HURRICANE SEASON UPDATE: MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST

These past 3-4 days on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, it has been very quiet, mostly sunny, very humid, with folks here going on with their lives, and not saying too much about Hurricane GUSTAV anymore, except to say that the coast here was fortunate, this time.

There continues to be heard a number of expressions of relief here that the Mississippi coast is still pretty much intact, unlike the first days after Katrina three years ago. Sadly, the same cannot be said for our neighbors to the west, in coastal Louisiana. We wish them Godspeed, and send them our thoughts and prayers.

In the back of most everyone’s mind, though, is a bit of interest about the storms churning around out in the Atlantic, coming off the coast of Africa, more specifically, Hurricane IKE.

As is normal at this stage, though, so much of IKE’s near future is unknown, because of all the variables that can and will interact with it during the next five days of its journey in the Atlantic.

That interest was heightened some late this afternoon when the National Hurricane Center released its latest models of IKE and its potential tracks, several of which have IKE passing between the southern tip of Florida and Cuba, entering the Gulf by next Wednesday.

Eeeee-yeah! That sort of got a lot of people’s attention here abouts, especially the blue and red models, which rather project a possible landfall on the Mississippi coast.

Again, it is way too early in the tracking process to begin to worry about a landfall here, but it is lurking out there, as a possibility.

And, I, for one, having just experienced my first hurricane, up front and close, am paying attention.

On the campus of the Center, we continue to pick up debris after GUSTAV, and wind down from many of the preparation and implementation procedures that took place before, during and after the hurricane, to protect our clients and the campus.

The clients are all back in their cottages again, with the final buses arriving from our sister institutions to the north who hosted them, bringing them home on Wednesday afternoon.

While working in some of the cottages yesterday and today, I had the opportunity to ask several of the clients if they were glad to be back home. The almost unanimous responses were: “Oh, yes, I’m glad,” or some variation of that. Some enjoyed their bus trips, and some didn’t, it turns out.

Members of our direct care, dietary, professional and education staff, nursing and supervisors, who accompanied and cared for the clients while they were away, also returned home after spending several very long days and nights with the clients at the several locations of safe harbor.

Once the clients were all safely squared away in their cottages with rested staff to care for them, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, the first order of business for most of the evacuation staff was sleep! Which most of them did not get much of during their evacuation experiences. I can vouch for that feeling, not getting much sleep over the weekend myself. Just a little too much anxiety, I guess, from a hurricane first-timer.

Needless-to-say, plans are on the table and ready to activate for the next client evacuation, if that need comes to be, either in a week, or at some other time in this hurricane season, which is now in its most active phase.

When Ray and I brought home all the equipment, soiled bedding, floor matts and client duffel bags from the STF last Tuesday and Wednesday, we left the 20 air mattresses there for our staff, just in case they might be needed for another evacuation in the near future. One less truckload of stuff we will need to haul up there. The STF building where our 42 special needs clients were housed last weekend, is all cleaned and ready to go.

Most of our Center staff who evacuated away from the area with their families ahead of GUSTAV, are also now back at work on the campus, too. Our branch office for Early Childhood Intervention (EIP), over in Bay St. Louis, has been closed, and all the staff, equipment, supplies and records have been redeployed to an area in one of the buildings at the Center campus, after the EIP office in the Bay, experienced about 20 inches of murky storm surge water during GUSTAV.

Speaking as a first-hand, first-time observer of the hurricane operations procedures during GUSTAV carried out by Center leaders and staff, I have to give them all high marks for their efficiency, dedication and determination to keep our clients and campus safe during this hurricane exposure. I hope they all gave themselves high marks and a pat on the back, too, for a job well done!

Now, we’ll see what next week may hold for us, as these roller coaster ‘waves’ from the African coast keep chugging and churning our way.

Sincere thanks, again, to all of you out there, for standing with us in spirit, thought and prayer during the stressful Hurricane Gustav experience of this past weekend. It is most appreciated!

Until the next Mississippi Gulf Coast Hurricane Update (if one is needed)…

Take Care!

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GUSTAV UPDATE: IT COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE FOR SOUTH MISSISSIPPI

Another “Close Encounter?”

Those of you who have been reading here for awhile, might remember a couple of posts appearing here talking about “Close Encounters…”

With the long anticipated arrival of Hurricane GUSTAV finally at hand, another hand, perhaps the hand of providence, reached out and gave Hurricane GUSTAV just a little nudge to the west, into the south Louisiana coast, away from a direct hit on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, three years after Hurricane Katrina didn’t veer away.

With Gulf Coast residents either evacuated or ‘hunkered down’ to wait it out, Hurricane GUSTAV finally arrived in south Mississippi Sunday evening, almost dead on at 6:00pm, announcing its coming with a spectacular dark, cloud roll and torrential rain deluge, as the first major ‘outer band’ rolled in ashore.

The highways were virtually empty, stores and gas stations closed and boarded up, as those area residents still in town, waited to see how bad it might get.

During the night Sunday, additional bands of rain, accompanied by tropical storm force winds, buffeted homes, buildings and trees, rattled metal siding and picked up anything that wasn’t secured down and sent it on a ride, as the storm increased in momentum as the hours of darkness passed, and GUSTAV stormed on into the Labor Day morning.

After a long Sunday spent helping evacuate our remaining 42 special needs clients and transport supplies and equipment from the South Mississippi Regional Center in Long Beach, up to another State Mental health facility 12 miles north, the Specialized Treat Facility, your correspondent, Coast Rat, closed down his little trailer home across the road from the SMRC, and literally moved into an office at the Center to ‘hunker down’ hopefully safe from whatever GUSTAV would send our way.

As I got settled in, set up my cot, and unpacked a few things for the evening, I could hear the winds outside, howling and whistling as it flew around the building. Just down the hall, I could hear a Weather Channel announcer talk about what GUSTAV was doing, as the various correspondents gave their on-the-spot reports, one hand holding tightly to their microphone, and the other holding on to the top of their specially-made rain jackets from L.L. Bean.

My ‘home-away-from-home’ during the past two days.

With 2-3 hard days of preparation for GUSTAV telling on my body’s energy level, I just could not watch or listen to any more weather news, or even listen to the howling winds or watch the building entrance door at the rain coming down in sheets. What I desperately needed, was SLEEP!

My last act as I lay down on my cot, was to say a prayer or two for all those folks in harm’s way of GUSTAV, especially everyone in southern Louisiana, that they stay safe during this long, stormy night and through tomorrow, when GUSTAV would finally come ashore, somewhere.

When I put my head down on my pillow, I don’t think it took more than a minute or two before I was fast asleep. The next thing I knew, it was 6:00am and my alarm was ringing to wake me up.

After getting dressed and putting on my rain parka, I stepped out through the entrance doors and watched in amazement as the rain came down so heavy, it was in thick sheets, so hard that you could hardly see across the road, being driven sideways by the 40-55 mile per hour winds, with gusts higher, that were also making the trees dance around as if they were all in some huge musical and each one was trying to out-do the other.

Frankly, I was in awe of this tremendous display of power!

It was incredible! And as for me, a ‘first-timer’ in a hurricane’s path, I immediately decided that I didn’t really want to be in the path of anything stronger that this level of a hurricane’s fury. I have one strong memory of Monday morning, sitting in my work truck, and having the truck literally rock back and forth vigerously from the string gusts of wind. Yeah, that stuck in my mind.

As I watched the trees, even the Live Oak limbs, bend and sway, caused to do so by such a powerful force, my thoughts went immediately to my little trailer home, and I said another prayer that it would be spared destruction or serious damage. I prayed that the three new, bright yellow tie-down straps would keep it anchored, and that no trees or limbs would would be blown loose and fall to strike it.

I also said a prayer of Thanks for all of those people who had sent thoughts and prayers my way, and and to the way of all the others on the Gulf Coast who would still be here for whatever reason. And the last one was again, that all here stay safe.

At a few minutes to 7:00am, I drove down to the maintenance complex to meet 3 of my fellow workers there, to talk about what we needed to do during the day.

The first thing I noticed as I drove into the maintenance parking area, was that the rear side metal roof of our Maintenance office building was coming apart. Not really the way I had wanted to start this Labor Day morning dealing with GUSTAV. This was a part of the roof that had been repaired the summer before, by a repair crew. Yeah, right.

As I took a drive around the 45-acre campus, I notice that downed tree limbs and branches were lying everywhere. But, so far, damage to campus buildings seemed to be minor. In some of the older, flat-roofed buildings, there had been some roof leaks, and several wet tiles fell and literally exploded into pieces as they hit the hard floors.

In the afternoon, I was asked by Master Naturalist Buddy John, who also happens to be the Director of Residential Services at the Center, if I would help him deliver a load of relief supplies up to the Specialized Treatment Facility (STF), 12 miles north of the Center, where the staff had evacuated 42 of our special needs clients to Sunday afternoon, to be safe out of harm’s way from GUSTAV.

John gave me a list of things that needed to be gathered up from various cottages, so I went about assembling all those items, and stacking them in one of the 20-bed cottages so we could pick them up and make the trip when there was a break in the weather.

One of the stops to pick up supplies, was to the cafeteria, for food and soda for the staff at STF, who were caring for our 42 clients there. As we loaded there, again, it rained in sheets.

Note the wind-driven rain, going almost sideways as it falls.

As John and I were making our way carefully up Beatline Road, the 12 miles up to the STF, I said to him that I hoped we didn’t get stopped by the police and turned back, due to the entire area being under curfew.

Just then, my cell phone rang (yes, the Cellular One tower was still operating), and the calling party advised that she was with the BBC News in London, and was calling to talk with me about what was happening with GUSTAV, my involvement in preparations for it, both personal and work-related, and about my personal mission work on the Mississippi Coast helping the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

She said she had come across my Blog, which had been providing update posts about preparing for Gustav, and decided to contact me, as I was here on the coast, and might be able to help their listeners and website readers to better understand what was happening here. We talked for about 12-15 minutes, and by then, John and I had arrived at the STF.

And, low and behold, I am humbled to say, the BBC used my interview comments and a picture of my trailer in two separate abstracts on the front page on their website, at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7591641.stm or you can also see a PDF version.

As we drove through the two tall, locked wire gates to enter the facility, and brought the supplies inside the STF, and passed among the various clients, some of them again gestured or said some greetings, and had smiles at seeing more people they knew from various day-to-day contact, back at the Center.

After leaving the STF, we made our way back down Beatline, and made a quick swing over to John’s home, located on the Arcadia Bayou, and nearby Wolf River.

For comparison purposes, here is an image of John’s home last year:

And here is the view from Monday afternoon:

The surge water level from GUSTAV at John’s home on the Arcadia Bayou, north of Pass Christian, MS.

WOW! The water level, from the storm surge, was up to the bottom of John’s concrete slab, which he advised was the second highest he had ever seen the water level since the 20 some years he had been out there. The highest level, was some 15-18 feet higher, during Hurricane Katrina, when the water lever was 5 feet deep in his home up on pilings. John was visibly impressed with the surge level, as was I, even more so. That was an incredible amount of water to see.

That evening then, I made my first trip across the road and back into where my trailer was located, to see if it was OK. Driving back in on the narrow blacktop road was made treacherous by having several large, fallen trees sticking into and along the road, including two large, dead, southern pines that were killed by Katrina, and were leaning towards the road, that went down Monday in Gustav’s winds, just around a small corner from where I live.

Every single time I drive back on this road to my trailer, I watch these two ‘widow makers’ standing tall and dead, leaning towards the road, as it to silently crushed one of us some day when we least expect it.

GUSTAV’s winds blew this dead pine down beside the road, crushing an aluminum gate as if it was made out of paper. Thank you GUSTAV!

I finally arrived at my little home, tremendously relieved as I approached, that it was still there, apparently in once piece, and, miraculously, with no damage! Thank you, Jesus! I felt so blessed, to have escaped Gustav and not lost my little home, as so many thousands had during Hurricane Katrina.

Fortunately, my trailer, sitting on a north-south axis with the back pointed south and located approximately 2-3 blocks north of the Gulf, weathered the storm OK.

As I parked, got out and walked around behind the trailer, I saw several tree limbs lying there within a few feet of it. Yes, indeed, I was blessed.

One thing I also noticed while walking around, was the sound of electric generators humming away all over the neighborhood. The power was off! I thought to myself, I wonder if it will come back on this evening…? And then, I remembered that for thousands of families after Katrina, it was several days and weeks before the power was fully restored.

OK, here goes another night on my cot at the office. No build deal; after all, is will only be the second evening.

And, another day and evening without internet and blog access. Oh well.

During the day, I talked with my wife and also youngest son, about what was going on, and that I was OK through all of it. They were relieved, and it was good to talk with them, too. I also talked briefly two of my Wisconsin buddies, Maggie and Michael, who were in the image by the huge Life Oak a day or two in one of my update posts. It was also good to talk with them.

Today, I worked around the Center campus, doing various things, including cleaning up two of the cottages, getting them ready to be looked at by State building inspectors, who must certify that the building was ready to receive clients again.

Several of the people at work remarked about how GUSTAV was so much weaker than Katrina; that it was “just a little wind and a few drops of rain.” Well, to this Yankee, it was much more than that, as as much of a hurricane as I really care to be a part of. Almost unanimously, people I talked with after GUSTAV had passed, expressed tremendous relief that it had not hit here with the eye, and concern and thoughts for the people in Louisiana that it did hit with the eye and the high winds and water.

It would have been an incredible tragedy if GUSTAV had destroyed all the rebuilding that has occured here since Katrina, an incredible tragedy, indeed.

As I was working in one of the 20-bed cottages during the mid-afternoon, standing high up on my stepladder changing a fluorescent fixture ballast, my cell phone rang, and low and behold, it was Ana again from the BBC, calling for an update on GUSTAV.

We talked for about 10 minutes, without me falling off the ladder, and she said she would send me a link to the comments they would use on their website from the two interviews. It was kind of one of those little neat things that happen to one’s self periodically through life. A very, very brief moment of fame, or, perhaps maybe it is infamy…

Earlier this evening, Ray and I headed back up to the STF facility with the box truck to pick up the specialized equipment there and bring it back to the cottages as soon as possible, as the cottages were approved this evening by the State Building Inspectors for use, a d all 42 clients resideing there were being bused back to their cottage homes at the Center.

This evening, I drove over into Pass Christian to check for possible storm damage on my storage building over there, and again, it was a blessing to find it weathered GUSTAV OK.

I made my way to the street just above the beach Highway 90, to the Pass harbor. I wanted to check on Shaggy’s Cafe, too, to see if was still there or had been damaged at all.

Well, it is there, but may not be serving sandwiches for a few days or weeks. It seems that two large shrimp boats were inadvertently parked by GUSTAV on Shaggy’s access road when the storm surge came ashore. Now, what those two shrimpers were still doing in the harbor, defies all logic, when every other shrimp boast was moved out prior to the storm surge arriving.

Two large shrimp boats were moved by GUSTAV a bit from their normal slips at the pier in Pass Christian harbor Monday

Hopefully, a big crane can pick those boats up and set them back in the harbor, out of Shaggy’s customers way to get there for that great Gulf Coast seafood!

I noticed while driving in The Pass they had numerous trees down from the storm, and that, in response to downed power lines, there were literally several dozen, large, electric utility trucks, either working, driving around or parked in the city. Their aim, to their credit, is to get the electrical service back up and working as quickly as possible.

I must say here that all during these past several days, hundreds and hundreds of folks stopped by for a visit to this blog to get GUSTAV updates, and many of them left expressions, thoughts and prayers of concern, safety and encouragement for those of us remaining on the coast in front of GUSTAV, for whatever reason(s). Again, I want to express my most sincere appreciation for all the visits, the incredible comments, emails, and calls from you to myself and others here.

Maggie, Quin, Mandy,Dawn, Christine, The West Virgina Watcher, THANK YOU ESPECIALLY, for your beautiful posts and words of encouragement. You are an amazing family, and I love you all!

Now. I don’t want to hear anything about no Hanna, Ike, No. 10 or any other storm deciding to start steaming this way! I think that maybe God heard all your prayers and moved Gustav away from hitting us dead-on. I don’t know if he/she will be able to honor all our prayers again…

Yes, there will be a little more to come, as I get around and talk with more folks around here, and get some more images.

Take care, Thanks again, and God Bless!

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GUSTAV UPDATE: Aug. 31 – FINALLY, IT’S HERE!

After many days of watching, wondering, waiting and agonizing, finally GUSTAV has arrived. At least the first outer bands.

This morning crowned as a beautiful, sunny day here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast at Long Beach.

Not as warm as it has been, and with a very light breeze flowing through the nearby Magnolia and Live Oak trees, giving no hint whatsoever of how different things will be in just 24 hours.

Due to unexpected interruptions yesterday, mostly at the Center, some of my planned preparation tasks on my GUSTAV To-Do List, did not get finished. Such as installing the three new tie-downs over my trailer.

The badly-needed tie-down job finally in process, gets put on hold, again. The front of my car is pointed straight south, and this property is approximately 2-3 blocks north of the Gulf beach.

That little task was the primary job that needed to be, must be tackled, first thing this morning. So, I laid out the six anchors in the spots where they needed to be screwed into the ground, grabbed a short two-by-four, and started auguring them into the ground.

Tough job when you are not used to doing that every day. When I was about half done, with the three rear anchors deep in the ground, my “On Call” cell phone rang, with my Director calling to say he needed me to come over to the Center to help reposition the large, gasoline, diesel and water trailers up to high ground, and maybe a few other things.

Damn! Was I never going to get those tie-downs installed? Before GUSTAV arrived with its testy winds?

One of the outer bands of clouds associated with Hurricane Gustav.

So, over to the Center I went, assisted with the trailer redeploying, and then got volunteered to go with the warehouse manager to deliver more specialized lift equipment, supplies and food up to the Specialized Treatment Facility, 12 miles to the north of the Center, where the last 40 of our clients were evacuated to today.

As I heard myself saying, “OK, I’ll go with Ray and get it taken care of,” I was acutely visualizing those three 27′ yellow tie-down straps laying in the grass besides my trailer, not doing a hoot in hell’s worth of good to anybody. And the countdown clock continued to tick.

Ray and I made the trip up to the STF, delivered all the things that were needed there, and headed back to the Center, where hopefully we would be done for the rest of the afternoon and evening. On the trip back, we gave a ride back to one of our Center co-workers, Stephanie D., who shared what her experience was during Katrina. Perhaps I can share that with you in a day or so. Very harrowing and incredibly stressful for Steph.

The STF, where approximately 40 of our clients were evacuated to today, out of harm’s way, from Gustav.

As we drove up Beatline Road to the STF, I noticed a lot of traffic moving north, especially vehicles towing boats and travel trailers. Most of the businesses along the route were already closed and most had boarded up windows and doors.

After Ray and I arrived back at the Center, I talked hom into letting me borrow a few plastic tote boxes, so I could put some important papers and things in, and haul them to a more secure place than my little fragile travel trailer. Ray offered to drop them off at my trailer on his way home, so away we went.

Arriving at my trailer, Ray asked if I needed any help with installing the tie-down straps over the top of my trailer, to which I replied: “Thank you, Jesus!”

Fifteen minutes later, we were done and the new restraints were all in place. It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted off my shoulders, and my stress level went down by half of what it was running all day to that point.

Finally, the three additional tie-down straps are completely installed. I hope they do the trick against Gustav’s coming winds.

About 45 minutes later, as I was starting the next important task of assembling my gear for the transition over to the Center tonight, Ring – Ring – Ring, goes my personal cell phone this time. Dorothy, the Assistant Center Director, and my friend, was calling to ask if I could arrange to get 20 air mattresses out of the warehouse, get them inflated, and bring them up to the STF, as our Center staff members up there caring for our clients didn’t have any place to sleep, and they were needed.

As I deeply exhaled, again going visual – seeing all my gear sitting in my trailer, not in readiness for the transition, I said, “Sure, Dorothy, we’ll get it taken care of and have them up there in a little while.

Miss Dorothy is one of the nicest people (and fellow employees) I know down here, and when she asks, I’ll do everything I can to see that her request is taken care of. Dorothy has two sisters, Sally-Ann Roberts, who is one of the Anchors at WWL-TV in New Orleans, and Robin Roberts, Anchor at ABC’s Good Morning America.

So, I called Ray on my cell and told him we had another delivery to make up to the STF, and we agreed to meet back at the maintenance complex to dig out the 20 air mattresses and get them inflated.

A minute before 6:00pm, Ray arrived at the complex, and at that moment, an incredibly huge, black, rolling wall cloud, like something right out of the movies Independence Day or Close Encounters, rolled right over our heads, followed a minute later with the hardest downpour of sideways rain and wind I have ever seen.

HURRICANE GUSTAV HAD ARRIVED!

Or at least the first serious outer band of the huge storm.

Ray and I quickly inflated the 200 air mattresses, loaded them onto the box truck, and we headed up Beatline Road again towards the STF, with me following in my car. My gas tank was half empty, and I just hadn’t had time to top it off in the past two days, so I knew I should do that on this trip, or else risk not having a station available in several days or perhaps a week or two, depending upon how bad GUSTAV ravaged our area.

And wouldn’t you know the first several gas stations we went by were either closed, boarded up, or out of gas, due to all the last minute buying from people either evacuating, topping off their own tanks, or filling spare gas cans for generator use, if it comes to that. People remember what it was like after Katrina, and that’s good.

At any rate, I finally found a station at I-10, and filled up my tank, and we continued on to the STF and delivered the 20 air mattresses.

While carrying the mattresses inside the building several of the clients called out to me and said Hello, as they often do when I am doing a work order in their Cottage home. It was very heartwarming to see virtually all of them smiling and having an enjoyable experience there at the STF, out of harm’s way.

All of our Center direct care workers and support staff up there with them have done a great job of making them feel as comfortable and as un-stressed as possible, to their deserved credit, during this major disruption of their routines and normal schedules.

It was also heartwarming to note the staff’s dedication to that large and important care need up there, especially when many of them had families of their own still in a danger area along the coast, with GUSTAV approaching.

As I drove back down Beatline, traveling under I-10, towards my trailer, I checked my watch to see that it was about 7:30pm, and I suddenly realized that I had not eaten all day! Which is not an especially good thing if you happen to be a diabetic. My focus today was on many other things, and not on my health.

Ever try to find a place open to eat at, when a major hurricane was expected to start bringing its handiwork ashore? Absolutely nothing was open! Food stores, restaurants, all closed and most boarded up.

I finally found a place open, had a quick sandwich, and arrived back at my trailer, where I am finishing this post, relating to you all (or y’all) the process of continuing to prepare for Hurricane GUSTAV’s landfall.

What it’s like to be in the target zone of one of these monsters of nature.
And now it is time to finish gathering my hurricane gear, and move over to the Center to my place of (what I hope is) safety for the next few days.

Hopefully, I can continue these updates as GUSTAV continues to come ashore during the next day or two. I’ll do my best.

It is my sincere prayer that GUSTAV will not inflict the terrible carnage on any of the Gulf Coast area, like Katrina did three years ago. I don’t want anyone to have to be a GUSTAV hurricane relief volunteer. Please God, if you have anything to say about it!

Again, sincere Thanks to all of you many souls who stopped by for these hurricane updates these past few days, and for all of your expressions of support, your thoughts, prayers and encouraging and comforting words; they mean so very much.

Take care and God Bless!

Until later…

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GUSTAV UPDATE: NOW A CATEGORY 4? YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

A couple of nights ago, commenting on the Weather Channel about then, Tropical Storm GUSTAV, Hurricane Meteorologist Jim Cantori said, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this storm.”

No kidding.

At 4:00pm this afternoon, the Weather Channel announced that Hurricane GUSTAV, which has just passed over western Cuba, and entered the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, became a Category 4 (FOUR) Hurricane, with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour!

Damn!

Only 6 miles per hour more in sustained wind speed, and GUSTAV will be a Category 5 Hurricane, which it is expected to do before making landfall.

Double damn!!

Now it is starting to get a little scary…

In spite of that anxiety, people and institutions here on the coast continue to prepare for Hurricane GUSTAV, making preparations which include evacuation of people at risk from the coastal area.

This morning, under beautiful, sunny skies in Long Beach, I viewed my fellow staff at the Center where I work weekdays, complete the first phase of evacuation of of our clients to other like facilities at more northerly locations. It was really hard to imagine that such an incredible weather change will occur starting in about 24 hours.

Center officials are taking no chances with the safety of the Center clients, with this major hurricane posing a possible threat to the campus, and made the decision to evacuate well before the storm arrives.

Center staff load clients on buses for evacuation this morning, in advance of Hurricane Gustav.

Six buses and several vans came to the Campus this morning, and Center staff carefully and calmly loaded our clients into the busses, which take them to places of safety for the next several days, until Gustav has passed and it is safe for them to return to their homes on the Center Campus.

Many of the Center staff accompanied the clients on the buses and will stay with and assist caring for them while they are temporarily staying at out sister facilities.

Center staff members prepare to load their luggage on buses evacuating Center clients, who they accompanied.

The staff members I talked with this morning during the loading process expressed how relieved they were that the clients would be safe, no matter what Gustav brought ashore and over and through the 45 acres of the campus.

Buses carrying Center clients and staff, prepare to evacuate from the Center this morning.

Eventually, all of the clients who were being evacuated today, were on board, with their clothing bags, records and any medicayions they would need while away from campus.

Evacuation bus from the Boswell Center prepare to leave the Center, to safety.

Then it was time for the long caravan to leave, and head for their northern destinations. A number of the clients appeared excited to be going on a bus ride, somewhere. The convoy of some 15-20 vehicles total, even had a police escort to lead them up to I-10, where they would continue on to their destinations.

Evacuating clients from the Center.

Tomorrow morning, the remaining 40 clients residing in the last two cottages will be evacuated, to another facility well north of the Center. Then it will be quiet there. Until the advance winds of GUSTAV arrive in the late afternoon or evening, and start stressing the huge Live Oaks and buildings on the campus and the coast.

During today, I continued with my personal preparations in advance of GUSTAV, packing up many things in my trailer to take to a safer site, and installing more tie-down straps over the top of my trailer.

Tomorrow afternoon, I will transition with my gear over across the road to the Center, into our safest building on the campus, where the next part of this experience will play out for me.

Directly behind the administration building I will ride out GUSTAV in, is the second largest Live Oak tree in the State of Mississippi, approximately 750 years old, and having a limb spread from tip to tip of 162 feet across. Can you imagine the number of hurricanes that living tree has endured since it sprouted from the ground 750 years ago? Incredible!

This is the giant Live Oak located directly behind the building where I will seek refuge from Hurricane GUSTAV tomorrow. Two of my closet friends, fellow Katrina volunteers from Wisconsin, stand at the front of the Live Oak, including, left, retired teacher and coach Michael Wollin, and writer sensation Maggie of Okay, Fine, Dammit.

I pray for all who are here, and even for my little trailer, that it can hold together in GUSTAV’s winds, and that I have my little home away from home, to come back to on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thank you all again, for your continuing thoughts and prayers, not only for myself, but also for all on the Gulf Coast.

I will attempt to make additional Updates, but may not be successful, if phone and cable lines are adversely affected. We’ll see how it plays out…

God Bless you all, and Thanks again for being here with me in spirit.

Hopefully, more to follow.

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GUSTAV UPDATE: IT’S GETTING CLOSER, …AND STRONGER

Editor’s note: I had intended to publish this GUSTAV UPDATE late last night, but wouldn’t you know, my internet connection took a hike then, and didn’t come back until a little while ago. I’ll attempt another update later this afternoon or early afternoon.

Preparations for the arrival of Hurricane GUSTAV in about four days, continue here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, as the storm gains speed and strength as it approaches the Gulf of Mexico today, the three-year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

GUSTAV made a serious transition today, from a Tropical Storm into a Category 1 Hurricane and will probably soon go to a Category 3 storm, as it continues its trajectory towards the Gulf of Mexico and landfall somewhere on the Gulf Coast.

As the following figure illustrates, today’s National Hurricane Center’s projected trajectory map of GUSTAV’s path to the Gulf Coast changed only in a minor way, from that of yesterday.

Most weather experts’ guesses (and that really is what they are at this point), are that GUSTAV will make landfall somewhere in southern Louisiana, west of New Orleans.

If that happens, that may be very bad for The Big Easy, as well as for the nearby Mississippi Gulf Coast (and yours truly and my neighbors here), depending upon how large and strong GUSTAV has grown to by that point. So much of what will happen with it, is still very vague.

So we on the Gulf Coast wait…

And wait some more…

And we continue to get ready.

Today, I personally observed considerable activity here in the Gulfport – Long Beach – Pass Christian coastal area, as may residents continue their own preparations for whatever GUSTAV brings their way on late Monday, Labor Day, and Tuesday.

The following types of retail outlets were doing a rather brisk business around here today, associated with GUSTAV’s approach, including gas stations, pharmacies, hardware and food stores, and the local Lowes and Home Depot stores. The number of cars and trucks filling the parking lots of these stores
was large, indeed.

During work at the Center today, we continued preparing for GUSTAV, removing awnings from buildings, boarding up windows, moving beds around between Client Cottages, assisting with preparations to evacuate our 135 clients in the morning to other facilities more north in Mississippi, moving many of our fleet of vehicles to the highest parking lot and a few other things.

Most of the clients don’t realize what is going on with Campus preparations for GUSTAV in their behalf, and will probably be slightly agitated during the moving process tomorrow. But, then most of them enjoy riding in the Center buses and vans to places, so I imagine overall, they will enjoy their adventure. At least they will be in a safe place during GUSTAV.

Today, I also had the opportunity to ask a number of my fellow employees at the Center where I work weekdays, about their own preparations for GUSTAV, and their feelings about Katrina and the fact that today was the third anniversary of when Katrina came ashore with its 30′ storm surge and hurt so many families living here.

Many of them admitted that they were having painful memories about what Katrina did to them, and how much they suffered from her powerful forces.

And then, some fellow employees admitted that they had not yet made any preparations for GUSTAV. But, they might start on that tomorrow…

LIKE, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, PEOPLE???????

One of the fellows I work with in Maintenance said that thinking about Katrina was quite painful for him, as it brought back such sad memories of him, his sister and his brother all losing their homes and all within them during Katrina.

He and I will be two of the four Maintenance guys staying at the Center in one of the administration buildings during Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday, when GUSTAV comes through. He currently lives in a Katrina Cottage, in Pass Christian, on a lot that had probably 15′ of storm surge water rushing through it during Katrina.

Another employee, a lady, who I am going to call Melissa here, had incredibly stressful memories of the morning when Katrina came to visit her and her family.

Melissa, along with her spouse, were at her parents home, along with her spouse’s parents, the six of them, the house in an area in Gulfport that was not formerly classified as being in any flood zone.

Katrina came chugging and churning in that fateful morning, exactly three years ago this morning. The storm surge waters surrounded the home, and rose steadily in a short time, until the waters started coming inside.

As Melissa and her family members watched in disbelief, the water came into the home and the level in the home quickly grew higher and higher, until they frantically decided that the rapidly rising waters were a serious threat to their lives, and they must leave the home and reach higher ground in order to survive.

As they forced the front door open and waded onto the front porch and steps area, Melissa’s father, who was in the lead, was suddenly swept away by the swiftly flowing and rising waters. The frantic family members quickly lost sight of him, as they, themselves, with considerable effort, made their way through the deep water, all the way around the corner of the house and into a nearby large, Live Oak tree growing there.

They climbed high into the tree, desperately hanging on for their very lives, all the while consumed with grief and worry that Melissa’s father had probably not survived in the waters that took him away so quickly out of sight, as he led them from the house.

For six long, wet, windy hours Katrina raged and raged, while the five of them clung to that Live Oak tree, waiting for the terrible conditions of the storm to lessen, so they may climb down to the ground and go searching for Melissa’s missing father.

At long last, the wind and rain lessened, and practically numb from their perilous experience, they climbed down from the limbs of the tree, into the knee-deep water, and began their search.

A short time later, miraculously, they found him, alive, also in a large tree.

All during those six hours while they were clinging to life in the tree, they had no idea if he was alive or dead. And, he, also in a tree, had no idea if the five of them had perished or not. Tremendously stressful, physically and emotionally.

When I first met Melissa, about six months after Katrina, it was very difficult for her to talk about this life-threatening experience. And for the first two months after I met her, she just couldn’t bring herself to talk about it. Finally, she consented to share her story.

So, one evening while we were having supper in a large, white FEMA food tent, speaking very slowly and with some difficulty, she shared her terrible memory with me. As I listened, tears appeared in my eyes, and I slowly wiped them away as she continued.

When she was almost finished with her story, she looked down and then went on to describe that almost drowning wasn’t the worst part, nearly losing her father wasn’t the worst part, losing her home and all her clothes and furniture wasn’t the worst part, the worst part was losing her pets which she and her husband had left in their home when they had gone over to be with her and his parents. Because their home also was not officially in a flood zone, they had thought they would be safe there.

Tragically, they weren’t.

I have heard so many tragic stories from area residents during my time here with them, each one seemingly more tragic than the previous one. I don’t know how many times my heart was broken listening to them, crying tears with them as they remembered and shared those painful memories.

This evening, I journeyed through Long Beach, over into The Pass (Pass Christian), and observed many families there preparing their homes for GUSTAV’s arrival.

I also shot many images of how buildings near the beach (like I am), look now, before GUSTAV gets here. I also stopped at SHAGGY’S CAFE in The Pass Harbor, one of my favorite seafood places to eat, and had a fish sandwich, before heading back to Long Beach and a quick stop at the food store for some milk and juice.

The Gulf there near The Pass Harbor, was beautiful this evening, with some children playing in the shallow water, probably not even suspecting that in only four days, that same water would be absolutely treacherous, unforgiving and merciless, to all who may be in there.

During that trip, I marveled at how much recovery the area had made since Katrina, how beautiful so many of the new buildings are now, after Katrina reduced them to rubble three years ago. As I looked at them, I silently wondered how many of them would be changed by GUSTAV.

Along Highway 90 in Pass Christian, work is still under way to rebuild beaches there which were severely eroded by Katrina’s storm surge and wave action. Will GUSTAV reverse the tremendous progress made in that effort to rebuild the beaches after Katrina?

As I sat in SHAGGY’S eating my sandwich, I wondered if I would be able to eat at SHAGGY’S next week, after GUSTAV.

I wondered how GUSTAV would change my life.

I decided it already had.

This evening, after arriving back at my trailer, I ran across my dear friend Maggie-Dammit’s post about the friendship we share, and how very much it connects with my life here on the coast. Maggs is such a sweet soul, she just blew me away with her sweet words. She is such an incredibly gifted writer, great mother and spouse!

Tomorrow morning early, I will assist many of the staff at the Center with the evacuation process, including fueling up all the buses and vans that will be used for the moving process. After that, I will concentrate on my own last minute preparations for GUSTAV, here at my trailer, including installing the three new 27′ tie-down straps over the top of the trailer and get the anchors into the ground, buying a few gas cans of extra gasoline for my car and generator, packing my suitcase for when I will be at the Center during GUSTAV, and packing up and moving most of the trailer contents over to a secure room at the Center, for the duration of GUSTAV.

That should take most of the day I think. And, I’ll respond to any calls from the Center that need attention, being the Maintenance guy “On Call” during this weekend and this coming week. With the clients being evacuated in the morning, hopefully it will be more quiet there Saturday and Sunday.

Depending upon what happens with GUSTAV during its approach to the coast, I may be called in to do more window boarding and other things at the Center.

And somewhere during the weekend, I am hoping to get a little sleep. Yeah, right!

Thanks so much for all who stopped by today to check out the GUSTAV posts, over 300 of you, and offered encouragement and prayers for those of us here on the Gulf Coast. Your thoughts and prayers and encouragement are so appreciated!

Please continue to stop by for more Updates, and images, as I will try my best to keep them coming before and all during when GUSTAV gets here, depending my internet access.

I am anxious to see if the Cell towers go down when GUSTAV is here, too. That would suck!

See, there’s no panic in my voice…

IS THERE……….???

We’ll see how it goes…

Take care.

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GUSTAV UPDATE: HEADING INTO THE GULF

Uncertainty.

That’s something we have a lot of, concerning what GUSTAV may do here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Labor Day.

GUSTAV, still technically a Tropical Storm, did a little dance overnight, down between the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and that little indulgence just may have been enough to send the eye of GUSTAV about a hundred miles to the west of us, into Louisiana, instead of heading towards the middle Mississippi Gulf Coast.

The real truth is, it’s just too early to tell what it is going to do once it enters the Gulf.

Come late Saturday and into Sunday, the developing storm will be much clearer as to direction of travel and where it will probably make landfall on Tuesday.

Here is the current model from the National Hurricane Center:

As you can see, the direction of travel cone is very wide, so who really knows at this point where it will go, and how strong it will be when it gets there. People here are praying that GUSTAV keeps moving to the west.

I can tell you this though, folks around here are taking this threat very seriously, and preparations are being made by most people for whatever happens from GUSTAV.

The memories of what Hurricane Katrina did here are strongly etched in the minds of area families. So many families I talked with during my time here on my Personal Mission during the past 20 months have told me, “I foolishly stayed for Katrina, and almost was killed. I won’t stay for another one like her.”

GUSTAV pretty much dominates conversations around here, and I think it is safe to say that folks here are basically “on edge” about GUSTAV’s coming, particularly the uncertainty of what the part of it that strikes here, will look and feel like.

Gas prices have really spiked here in the past two days, going up between $ .35 and $ .40 per gallon in just two days! I am glad I topped off my half a tank two days ago at $3.31 per gallon.

Many of the retail stores have posters in their windows advertising that they will be open Sunday and Monday, and that more bottled water, batteries and portable gas cans are on the way.

With the slight change in projected path overnight in GUSTAV, preparation plan at my work place change slightly this morning, too. A decision was made to hold off on boarding up cottage windows for another day, pending upon GUSTAV’s track in the morning.

Tentatively, plans are set to evacuate all of our ambulatory clients Saturday morning by bus, to other State Mental Health sites north of the coast here in Long Beach. Again, all that is subject to change, depending upon what GUSTAV does each hour of the day.

And what am I feeling, personally, sitting here as I anticipate my first hurricane is about to roll in here in about 4 days?

Damn!

I am very uneasy, I’ll tell you folks!

After seeing first-hand a couple of weeks after Katrina blasted through here, I know what hurricanes can do.

They can be absolute monsters and destroy virtually anything in their path.

I am as brave as the next person, but, I’ll be hanging out across the road from my travel trailer, at the Center where I work during the days, in the strongest building we have there.

The rest is out of my control, and I pray that God watches over and protects all of us down here.

Whatever GUSTAV does, y’all have your own personal on-the-spot reporter on the scene. I’ll try to get some images during the storm and after for you to see.

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts, too.

This is the Coast Rat standing by…

******************************************

Another update will follow.

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GUESS WHO’S COMING TO LABOR DAY DINNER? GUSTAV!

And he wasn’t invited, either.

I was kind of hoping that I would have this coming Labor Day Holiday to relax, and get caught up on a few things, including reading some posts of some of my blogging friends.

Well, it pretty much looks like that scenario is shot to hell, with the current weather forecast that Tropical Storm Gustav, now down just west of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, will be breathing down our necks as a Category 3 Hurricane come Monday, Labor Day afternoon.

As a matter of fact, the current projected track of Gustav as a Cat 3 Hurricane, puts the eye passing somewhere between my car and my little travel trailer, here where I am living on the edge of Long Beach, Mississippi, just a couple of blocks north of the Gulf.

Great!

Just Great!

Hey, we’re not all rebuilt yet after Hurricane Katrina, a Cat 3 when she came ashore a few miles just west of here, kicked the stuffings out of the south Mississippi to the tune of over 125 billion dollars!

And now, almost three years to the day after Katrina hit, here comes Gustav, to do God knows what to this recovering area.

Some 20 months ago, I moved down here to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to help families with the rebuilding process, as part of a two-year Personal Mission of mine. In order to help pay my expenses of living, working and volunteering here, I have been working weekdays at the South Mississippi Regional Mental Health Center, in Long Beach, in the Maintenance Department.

I’ll tell you, folks down here on the Gulf Coast are taking this watery, windy threat very seriously.

The local food store here in Long Beach was very busy this evening, with residents shopping for canned goods, bottled water and many other items, stocking up for the Holiday weekend and Gustav.

At work today, our 12-personal department held a planning meeting to discuss our preparations for Gustav, in case it does end up coming this way. Right after the meeting, the crew started “battening down the hatches” as it were here on the 45-acre campus, preparing for what could be another Katrina threat.

Tomorrow morning, we will start boarding up several of the client cottages, move equipment, fleet vehicles and supplies around to higher and dryer positions on the campus.

This afternoon, two of us sprayed around the eaves and the bushes of all the cottages, so that when we start boarding up the windows in the morning, the wasps previously living there, would not become agitated and try to sting us, like they did the last time these preparations took place. We also tipped all the picnic tables over on their tops, and secured anything that might become a flying missile in Gustav’s winds.

We will also move the large, mobile gasoline and diesel tanks to the highest location on the campus.

All of the client cottages and key buildings on campus have large generators, that automatically start when the power is lost.

After entering the Gulf of Mexico, if Gustav reaches a Category 3 status by Friday, most of the clients will be evacuated north to other State mental health facilities. If it reaches a Category 4, all of the remaining clients will be evacuated, too.

As fate would have it, this coming weekend and week ahead, has me as being the Maintenance Department person who is “On Call” from Friday evening, until the following Friday evening, to respond to any emergency calls or problems occurring on the SMRC Campus. So, I will be here in any case, to respond to any problems on the campus.

At today’s meeting, I was one of 4 Maintenance guys volunteering to stay on campus all through the storm, which is only a couple blocks north of the Gulf, but much of which is located in one of the highest pieces of land in this area. Thank God for little things.

The surge that Katrina brought ashore three years ago, was in the 31′ range. The small piece of land where my travel trailer is parked, sits on property that is reported to be 32′ above sea level, and barely did not have flood water during Katrina.

Last evening, I went over to Lowe’s in Bay St. Louis and purchased three more sets of tie-down cables to put over my trailer, which, when installed, join the other four sets on the ends, and will hopefully hold it steady and not let it be destroyed by whatever strength winds that Gustav blows through here with on Monday.

We’ll see…

I will be hunkering down across the road from my trailer, at the SMRC (only a quarter of a mile to my east), in one of the brick buildings there, when Gustav hits. Before then, I will try to box up my clothes and what few other things I have here in my trailer, and store them in a room in one of the campus buildings until after the storm, and hope and pray that I have a trailer and a bed to come back to then.

My two years of mission work was to be over about Christmas this fall. I was hoping to make it through both years without having to face a hurricane, and transition back north to my home and family in Wisconsin without facing that threat, which I had only watched on TV while folks here endured and faced those threats over the decades.

Not to be.

Please say a little prayer for me, will you? And for all the other folks here on the coast in harm’s way.

More later…

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