mind-numbing. We finally pulled ourselves away, and drove a little further west. Just a few blocks down was the Wal-Mart. Gutted. I loved that Wal-mart, as much as anyone can love a store like that. Nicest one I had ever been in. The huge home just past it, the one I don't think anyone ever lived in-gone. I thought for sure that one would survive a storm. Nope. And then we went back across the tracks. Now we made our way to Biloxi Cemetery. I feared the worst and was shocked that it truly was not as bad as I had imagined. Don't get me wrong, it was bad. But it appeared to be only some water damage and mostly wind knocking trees over. There were headstones near the front destroyed, scattered everywhere. There was a very rusted coffin sitting sideways on the ground. We walked across what was Hwy 90 and could see the Biloxi lighthouse. Left the cemetery, back up to Pass Road, and then left on the road leading to the Coliseum. From there we could see that the Confederate Cemetery behing Beauvoir did not seem to have much damage. It was tough to see Beauvoir from the trees, and we didn't have time to walk down the beach to it, but I know it is bad. And of course, nearly in front of the Coliseum was the Presidents Casino, not sitting in its dock 1/2 mile east, but on top of a hotel north of Hwy 90. And to the east, Treasure Bay Casino, sitting closer to the beach than it should be. I just stare in amazement. And then as if it had only been a few minutes but had been most of the day, we had to head back to the Base. A trip to the Walmart at Hwy 49 and I-10 later was almost a mistake-I've never seen a store that busy, even the days before Christmas. And again, another numbing sleepless night, listening to the radio, hearing updates on how destroyed Pass Christian was, but how positive every one there is trying to be.

Sunday, September 18, 2005: Again, waiting until curfew was over at 8am. Heading across I-10 to the apartments where my family rode the storm out. Even those there had major wind damage in places. Unfortunately my mom's car, which had been sitting here for nearly three weeks, had been sucked dry of gas-from those who needed it desperately in the days following the storm. It's tough to be mad about that. Although we did have to sit for two hours while my brother-in-law tried to find a gas can and gas so we could get going. There was more to the trip home, but nothing worth mentioning. Still thinking about the day before overshadowed nearly everything I thought or felt.

I will post pictures later. And more thoughts. And if you sat and read all that, I thank you and hope I didn't bore you.

Leaving for Mississippi

Heading down this morning to the coast. Hope to get in to Long Beach tomorrow to see the absence of mom's apartment and hope to find some belongings. Hope to get to some of the cemeteries to check on their conditions. I hear Old Biloxi is in bad shape at the front. Report and photos when I get back.

Mom's apartment

Just wanted to add a photo. It is from the Arbor Station website, the apartments where my mom lived. I made the photo a bit smaller and added an arrow showing where my mom's apartment was. Second floor. Who knows where her belongings are now.

First Katrina and now Astroworld

Just punch me in the gut why don't ya?? Closing Astroworld?? How could they? I admit, I haven't been there in 10 years-well I haven't been back to Texas since I left in September of 1996, but the memories. The memories are rushing back now. I'll being going through the scrapbooks and scanning old photos soon, adding them to the website. I hear it really has gone downhill in the past few years, but the memories are so many and so good. I was only a year older than the park, so I literally have been going my whole life and feel like I grew up there. The summer when I was 12, when mom got the job at a car lot in the area and my sister and I got season passes and were dropped off there just about every single day of the summer. It just didn't get any better than that. Those were the good times.

I am stunned into depression for the second time in two weeks. Life truly sucks right now.

Hurricane Katrina

I guess it's time I start talking about it. It's been two weeks now. Two weeks ago tomorrow, my mom, sister and two nephews came to stay in my home because they could not go to theirs. As the days went by we slowly found out that my sisters home on the Seabee base was mostly ok. My mom's apartment, at Arbor Station in Long Beach, is destroyed. Her building is nothing but a slab of concrete now. I haven't had much time on my computer as my sister spent time looking up friends, family and news. With New Orleans getting so much of the coverage on television, the news on Mississippi has pretty much only been available via the web. Thank goodness for that I guess. The few times I get to log on I've been reading the same things. The Sun Herald website, the Dancing With Katrina blog, Yahoo photos, Gulf Coast News(yeah yeah, links to come later). Anything to find out what is going on there.

I will write more later. I am devestated to learn news of places I had just been to a few months ago. Sharkheads gift shop. The Hurricane Camille Memorial in Biloxi. Treasure Bay Casino. Old Biloxi Cemetery and Pass Christian's Live Oak Cemetery. Not to mention what I see of my beloved New Orleans. I do love that place, though I'd rather be seeing more news about Mississippi. I guess no news is good news. The folks in Miss are not pointing fingers, whining or complaining and are basically taking care of themselves and already cleaning up and getting ready to rebuild. I long to go back there now.

More to come later, including photos that my sister took the day after the storm and any she takes when she goes back home.