Talked to Charlie yesterday. He is without power.
The hanger and house are fine. They only had a few trees down. Jackson was on
the west side of the storm and still had 70-80mph winds out of the north all
day. Jackson may be without power for up to 3 weeks.
Many of my friends on the coast were not so
lucky. Most of them have lost everything. One of my friends who lives north of
I-10 managed to get through to me last night. Their house sustained
significant wind damage and a lot of trees down. They were lucky. He described
looting and the police and emergency svcs running out of gasoline. In his
words "We got nuked" A lot of Hancock county where I used to live has been
totally destroyed. The people manning the county emergency management center
are missing. The last that was heard of them they were swimming out of the
center wearing life jackets. Most of the county is low lying and there is a
network of highways and bridges that link these communities and they are
either impassable or destroyed. The community of Diamondhead where I
used to live in is considered "high ground" being 30ft above SL and north of
I-10. It was flooded. Picayune Ms (50 miles inland) is reported destroyed. The
eye basically went up the Pearl river. The National news is concentrating on
New Orleans, but the real destruction is in MS. Entire communities are wiped
off the face of the earth. There is no news from the Pearlington, or port
Bienville area. I have also heard nothing of the communities along old HWY 90
into New Orleans. Access to this area other than boat or helicopter is
non-existent. I hope that most of the people I know evacuated, but fear some
of them who weathered Camille and other storms stayed.
So far my friend Ron is the only person that I
have had contact with South of Copiah county near Jackson.
Please Pray for the people in this area. They
need it.
Monty
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Thanks for the update Monty. Great to hear
Charlie came through in good shape compared to the folks SE of him.
My heart goes out to the many folks who are
suffering with lost lives and property. One feels helpless to do any thing
yet, but there are unlimited opportunities in the months ahead to make a
difference.
Bernie