The Saga continues.....Aug 31

I am writing this blog from my handwritten journal I kept during and after the storm. At this point in the journal, I had been without sleep for several days. If you are looking for an exact timelime on the storm, you will have to look elsewhere because I was so tired I was mixing up my days. For the most part, I wrote something in my journal each day, but sometimes I would remember something later on and add it to whatever day I was currently posting on.

I had forgotten to post it before, but we are without any water from the faucets. That means no baths or handwashing. We had to conserve the drinking water that we had. Luckily we had the water still in the pool that we could use to flush the toilets. We also used it to wash off for the first few days, but it quickly turned dark green and scary looking. There was all kinds of debris in the bottom of the pool. Pieces of metal. Shingles. Nails. Splintered wood.

We had stocked up on canned goods before the storm, but you would be surprised at how fast the supply dwindles when you are eating canned goods for every single meal. I am not a picky eater at all, and for the most part, I could be happy opening a can of Beenie Weenies and eating them cold. Those kind of things ran out pretty fast and it was less appealing to open up a can of turnip greens and eat those cold. We did grill up the meat from the refridgerator/freezer but I wanted to keep the big freezer closed as long as possible, thinking that we would get power back within a few days and the meat would still be good. Boy, was I wrong.

Brad had to go back down to the bank again and Calvin and I went with him to see the destruction with our own eyes. I still could not believe it when I saw it. The storm surge had come all the way up to the interstate in some places. That is just South of our house, and 7 or 8 miles from the beach. The places where it came up that high were along the rivers and bayous that run up and down the coast. The actual waves from the beach had completely washed out the first floor of the bank building which is a block from the water. The police had blocked off access to everything South of the railroad tracks so we had to go through a check point to get to the bank. Since there was no power, we walked up the 5 flights of stairs to Brad's office. The stairway was dark and hot. With our flashlights, we could just barely see to walk up. When we got up there and stepped out onto the 5th floor, I was shocked. The windows were blown out and stuff was everywhere. It was scary walking around the open floor. I kept having the feeling that the wind was going to just blow me out one of the huge open windows. From up there, we could see the entire harbor and downtown area of Gulfport. There was not much to see. It was all gone. There was a large sailboat laying in the middle of the road a block north of the water. From higher up, on the 15th floor, you could see the casino barge where it had washed up. I had brought my camera and was able to take a lot of pictures. We got Brad's computer and everything else we could carry, then we walked back down the stairs in the dark with our hands full. I walked very very slowly.

We walked back to the temporary bank headquarters where Brad had a meeting to go to. The bank needed him to go to Chicago for emergency operations. He was put on a bus to Baton Rouge right after the meeting. From there, he caught a private jet to Chicago. I have no idea when he will be home. Calvin and I drive back to the house alone. We have no water, no electricity, no phones, no access to any gasoline aside from what is already in our cars. We have no police protection, no way to get medical help if needed and our food supply is going down fast with no way to replenish it yet. I get back to my house and find that one of my neighbors has just left town and two more of them are considering leaving. I went and sat out on my back porch with the dog. A man who is staying with the neighbors behind me walks out in their yard to urinate. I am really really depressed.