Katrina's Destruction
So sorry for the delay in posting. We were out of power for over a week. Once cell service came back, I could use my Treo 650 cell phone to surf the web, but it was tricky. The text entry window only allows so much (hence the truncated text in the previous post), plus if you hit a wrong key everything is erased. After several tries to post, something would always go wrong. Even after I figured out how to use my notebook computer with my Treo as a phone modem, the blogger posting software suddenly didn't work.
Now that I have electricity and cable modem back, I've been constantly working on clearing the yards of debris and trees. Three weeks after Katrina and I'm still clearing.
Thank you so much to all who have called/written/emailed/posted!
Here are pics of my houses. It may not mean much to you, but if you know my land you'll see exactly what happened here. This isn't the ultra-destruction you'll see on the news, for that you might want to check here or here. This is just what happened to me and my family.
Lets see. Katrina hit us in the morning. I had just walked the property to check on everything, and right after walking in the door I heard a crash. I knew immediately it was a tree that had fell. I grabbed the camera (of course!) and walked out to see this:
The tall pine from the little house yard fell into the front of the middle house. This was something, that pine tree was the tallest and biggest tree we had. I was very surprised that it snapped.
I immediately notified everyone that we would be riding the rest of the storm out at Laser Mania, a laser tag arena right around the corner. It is owned by a friend of mine and is basically a former theater in the middle of a huge parking lot (nothing to fall on it).
The pine tree caught the edge of the middle house porch. One limb came through the porch roof. Later, we would find that another limb punctured the roof in the bedroom to the left.
I looked down the tree and was very happy to see the tree fell right between the open drive-through gates! No fence damage!
Our view of the storm for the next five or six hours. We entertained the kids by playing board games and we munched on boiled peanuts. Immediately after arriving the power went out.
Our view of Katrina was limted to the Laser Mania parking lot. Lots of wind and rain. The wind was so heavy it was sucking the doors open. I had to use my belt to tie the doors together. From this view we didn't see the extreme events, but the two swinging signs under the Premier sign did blow off. Plus, the Laser Mania sign ended up being destroyed.
Janet kept a vigilant watch of the news, which kept her pretty nervous the whole time. You can see we had candles going (although we didn't need them, it was daytime). Being a video assist operator comes in handy, I had this little battery operated 5" color LCD that gave us immediate news feedback on the hurricane. It was actually surreal, we could watch the meteorologist show us the real-time radar then look out the front doors to see it happen live.
After spending most of the day at Laser Mania, I headed back to the houses to check their status. All seemed mostly OK, but there was lots of debris. I went back and got everyone and we came back home. My neighbor and I cleared the street so traffic could pass. The next morning it was time to assess the damage. Here is the front of the middle house where the tall pine fell. It pulled down the power/cable/phone lines and destroyed a wheel-chair ramp (we called it the 'bridge').
The pine also hit Virginia's mom's Jeep. Although the damage looks minimal, it busted the radiator so it wasn't drivable.
To the right of the middle house is the little house driveway. Here, you can't even see the house or driveway because of a tree grove that fell.
Panning to the right, we see the rest of the grove that has been blown over.
Back to the left of the middle house is my house. There were several limbs like you see here in the way of my house and the road. My neighbor and I cleared them.
Panning back to the left, a popcorn tree (I think) blew over blocking entrance to my yard.
Interestingly enough, we have a pecan tree that grows out of the middle of our house (the house was gradually added on and built around it). Several limbs broke off and hit the house.
The tree pushed against the roof and buckled it. I think being against the roof kept the tree from falling alltogether.
A shot of some of the limbs that fell on the roof.
My yard as seen from the back toward the street. Limbs everywhere. You can see it knocked the conduit/gooseneck over on my meter box, but it didn't break any cables.
Another more direct shot of the limbs on my roof.
On the far side of my yard a hollow tree fell onto the fence and over the ditch. Racoons lived in the tree. I'm glad it fell over, racoons are such a nuisance. They are loud and get into everything. Plus they are mean. The building in the far background is Hattiesburg High School. The building in the near background is the former Y, now the Recreational Center.
In the back of my yard a large limb fell onto the fence (hard to tell scale unless you've been here).
Looking right, we see the limbs from the pecan tree in the back yard of the middle house.
Looking toward the back of the back yard of the middle house, more limbs.
A tighter shot of the pecan limbs behind the middle house. Keighly poses.
More pecan limbs in the back of the middle house yard. This particularly large one fell on the fence and mashed it. That's the little house.
The same pecan limb as seen from the roof of the little house.
From the middle house looking back, lots of limbs plus a small clump of crepe mrytles down.
The downed grove by the street of the little house. Those two sweet gum trees hit the fence and gate that the tall pine missed.
Here we see the mashed gate. The trees hit the side of the middle house, but weren't long enough to do any damage.
What's left of the tall pine. It's a massive tree. This stump is nine or ten feet in the air, and a good 30-32" where it broke.
Looking back toward the little house, a whole pecan tree fell. It fell back toward the little house, but mostly missed it and didn't do any major damage.
Destruction? Time for a picture! Ian, myself, and Keighly.
The root system of the pecan tree. This will serve as extreme joy to the kids and dogs as a natural/dangerous playmound.
Keighly and Ian try out the mound. Wahoo, it's dangerous!
The pecan tree closer to the little house had a limb fall and hit the truck left there by Joe and Lynn (Little, no less). I think it dented in the bed a little, but they didn't seem to mind.
An overview of the little house yard from the roof of the little house.
That's about it for my own destruction. I have other pics I will post of my parents house in Picayune and our camp in Waveland/Bay St. Louis. Stay tuned. It's hard to find time to post when I am STILL cleaning up my yards. Plus, about a third to a half of my income came directly or indirectly from the casinos on the coast, which are now no longer there. Time to find (paying)work.
-Matthew
Now that I have electricity and cable modem back, I've been constantly working on clearing the yards of debris and trees. Three weeks after Katrina and I'm still clearing.
Thank you so much to all who have called/written/emailed/posted!
Here are pics of my houses. It may not mean much to you, but if you know my land you'll see exactly what happened here. This isn't the ultra-destruction you'll see on the news, for that you might want to check here or here. This is just what happened to me and my family.
Lets see. Katrina hit us in the morning. I had just walked the property to check on everything, and right after walking in the door I heard a crash. I knew immediately it was a tree that had fell. I grabbed the camera (of course!) and walked out to see this:
The tall pine from the little house yard fell into the front of the middle house. This was something, that pine tree was the tallest and biggest tree we had. I was very surprised that it snapped.
I immediately notified everyone that we would be riding the rest of the storm out at Laser Mania, a laser tag arena right around the corner. It is owned by a friend of mine and is basically a former theater in the middle of a huge parking lot (nothing to fall on it).
The pine tree caught the edge of the middle house porch. One limb came through the porch roof. Later, we would find that another limb punctured the roof in the bedroom to the left.
I looked down the tree and was very happy to see the tree fell right between the open drive-through gates! No fence damage!
Our view of the storm for the next five or six hours. We entertained the kids by playing board games and we munched on boiled peanuts. Immediately after arriving the power went out.
Our view of Katrina was limted to the Laser Mania parking lot. Lots of wind and rain. The wind was so heavy it was sucking the doors open. I had to use my belt to tie the doors together. From this view we didn't see the extreme events, but the two swinging signs under the Premier sign did blow off. Plus, the Laser Mania sign ended up being destroyed.
Janet kept a vigilant watch of the news, which kept her pretty nervous the whole time. You can see we had candles going (although we didn't need them, it was daytime). Being a video assist operator comes in handy, I had this little battery operated 5" color LCD that gave us immediate news feedback on the hurricane. It was actually surreal, we could watch the meteorologist show us the real-time radar then look out the front doors to see it happen live.
After spending most of the day at Laser Mania, I headed back to the houses to check their status. All seemed mostly OK, but there was lots of debris. I went back and got everyone and we came back home. My neighbor and I cleared the street so traffic could pass. The next morning it was time to assess the damage. Here is the front of the middle house where the tall pine fell. It pulled down the power/cable/phone lines and destroyed a wheel-chair ramp (we called it the 'bridge').
The pine also hit Virginia's mom's Jeep. Although the damage looks minimal, it busted the radiator so it wasn't drivable.
To the right of the middle house is the little house driveway. Here, you can't even see the house or driveway because of a tree grove that fell.
Panning to the right, we see the rest of the grove that has been blown over.
Back to the left of the middle house is my house. There were several limbs like you see here in the way of my house and the road. My neighbor and I cleared them.
Panning back to the left, a popcorn tree (I think) blew over blocking entrance to my yard.
Interestingly enough, we have a pecan tree that grows out of the middle of our house (the house was gradually added on and built around it). Several limbs broke off and hit the house.
The tree pushed against the roof and buckled it. I think being against the roof kept the tree from falling alltogether.
A shot of some of the limbs that fell on the roof.
My yard as seen from the back toward the street. Limbs everywhere. You can see it knocked the conduit/gooseneck over on my meter box, but it didn't break any cables.
Another more direct shot of the limbs on my roof.
On the far side of my yard a hollow tree fell onto the fence and over the ditch. Racoons lived in the tree. I'm glad it fell over, racoons are such a nuisance. They are loud and get into everything. Plus they are mean. The building in the far background is Hattiesburg High School. The building in the near background is the former Y, now the Recreational Center.
In the back of my yard a large limb fell onto the fence (hard to tell scale unless you've been here).
Looking right, we see the limbs from the pecan tree in the back yard of the middle house.
Looking toward the back of the back yard of the middle house, more limbs.
A tighter shot of the pecan limbs behind the middle house. Keighly poses.
More pecan limbs in the back of the middle house yard. This particularly large one fell on the fence and mashed it. That's the little house.
The same pecan limb as seen from the roof of the little house.
From the middle house looking back, lots of limbs plus a small clump of crepe mrytles down.
The downed grove by the street of the little house. Those two sweet gum trees hit the fence and gate that the tall pine missed.
Here we see the mashed gate. The trees hit the side of the middle house, but weren't long enough to do any damage.
What's left of the tall pine. It's a massive tree. This stump is nine or ten feet in the air, and a good 30-32" where it broke.
Looking back toward the little house, a whole pecan tree fell. It fell back toward the little house, but mostly missed it and didn't do any major damage.
Destruction? Time for a picture! Ian, myself, and Keighly.
The root system of the pecan tree. This will serve as extreme joy to the kids and dogs as a natural/dangerous playmound.
Keighly and Ian try out the mound. Wahoo, it's dangerous!
The pecan tree closer to the little house had a limb fall and hit the truck left there by Joe and Lynn (Little, no less). I think it dented in the bed a little, but they didn't seem to mind.
An overview of the little house yard from the roof of the little house.
That's about it for my own destruction. I have other pics I will post of my parents house in Picayune and our camp in Waveland/Bay St. Louis. Stay tuned. It's hard to find time to post when I am STILL cleaning up my yards. Plus, about a third to a half of my income came directly or indirectly from the casinos on the coast, which are now no longer there. Time to find (paying)work.
-Matthew
posted by Matthew at 8:35 PM
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