REPORT FROM LODA
Just got back to the house. Had stayed here for the hurricane but left on Wednesday when I got fed up with living under martial law. (Carlos had been with me until the morning of the hurricane but them left for Pace when it seemed that the storm was moving westward. He was back in school by Tuesday.) About the only real horrible part of the hurricane was listening to the constant wind and the roof tearing off on the houses across the street (which took 10 hours!).
Zack evacuated from Baton Rouge to Gonzalez and spent the night of the hurricane with his girlfriend's parents. He is still working at the hotel and the influx of people into Baton Rouge has him quite frazzled. He is scooting back and forth between Gonzalez and Baton Rouge and is seriously depressed about the whole thing. Click Here for a website that quotes him
Obviously, Mobile, although hit quite hard, was nothing compared to our friends to the west. Kathryn and Carlos put me up in their guest house in Pace and it was quite nice after that. They have a pleasant and beautiful farm out there with horses and goats, etc and that seemed like such a pleasant sojourn from living with a flashlight on my chest and having the mosquitoes taunt me with their pre-puncture buzzing.
As if putting up an ex-husband wasn't enough generosity, she and her husband Doug (and her sister Leslie) put together a caravan on Thursday and went into Mississippi with about $3,000 worth of stuff they had purchased at the local Wal-Mart. To do this, remember, they had to disregard all of the hysteria about looters and carjackers, get around the blocked highways choked with emergency vehicles coming from points east, deal with the lack of gasoline, and somehow find a way into an area that was being cordoned off by the authorities.
They didn't get back till late that night but very rightly so were proud that they had done that. They say the need is desperate. Had an old codger of a chief of police cry on them and thank them for their generosity. They are going back again Tuesday and are collecting things to take: baby items, diapers, tents, camping gear, bug spray, disinfectant, medicines, light clothing, etc. Let me know if you can help. In Mobile, Leslie is helping coordinate the effort.
The image above is Wendell's beach house on Dauphin Island. Notice the oil drilling rig beached across on the other shore. If you want to see what happened or have a relative and would like to check out their house if you haven't heard from them, GO HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment