Almost 10 months after the fact: Mississippi Gulf Coast (Harrison County on the Wolf River)
My husband's grandfather, an architect, built this small house on the Gulf Coast. It is on a large piece of property that spans the Wolf River. He had intended to build a larger house and the cabin would become the caretaker's home. He never realized that plan, but my husband and his sister grew up using the property as a cabin and vacation spot. It has been vandalized several times in the last few years, even though most of the furnishings and appliance have been removed or broken. Although we visited the place in 2001, we did not spend more than just a few minutes there.
Surprisingly, the structure itself came through Katrina in remarkably good shape, despite trees coming down all around it. We knew from the insurance agent and Ben's Aunt that the gate and the front door were both gone, but we were skeptical. When we finally made it to the cabin, it was clear that someone had hacked through the front door. Ironically, it seemed cleaner inside than our last visit.
Anyway, I will leave you with some pictures of our little adventure to the cabin almost ten month post Katrina.
This is what greeted us as soon as we started down the path.
It appears to be a crushed car. No idea how it got there, but it does keep
anyone from getting their car down the road.
Of course, all these downed trees obscure the road so much that it is hard to
see the road or walk to the cabin these days.
Someone was determined to get through this door.
Panoramic View off the front porch.
The long walk back.
A crazy little bumper sticker seem on the drive home.
Right after the Storm: Jackson, MS
We are 170 miles inland, but ninety-seven percent (97%) of Jackson lost power when hurricane force winds hit on Monday. I was working at the hospital, where we were so very lucky. We had power and phones and internet access. When I got home, it was dark, the phones did not work, but the trees missed my home and I was grateful beyond words.
Here are some photos from my house on the very first night, excuse the rain drops!
The next day...
(view from the studio)
Just to show how close this call actually was, this is the
view outside the window where I take so many of my blog photos.
Those are the ends of the branches from the giant limb photographed above.
On Wednesday night I went to rescue my friends from Poplarville when they ran out of gas on 49 South. There was no gas anywhere without hours or waiting. I went to work on Thursday as usual then when I got home, we went out and got gas from Lisa to go rescue my friends' vehicle and get us all back home. We tried waiting in a gas line, but after an hour or so, a transformer blew and the gas station lost power and sent us back home. Oh well. But when we drove back to my house, just as we came around the corner, the lights came on and the phone was back! Oh joy!
Friday was rough and there was still no gas. We are hoping to find some in the morning. They say trucks are coming in, but I don't have enough gas to wait in line. My husband is going to sit in line because I finally gave into the stress and lack of food and sleep and got a migraine. For my sisters, just in case they are reading this, apparently I am more like mom than you know. LOL
And finally, nine months later all of the debris is finally cleared away!
