Once I secured my own place and made sure everyone was okay, the next day I was determined to check on my parents. They live in Picayune, which is about an hour south of me (about 20 miles from the coast) going toward New Orleans.
Here are some before pictures that my younger brother Andrew took.
The front yard of my parent's house.
The back yard.
We had phone service for awhile and I was able to talk to my mom and younger brother during the storm. Since they were south of us, Katrina hit them first. Although earlier I kept telling them to come to Hattiesburg, they decided to stick it out in Picayune. The last call I got from them they were very upset, trees were falling everywhere and it was very scary. Andrew took these two movies with his picture camera of the storm in progress (no sound).
VIDEO 1 VIDEO 2
Immediately after the storm passed, Andrew went outside and snapped these pics.
From their driveway, this is looking further down Inside Rd.
Looking down the driveway.
The front yard.
Looking back down Inside Rd toward
Paul's Pastry Shop. The road is completely blocked by downed trees. Most of the power poles are also down.
Another shot of the front yard as seen from the driveway.
This very large pine fell right toward the carport but missed it. It was huge, and luckily fell so that cars could drive under it to get in and out.
Panning right, a pic of the back corner of the back yard.
The back yard.
The woods behind the house.
I arrived the next day and brought my generator to charge their freezer/fridge. Normally we can get to Picayune in about an hour. This trip took us over 3 hours. The traffic was terrible, everyone was trying to get back home. It was mostly one lane. In the northbound lane there were vehicles every hundred yards or so that had run out of gas trying to evacuate. The traffic was very stop-and-go. The lanes were only cleared for emergency vehicles, so sometimes the trees were only cut up a little. When trees would stick out too far, it would force you onto the shoulder to get around them. After the fifth or sixth 18-wheeler would go around the tree, the shoulder would sink way in. Every 18-wheeler after that would have to go REAL slow or the trailer would tip over. Some people were literally walking and making better time than we were. Luckily, we were just going to Picayune. Many people were going even further south (or trying to).
Once at my parents house, I got my chainsaw out and helped Andrew clear the road so people could get in and out.
Here are the pictures I took of my parent's house.
This is a panoramic view from the top of the carport.
Another panoramic of the front yard.
The back yard as seen from the roof.
Panning right, more back yard. Andrew is smoking some meat for supper.
The other corner of the back yard. A tree fell right onto both sheds (each of my parents have their own shed).
More back yard.
More back yard, looking towards the woods (what is left of it).
Panning left, more back yard looking toward the woods.
The back corner of the back yard.
A view of the front yard as seen from the carport.
The pine tree closest to the carport as seen from the carport.
Before the storm, Andrew painted this on the boards covering the den windows. Looks like it worked, 30+ pine trees down and not a one hit the house!
Destruction? Time for a picture! Here we are getting ready to take a pic by the big pine we had to drive under to get to the carport.
Another angle of us getting ready for a pic, looking down the pine toward the carport.
The fam under the big pine. My father, my grandmother, my wife with Keighly in front of her while she holds Emily, my Mom holding Ian, my younger brother Andrew, and myself. Check out that computer-man-tan (255-255-255)!
After this we headed home. We weren't sure of the passability of the roads so we didn't want to wait to late. I believe we left about 6ish when it was still light. The northbound lane of 59 was barely drivable, lots of debris in the road. At the south Poplarville exit, the rest of 59 was closed, so we were forced to exit. At the top of the exit, no one knew what to do. There were 18-wheelers and cars and trucks everywhere all wondering what to do. I had remembered when we were coming down that for several exits traffic was traveling in both lanes in the southbound lane. I finally asked someone who just came off the southbound ramp if both lanes were open and they said it was. I hopped back in strappy and led my crew back north in the right hand (left hand?) side of the southbound lane. Things went pretty good for awhile until we hit an area that was blocked by highway patrol and 18-wheelers. Not sure what the problem was, but we certainly weren't getting through. We turned around and took the next median to cross over back to the northbound side of 59. We just happened to be following three 4-wheel-drive trucks that were weaving around trees and really driving in the median and shoulder. That was OK with me, I was in strappy, but Janet and the kids were behind me in the van. I was worried that they would get stuck, we were really doing some off-road driving for awhile there. Eventually, we made it back home about 10:30 I believe. Once home, Janet was absolutely sick. Terribly car sick. She came in and collapsed. I got the kids in, started the generator and let it run for awhile to run some fans and charge the fridge and freezer, then went to bed about midnight.
-Matthew
This is a panoramic view from the top of the carport.
