My Family's Katrina Experience, Part I

I've been home in GA for 3 weeks now, and I have just found it very difficult to put down in words all of the emotions, and destruction I felt and saw while I was there. I'm going to try to start the log today....

August, 27, 2005
Up until 11pm this evening, I am telling my Mother just to stay put in her home in Long Beach, MS. I am reasoning that she will be safer weathering what I think is going to be a strong Cat3 hurricane in her home, than she would be getting on the road with all of the other frantic people who are trying to evacuate. Her home is in a good location, and at 73 yrs of age, Mom is not the best on the road in stressful situations. After an evacuation fiasco last year where she and her friend were in traffic for over 14 hours for a trip that usually takes 3 hrs, it seems like the best idea.


This is the shopping Center on Jeff Davis Ave. in Long Beach where my father had his chiropractic office prior to Camille. His office was just to the right, out of the picture.

As many other long-time Coast residents, I am measuring Katrina against Camille, and other storms I weathered in the 3 decades I lived in Long Beach & Gulfport. My first hurricane was Betsy at 15 mths old, which I rode out with Mom in a flooded house in Chalmette, LA. Can't say I remember much from that one, but I do remember quite well the aftermath of Camille. Camille was a bitch, and no storm had ever matched her fury in all of those years I lived on any Coast.

Comparing Katrina to Camille proves later to be a serious mistake by myself and many other hurricane experienced folks.

August, 28, 2005
I woke up early after staying up until 2am this morning watching Katrina's forcast & path. When I leave the shop, the winds have sustained speeds of about 135 mph. When I awake, the situation has changed dramatically with the hurricane now having sustained winds of 165.

Holy shit, this is a Cat5. I feel my whole body begin to tingle and go numb. It is still very early, and I am by myself. I should just pick the phone up, but I walk in a daze to the house to tell Jeff. On the way to the house, the tears started to come, and the realization that this storm *could* be as bad or worse than Camille starts to sink in. I wake up Jeff, and in a trembling voice all I can get out of my mouth is "The winds are 165 mph." Jeff sits upright, and tells me to get back down to the shop to call my family and get them out of there.

I get Mom on the phone, and she already knows. I put on my very best calm adult voice so she will not hear the panic in my voice. More than anything, I need her to remain focused so I can talk her through evacuating. We start the preparations, and Mom decides that Ms. Margaret is going to ride with her, and they are going to follow my sis-in-law Kristen, and my 3 nieces, Kristen' sister Audra, and Kristen's grandma, Nona Watts to Gadsden, AL where Nona's daughter Dolly & her husband Steve live. Ordinarily, this is about a 7 hour trip.

They get on I-10 around noon. My brother, Hal, who is weary from evacuating for other storms that never did any damage, decides he is going to stay and ride this one out. I am silently freaking at this decision, and begin my campaign to get him to leave. My brother and I are different in many ways, but we always respect each others decisions. In one conversation I ask him "where is Jim Cantore?" He laughs & tells me "Jim is in Gulfport." For those of you who don't get the significance of the Cantore reference, it's a joke all along the Coastal areas that if Jim Cantore is in your town waiting for a hurricane, it's time to get your ass on the road to evacuate. We continue to watch the storm, and talk on the phone dozens of times, until I get the confirmation he is going to leave. He pulls out at 4pm and by taking backroads, is able to catch up with the rest of the family right outside of Mobile, AL at about 6pm. Mobile is a one hour trip. It had taken Mom & Kristen 6 hours. Great.

Gadsden, Alabama
The troupe arrives in Gadsden tired, but intact late Sunday evening. Hal calls, & we all say goodnight, and everyone tries to get some rest before the storm hits in the morning. All of us saying a little prayer for the Coast, and family and friends who did not evacuate. At this point, we are all still thinking New Orleans is still going to take a direct hit. Wrong again.