It was August 29, 2005 that the above picture was taken from the 2nd floor of my daughter's home in Delmas Estates in Pascagoula, MS. I had wanted to evacuate, not out of fear that anything was going to happen, more from just wanting to go somewhere. Maybe treat everyone to a good meal and relax in a hotel where we didn't have to make the bed or swelter in the heat when the power goes out. Waiting on a hurricane is not "fun", we were not going to have a "hurricane party". It's a miserable way to exist. Their reason for staying was the daughter had a new baby girl born on August 12th and three other young children. The newborn would not have gotten proper care at the most fragile time in an infant's life. After envisioning myself driving on the highways alone and not wanting to leave them, I decided to stay.
The day was overcast with very little rain and amazingly it was cold. We wore sweaters. My daughter was preparing to make us a big breakfast when the oven must have browned out or something because the biscuits would not rise. Was very strange as the power stayed on until about an hour and a half before the water came. Shoot! No need to tell you that we didn't have biscuits again for many weeks after the storm.
Katrina and Me
Although the link above offers some insight into the terror that was to unfold on that fateful day, there was much more observed by me and my personal feelings at the time. When the water started rushing down the street and quickly filled the yards in the neighborhood, I was bewildered, as I had never seen anything like this. Where was the water coming from? I will admit there was a moment of exhilaration before the fright began. Everything happened so quickly. I recall us frantically scampering back and forth not sure what we should do... or could do. We did have the presence of mind to get the children upstairs as the water climbed the front steps and started entering the house. I thank God that the front door held and let the water come in with less force instead of rushing in with a force that would have been deadly. When I became really frightened was when I heard the outside water gurgling up through the slab into the house. We were going to die, this could not be happening. All the pillows and blankets from our shelter in the downstairs hallway were floating freely around the house, the family car in the garage shorted out. Later Dave's truck in the drive would be completely submerged. We were trapped, water was surrounding us. No way to escape.
An elderly couple in their mid eighties lived in the house depicted above. As we watched the water rise to their roof we had to literally hold Dave back. He wanted to try to get them out, we didn't know then that they were in the attic. The raging water had risen too high for even Dave who stands at 6ft. 7 in height. It didn't dawn on him that he couldn't swim. He wouldn't have stood a chance.
As we sat on the upstairs landing, we prayed constantly calling on a miracle from God to spare us. When George, the oldest of the boys, cried and said, "I don't want to die", my heart crumbled as he put a voice to my fear. We were all going to drown. I was the only one who could swim but not well enough to save everyone but I know I would have tried. It wasn't a smooth flowing water, it was a raging water that would have smashed anyone that was in it up against trees, houses and entangled them in the debris from destroyed houses.
Had the water broken out the windows we would have all drowned and the force of the water would have collapsed the house. The backporch has a waterline of 8 ft. There are over 100 homes in Delmas Estates. All were gutted and all cars were destroyed. The miracle ... no lives were lost.
My home survived with little damage so Dave, Anita and their children stayed 12 days with me before returning to work on their home.
And so we continue to this day reliving the horror of Katrina and the present chaos of her aftermath.
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