VACULPEP-L Archives

From:
Subject: [VACULPEP] Heads up...Katrina survivor!
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 02:28:46 EDT

In a message dated 09/20/2005 10:06:38 PM Central Daylight Time,
writes:

> Please pray for us on the Texas Gulf Coast. Might be a while before I am
> back.
> Your Genealogy Friend, Rebecca Bashaw
>

Rebecca....

You bet I will! I'll be praying for you and everyone along the whole Texas,
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast.

Just went thru Katrina! In Mobile, Alabama...we received the right quadrant
of Katrina...the far right side...on the edges! Here's what happened here!
Winds of 75-100 mph with gusts higher. One week without power or any kind of
communications except battery powered radios. The 15-20 foot surge up Mobile Bay
flooded historic 300 year old downtown for blocks....beautiful homes
destroyed on the eastern shore of the bay...the Grand Hotel flooded. The big public pi
er in Fairhope over the bay is gone. The battleship, Alabama, moored in 40' of
concrete on the bay causeway is leaning 5 degrees...and restaurants along
there flooded up to the second floors. The west end of Dauphin Island is all but
gone...a few houses left but mainly, nothing but pilings are left, if any at
all....the beaches have been destroyed for years and years...the road is
gone...the water and sewer lines washed away....yachts and sailboats destroyed...on
that beautiful 7 mile barrier island. An oil rig all the way from Louisiana
was beached there, too! The quaint town of Bayou la Batre (south Mobile
County) is destroyed...heart of the seafood industry...huge shrimp boats tossed
around like Tinker Toys all stacked on top of each other....their processing
plants destroyed....and they lost their homes and businesses. Nothing but despair.
Home insurance does not cover flooding and they never ever expected a flood
the size of that surge. Mobile and surrounding communities look like a bombed
city. Damage is everywhere. There are now huge debris piles lining all the
streets...it hasn't rained since the hurricane making them dangerous fire hazards.
Most of the area's power has been restored....thanks to all the power
companies who were waiting on the fringes of the hurricane. They came from as far
away as New Jersy....we thank them all.

Evacuees are everywhere...emergency trailer communities are growing...flatbed
trucks towing 2+ flooded cars each are on the main roads coming from the
coast along with big debris trucks...night and day. Hotels are full....hospitals
are full...Red Cross, FEMA and insurance adjusters are coming and going.
Church parking lots are piled high with aid leaving daily in rented trucks creating
long lines on Interstate 10 heading for our coastal areas and Mississippi.
The real estate market has gone crazy...prices have gone sky high. One
insurance company came into Mobile and purchased 80 homes in a couple of days.
Investors have flooded the market buying up everything they can. I'm a real estate
agent with new home construction and I've had people coming in looking for homes
from Pass Christian, Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagoula & Hattiesburg, Mississippi
and Bayou la Batre, Alabama last week and more this week. They all have the
same traumatic stare of shock on their faces...all are dressed in new tee
shirts, shorts and shoes....and driving rented cars. They have nothing. It is all
so sad. I don't know why but only New Orleans has been covered by the news
media....the coastal areas of Mississippi and Alabama have been all but
forgotten. Katrina was a monster and destroyed everything along the whole Gulf Coast.


Please...wherever you live...whatever you can donate....give something - a
comb, a toothbrush, anything...to the churches to take mainly to Mississippi or
Louisiana or Alabama. They can get in and distribute aid before anyone else.
Everything and anything is desperately needed. My church said "no more
clothes". What they really need now are personal items...towels, sheets,
soap....hygiene and cleaning supplies. They can't go to the grocery or drug store...there
is none. Same with money....the banks are gone along with checking and
savings accounts.

Personally....3 of my 4 children's families and I are doing great! My
daughter in Chattanooga said evacuees are everywhere up there, too! A crew of 3 men
with a huge backhoe worked 3 days getting the trees and debris out of my back
yard. A couple of the old pines measured over 95'...I counted 75+ rings on
2! A brick wall and my garage are smashed on one end...by another big pine
tree which took an old Dogwood along with it. The emergency debris removal crews
just arrived today and it took 4 1/2 hours for a huge lift and 5 big debris
trucks to take away 212 cubic yards of trees and debris in my front yard! My
back deck was in one of those trucks! I really can't complain...we were so
lucky in Mobile compared to what others have been thru the last 3 weeks.

I received an email from a lawyer yesterday and she said last weekend her
doctor crammed her own car with all the medical supplies she could find and
headed for Pass Christian, Mississippi...the town where she was raised. The eye of
Katrina passed over Pass Christian and Waveland...it is gone...all but wiped
off the map. Upon arriving, she asked the head of the emergency disaster site
where the shelters were and he said..."what shelters". Then, after asking a
fireman, she decided to set up a clinic right on the spot where she stood
because he told her she was the...first...doctor to come into the area. And that
was just last weekend! Once people heard there was a doctor there....they
started coming from everywhere. That's...what you don't hear on the news.

And now...another monster....Hurricane Rita!

Rebecca....please get out....leave right now! They just said on the
news...she could become a Cat 5! Even if you live inland....within 50-75-100 miles of
the coast! It's the trees and wind that are so destructive. The last few
hurricanes in the Gulf have been powerful ....dangerous to everything...living
and constructed. We've already been warned in Mobile today. Water and food
stored ....generator ready with 80 gallons of gas....radios....you know the
story.....just in case. Waiting is the hardest part of making a decision. I know...we
finally decided to evacuate during Ivan last year.

I will keep you in my constant thoughts and prayers during the next few days
and I'm sure the whole group of us will be anxiously waiting to hear from you
again on the VACULPEP genealogy...family list. God's speed!

Joleen Patrick
Mobile, Alabama
Katrina survivor!

This thread:

• [VACULPEP] Heads up...Katrina survivor! by

  • Shutting down computer ---moderators by <>