Life After Katrina

[40_acre_mule]

Howdy y'all.
I survived!!! This is my first chance to sit at a computer. I lost about 25% of the roof shingles on my house. Another 30 or so from the storage building. A small piece of the metal roof on my barn peeled up just a little. We still don't have power. Our house is maybe 1500 feet from the street. there are 4 power poles between us and the street. We lost one pole and the lines on both sides.
I live about 6 miles from the coast. The eye of the storm passed just a few miles to the west of us. It got pretty scary for a while there. We took winds of about 130 mph. I've got about 300 trees uprooted or snapped in half on my 40 acres. My tractor is gonna be busy for a LOOOONNNGG time!
The sound made by a 36-inch tree snapping in half is awesome.
My brother-in-law now has a concrete slab where his house used to be.
Y'all just can't imagine the extent of the damage. Everywhere we go it looks like a war zone. Everything from the beach to 500 yards inland is just wiped clean. The local paper has some good pics at sunherald.com. Look for the link to "Aerial Photos". The local Home Depots and Lowes can't keep chainsaws in stock. I know lots of people who are now homeless. A lot of places and neighborhoods have flooded that had never flooded before.
I teach at the local junior college. About 200 of the teachers have lost their homes. There's no count of the homeless students yet. We started classes today. Only one of twelve students showed up for today's scheduled class. My class room and lab took about 6 inches of water.
I ordered a PTO generator several weeks before the storm. It was delivered the Friday before. My Kubota L4400 had 49 hours on it before the storm. I put another 5 hours on it immediately after, clearing my driveway and the street in front of my property, (about 1 mile long). Since then, its logged another 60 hours just running the PTO generator. I'll be so glad when we get power again, so I can use the tractor to start cleaning.
I have to put in a plug for Lowes. They were open the morning after the storm. Home Depot took over a week to reopen.
Lots of folks hurting themselves with chainsaws, mostly due to inexperience. Others are cutting branches overhead and getting hit when they fall. One guy has already rolled his tractor trying to move a tree that was too big. A friend of mine (chainsaw newbie) got his saw in a bind trying to cut a big tree. Someone else started cutting branches to release the pressure and just dropped the tree on my friend, breaking his leg. A couple of other folks tried to lift the tree with an undersized winch. When it failed, the tree fell back down on my friend breaking his back, crushing his pelvis, and breaking his other leg.
I keep thanking God for all I have.
Y'all be safe out there.

 

[SkyPup]

I've been through quite a few of them over the years, mostly Class II & III, one thing I'll never forget is the nonstop noise....all day and all night.

Glad to hear that you made it okay, don't get overwhelmed by all the mess, it will take time to clear and organize again but that day will come.

 

[JoeR]

I too have been through too many hurricanes. 1 is too many, yet I had 3 last year. And I will second the noise! The constant roar of wind for 18 hours will make you go crazy! The sound of things banging into the house, and the shaking of the structure creates plenty of tension. The wind was so strong, it sucked the water out of my toilets through the vent pipes, and I had a constant vacuum sound coming from all the bathrooms and sinks. After the 12th hour of the storm, the heat builds up in the house, and you really start to sweat and worry, especially, when you are sitting in the dark.

I clearly remember the following morning! No power, no phone, devastation everywhere and the smell of fresh pine! Of course the distant sound of chainsaws too. Then the realization you are completely cutoff from the modern world. After the shock wore off, followed the thanking of God that everyone was alive!

Joe

 

[DLMaine01]

Glad you made it! And thanks for the report. I have an Aunt that has a farm a little north of you. The damage in some areas is unbelievable.
Good thing you have a Kubota to help you clean up!
Dave

 

[cart99]

The story about your friend is sickening, I feel bad not only for him but for the people who desperately tried to help him. I sure hope he recovers well.

Good luck down there. If it were practical for me to drive my tractor down there loaded up with a couple of chainsaws (and food and water) I would.

 

[tjkadar]

It’s amazing how something like Katrina can change a landscape forever. We had many of the same issues after Hurricane Hugo. A lot of folks were hurting themselves with chainsaws. Then came the unscrupulous contractors. They ripped off a bunch of unsuspecting folks.

We were unfortunate enough to get hit by a tornado hiding in the eye wall of Hugo. We lost the entire roof on our home. All the columns on the second floor were blown off, the chimneys tops were lopped off, and half the columns on the bottom floor were knocked down. We had water about 2 inches deep cascading down the stairs like a waterfall. The house was a total write-off.

It took a huge live oak tree about 8 to 10 feet in diameter and twisted it off at ground level. It was literally sheared off even with the ground. Very surreal…

Given time, ya’ll recover from Katrina, but things will never, ever be the same. Around here, folks measure time very simply; pre-Hugo and post-Hugo. I think you’ll find it will be the same down there.

I hope ya’ll have a speedy recovery. Good luck and God bless.

 

[strokerduster]

i was in biloxi in aug 69 when camille hit. talk about deja vu. i went thru there about 10 months ago on a motorcycle trip. it looks the same all over again. i spent 3 weeks after camille cleaning up before going to vietnam. i remember the smells, all the concrete slabs, boats/barges everywhere and all the beautiful oaks on the ground. folks in that part of the country are tough and will come back again. god bless and keep the faith..........

 

[40_acre_mule]

Well, we got power yesterday. My life feels like it is almost back to normal. For many of my fellow teachers, it is gonna take a lot longer. So many have lost their entire homes and belongings. A few have lost loved ones. For some, life will never be normal again. One town has only ONE percent of its residents left in their own homes. Major roads are heavily damaged or obliterated. Two main bridges are washed away. Two towns have lost all their government buildings, (city hall, courthouse, police station, etc.). What a mess.
I have been thanking God probably 25 times a day for what I have. Every time I drive past a destroyed building or talk to people who have lost homes, or jobs, or both. It is so surreal. I had a hard time getting to the hospital to visit my friend because I couldn't recognize the streets. There are large parts of the county and some towns I can't go to, because they are still under curfew or completely off-limits.
My little L4400 was straining yesterday trying to move some of these huge trees. I'm gonna have to be very careful.
Y'all keep praying for us.

 

[RedRocker]

Will do Bro. My X father n Law lived in Gulfport North of I-10 on the river. I spent quite a bit of time in that area back then, I can only imagine what it must be like for you folks. You guys are in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[Tdog]

Congrats on the power, 40 AM. We're still powerless one state over. No power company or clearing activity on my road yet.

 

[dicker]

Glad you made it through the storm.

My wife and I have spent many memorable days on the Mississippi gulf coast, mostly in Biloxi and Bay St Louis.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you.


Richard

 

[Bob_Skurka]

You sound like one of the lucky ones. I was on the phone with 2 friends from New Orleans earlier today. One lost his house. The other has two large trees on his roof and another went through his living room window. He doesn't have equipment and simply called his insurance agent. Both of them work at the same company and the company is barely operational, they lost 1/2 of their roof and had several semi-trailers of food destroyed by water damage. Monday 3 of my managers are flying into New Orleans to help out their company, their main mission will be to train new employees. And it is hard to get new employees to show up because they have no place to live. They actually have built a trailer community inside their fenced in parking area so people who work there have a place to live.

The company employeed 200 workers, but less than 65 are able to get back to work, most of them are in Texas or Arkansas, many may never come back. 20% of my friends customers are completely wiped out. Many of the customers are outside of the storm damage area and need goods and may have to shift to differnet suppliers if he can't get his operation up and running. I was told the jobs are there but in many cases the employees simply are gone.

Good luck to all of you down there, we are thinking about you.

 

[Berniep]

<font color="blue"> Given time, ya’ll recover from Katrina, but things will never, ever be the same. Around here, folks measure time very simply; pre-Hugo and post-Hugo. I think you’ll find it will be the same down there.
</font>

I was in Summerville SC at a friends house for Hugo. I was in the Air Force and thought that 20 miles inland would be plenty. Hey I was just a stupid farm boy from Indianna. Hugo was a spring shower compared to Katrina but if there ever was a next time I would make it at least 200 miles. Glad you are OK. Take it easy on the utility workers, those guys are working their butts off even if it doesn't look like it.
The thing I noticed most about post Hugo was the lack of trees. The second thing is the water never smelled or tasted the same again, kinda like it hade musty old pine trees in it, even 10 years later.
Keep your chin up. It really does get better.
We are praying for you all.