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Video of the storm (.WMV) |
These guys were so tough that they are the only ones on record who ever actually opened a flooded-out refrigerator on purpose, just out of curiosity.
We did a tree job for some folks on a street that had a number of empty foundations with no trace of a house and no rubble on them. It turns out that the houses had simply floated away, landed in the middle of the street and been bulldozed away by the city.
The house on the left used to sit across the street near the fence on the right. The picture on the right shows another empty foundation.
On the way home, we encountered the Termites, one of our tree teams, working on a job The boxer sisters were with them, guarding the truck.
I spent one day with Doctor Bob and the medical street team. We split up and spent the day walking the streets of East Biloxi talking with anyone who was visible and inquiring about their needs. Whenever we could identify someone who hadn't had their shots, we hooked them up with the Doc. Tetanus and hepatitis shots are a must in this environment.
Here is the medical SUV ready to roll out. On the right, Michigan Bob and LA Frank are carrying blankets we bought at Walmart to hand out to people who are living outside in the unseasonably cold weather.
Part of the therapy for storm victims is to simply listen to their stories. In many cases, no one has listened to them yet. At our evening meeting we hear amazing stories every day.
There's the story of CJ, who was in his house during the flood. The neighbors couldn't stay in their house and were trying desperately to float their baby over to him on an air mattress. CJ caught the air mattress but the baby fell off. He dived in and got the child back onto the mattress and to a place of safety but then he got swept away himself. CJ was drowning and had resigned himself to dying when a big piece of roofing floated to him and he was able to grab it and live.
On our rounds, we met a man named Clarence cleaning out his house. He was a pretty upbeat fellow and glad to be alive. When the storm surge came in he went out to the street to see if he could get his car. The water was up to the hubcaps already. By the time he went back indoors and alerted his family, the water was up over the car doors.
Clarence's neighbors had seventeen people sheltering in their small one-story house. When the flood waters rose, all of them were trapped in the attic. They had to stand with their feet on the rafters and hold their heads above water for 4 or 5 hours. There was only about a foot and a half of air space. They had to hold two babies above the water so they could breathe. More than once they dropped the babies but miraculously managed to grab them back up in time. No one died.
There's also the story of a man and his dog trapped in a house during the flooding. As the water rose inside the house, the dog panicked and started climbing on the man's back. The man put the dog on the couch but that soon started floating and bobbing around. The dog tried to get on his back again. So he put the pup on the kitchen counter, but that was soon covered as well. The man then noticed his picnic cooler floating around in the room and put the dog in that. The dog tipped the cooler over, however, and the man had to put him back into the cooler. Same thing again. On the third try, the dog got the idea and spread his paws out to keep his balance. The pup rode out the rest of the storm safely like a little four-legged surfer.
A lady on another street managed to keep her head above water for hours by standing on a doorknob. Her father in law was also in the house and unable to stand up on his own. She managed to get him onto a couch, but the water kept on rising. They thought he was a goner, but the couch actually floated and kept him alive!
Salvation Army
Our mission is to help in any way we can. Sometimes other organizations here, like the Humane Society, are short-handed on volunteers, so we often provide people to help them out. Our people have helped at distribution centers, food kitchens, and clinics. The Salvation Army has a big presence here but they are running short of volunteers, so I made contact with them and we took a few people over to help out. The Salvation Army base camp is located on the shore at the extreme east end of Biloxi. They've leased a huge 100,000 square foot warehouse in a cannery that was put out of business by the storm. (A casino has bought the property and will eventually build there.) The cannery is located opposite a wrecked boat storage facility.
The landmark for finding the place is a huge fishing boat that was tossed onto the road by the storm. It's now been loaded on a trailer but can't be moved because it won't fit under the electric wires.
We spent a day reorganizing the warehouse contents. Ottawa Pete is a trained forklift driver and amazed the SA workers with his dexterity.
They get fewer supplies now but thereare still about five trailer loads arriving per day. Some of their volunteers sleep at the warehouse. They're really organized-- they even have a "No Snoring" room.
The second day we went there they set up a production line to pack large boxes of food to pass out to families. Working at HandsOnUSA speed, we produced what they described as three days output in only a day.
They gave us each a T-shirt to wear. After work we came back to base and then Chuck and I decided to get some wine for dinner. After doing considerable comparison shopping at the liquor store I was digging out my cash at the checkout when it suddenly dawned on me that I was still wearing the Salvation Army T-shirt! (Of course, the SA strictly forbids the use of alcohol.) I swore the checkout clerks and the one customer who was there to silence.
We're still sending several people a day to help out the Salvation Army. So far, they haven't learned about the liquor store incident.