Katrrina revisited 10 years later

[Forkliftt]

Mods,
I may have missed a thread on this topic, if it exists and you wish, please merge it with the original..
Talking late yesterday with a dock neighbor that grew up and lived their whole life around Pass Christian, we hit on Katrina and I mentioned that we had lost our 28 Bayliner in Bay St. Louis and how we has driven from Watson LA to Bay St Louis MS to check our ship two days after the storm which unfortunatley had sank. He owned a trucking company at the time- provided aggregate to a couple of asphalt plants owned by a large paving company, can't recall the name- so his dump trucks were in huge demand after the storm for debris removal and more importantly to fill in the missing sections of Hwy 90 along the coast to allow travel along the highway for the chaos that was starting to happen. Once the trenches were filled, with sand I believe, limestone was used to cap it for travel. He has a video I want to watch and hopefully share of the destruction of the port in Gulfport. Including seacans wrapped around trees, HUGE rolls of paper scattered everywhere, and the worst- pork bellies scattered and rotting. I have several good shots I'm eager to share of the Bay St. Louis area- but was hoping we might have participants in the Long Beach, Gulfport and Biloxi areas that have photo's taken personally they could share??

 

[rardoin]

Steve, I recall traveling 90 at Gulfport/Biloxi a few weeks after Camille. There was a large freighter beached next to the Gulfport harbor that had dumped what seemed like dozens of large rolls of paper onto the beach. The were all oriented in the same direction. At dusk it presented an eery surrealistic scene that looked like giant rolls of toilet paper rolled out on the coast. I was about six or seven years old but remember that vision like it was yesterday. It was also amazing to see large commercial boats with the aft sticking out of the beachfront mansions as if they were moored in a garage too small for the hull.

As for a weird Katrina/Rita occurrences.....

My wife is from Plaquemines parish and her family has a private cemetery at Boothville. It has a single lane with concrete/granite mausoleums on either side on slabs. Her great uncle's mausoleum had floated, crossed the lane, and settled with the doors facing the lane almost square to the lane as if it had always been there. It had zero damage! Weird in that the surge was well over 20ft at the site. My neighbor, a veterinarian, was called out to lower Vermillion parish to see about sedating a horse that was on a second floor balcony of a home to try to extricate it with a cherry picker.

 

[Forkliftt]

rardoin-
it's funny how certain images we see in our life "stick" with us forever-

Hwy 603 south of I10 is where we dropped off at least every two weeks to make our way to Patricia Louise (one )- we had figured out that we were about an hour away from Cat Island from our little fish camp marina - Bay Marina. It had nice finger piers pretty much the length of the boat. The pilings were old- as was the old barn tin roof. Course we were on "the Coast" and couldn't be happier. It was a great little week-end party place, though we never cared for too much interaction.

I remember the ships store/ fishing tackle and necessities was on top of an outside bar. Pretty good vibe- and the Corp was scheduled to deepen the canal through the marsh that served a few commercial shrimpers and our little marina.
Prior to moving from the North Shore I had asked the owner of the marina what folks on "the Coast" did when a hurricane came. Lucky us- we WERE the hurricane hole....

The image that sticks most in my mind happened on August 31, 2005.
Katrina hit our Coast on 8/29 and Baton Rouge and the surrounding areas had been slammed- lights out every where. Chainsaws and generators running in the back ground. Limited cell service. No cable. Hot (August in Louisiana !). Everything dark at night and the only news we had gotten to date was that the lower ninth ward was flooded and people were on rooftops. And the embarrassment called the Superdome and what was happening there. Oh and the interstates were closed.
So of course Patricia insisted we go check on our boat only two days after the storm .
Heading south down 603 was a Harley (I can never tell models apart) sitting on the side of the road, on the kick stand. Brown puddin' mud covered it as well as everything in sight. There was a mattress up in the power lines. And here sat this motorcycle. It had a milk carton with a big water jug tucked into as well. I pondered an explanation... The poor guy is racing north on 603 a hairs breath in front of an 18' storm surge... He runs out of gas. No- that can't be it. Where is he????
When we passed through later on the way home some guys were trying to drag it into a back of the van. Was this the owner with some friend dragging it into the back doors of an old van?? Probably not...



Forky
1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

 

[Wayfarer]

I went to NOLA about a year after Katrina rolled through. I was stunned by how much destruction could still be seen. I think the most memorable moment for me was seeing an abandoned McDonalds. It was pretty crazy to think that despite having seen thousands and thousands of McDonalds in my lifetime, I had never seen one that was shut down.

I'm sure there's some social commentary in there somewhere.

 

[sbu22]

Well, not BSL - NOLA. Most striking to me - for days and weeks after, the utter silence. Not a bird, cricket, dog barking - utter silence. And the smell.

 

[angus99]

During the summer of 2005, we had some teenaged boys from Canada visiting our home in TN--second cousins and a friend of theirs--the first time any of them had been on a road trip. When they left to return home, the cousins dropped the friend off at the bus station who, unbeknownst to anyone else, started his own impromptu tour of the states. He arrived in NOLA just before Katrina and ended up housed at the Superdome. He was later interviewed by his hometown paper and it was amazing how much growing up he'd done over the few days he was there. He talked about helping to move a body and how frightened people were during the worst of the hurricane. He also felt guilty about being among the first evacuated, but noted with much compassion, that he still had a home to go to, while many there did not.

 

[Forkliftt]

Angus99
What a story! How old was this kid?


Forky
1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

 

[angus99]

17, I believe. First visit to the US without their parents. He certainly has a story to tell the grandkids.

 

[Forkliftt]

I bet. Lost his mind for a bit as teenagers occasionally do!!


Forky
1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's