This picture was taken when we mistakenly drove into
St. Tammany Parish.
We met a guy that moved into Aunt Karen's apartment building on Saturday before Katrina. He moved from California and was all alone when he rode out the storm. He ended up moving out at the same time that we were loading Aunt Karen's stuff. He described his experience similar to experiencing a tornado.
A neighbor in the house next door also stayed during the storm. He owned a few businesses in town and didn't want to let them fall to the looters. He described having 2000 rounds of ammo ready to protect himself and his business.
Rumor had it that a Walgreens would be open Monday-Wednesday, but we saw no evidence that it was.
Where we were was the "good" part of the city. The eyewall passed about 15 miles to the east and there was no real flooding in this area. We only encoutered water in the road once. We also entered the city a week after the hurricane was over so a great deal of work was already completed, even though much less was left to do. When we entered St. Tammany, that was as far east as we traveled. The damage we saw there implied that further east was much greater.
9/4/05 10:25am
My aunt lived in the New Orleans area on the other side of the Mississippi
river in Jefferson Parish roughly south southwest of downtown. The levees for
that area held so it was only flooded by rainwater, which was pumped out quickly.
So other than wind-related damage and the smaller flood, it held up pretty
well. Power, water, and sewer were knocked out, all businesses are closed,
and some people did cross over the Crescent City Connection bridge from New
Orleans into the west bank. Reporting about the west bank has been spotty,
but we do know that some degree of looting has gone on.
Jefferson Parish is allowing people to re-enter 6am-6pm, starting on Monday, continuing through at least Wednesday. The expectation is that people will take pictures and get belongings and then leave. They said that over 350,000 people evacuated from the area.
My aunt, myself, and my uncle are traveling down in a pickup with a camper shell that is pulling a covered trailer. The goal is to pack as much of my aunt's stuff as we can and get out Monday night. We plan to be in line to enter as early as possible on Monday, sleeping in the pickup. We are bringing food, water, and gas, so we plan to have enough to make it in and out. There is only one way in/out of the area, and the main roads are closed down to us in order to allow police/military/aid fast travel.
There is risk involved here, and much patience/flexibility will be required. Please pray for us and all the other people trying to squeeze in this week. It's not a particularly safe place.
I plan to post updates to this page throughout the trip. You can check that to see how and where we are. I will post pictures as I am able.
We are currently in Starkville, MS heading to Jackson, MS on Hwy 25.
9/4/05 4:30pm
Getting gas in Jackson, MS was quite an adventure. Several U-turns later,
we got in a 20 car line to enter the Flying J / Conoco on the south side of Jackson
(just north of I-20 and about 1-2 miles east of where I-55 north intersects I-20).
All of the stations we've been around in Tupelo and south of there have had $10
limits on gas purchases so we were nervous about how many stops we'd need to
make.
When we went in to pre-pay, they let us specify how much, and we put in $45, which was a completely full tank. Thank God for that blessing. With that gas and the gas cans we are carrying, we should be able to make it back to Jackson even if we don't find any more gas.
I-55 south of Jackson had increasingly greater number of trees that had been blown over. We were moving at 75 mph so the traveling was good. The only slowdowns were when we hit a convoy. Our first convoy was of about 100 portapotties on 5 trucks, which was quite a humorous sight. Other convoys were military trucks pulling tanker trailers, a Purina foods convoy, and one other convoy we believed might have doctors and nurses in it.
I had to go to the bathroom so we stopped at a boarded up gas station to do that. Others stopped at that same gas station to check their bearings and figure out where to go. We discovered from one person stopped there that people were being turned back on the next exit of I-55 so we decided to go over to hwy 51 and continue south on that. On the way out of the gas station, Aunt Karen neglected to check the mirrors, and we started to sideswipe a car parked right next to us with the door open. Thankfully, damage was minimal so we continued on our way.
Gas lines have been incredible around here with sometimes up to 40 cars waiting to use just a couple pumps in some of these smaller towns. We'd like to get some more gas in Hammond, LA, but we don't know if that will be possible.
We also passed an area where evacuees were being taken care of. It was incredible to see. There were 100-200+ parked cars on both sides of the road and a lot of traffic going in and out.
We are currently in Hammond, LA
9/4/05 7:00pm
With the help of a very friendly Hammond McDonalds owner, we filled
up
(!!)
at a
gas station (Murphie) that had the quickest line. We then went south on I-55
but were turned back after about 5 miles. That forced us to return to Hammond
where
we
found
an
Albertsons grocery store
that
was open, but a policeman was turning people back even though it was supposed
to be open for another 10 minutes (closing time was 6pm).
After a good meal at Picadilly's (my first) and getting our cooler filled with ice there from a kind, understanding waitress, we started south on highway 51 to try to get closer to New Orleans. We've seen some buildings that were nearly destroyed, but most of them still are ok. In some places, brand new clusters power lines have already been run. We just drove through a spot where one out of every 3 trees was totally uprooted.
We are currently south of Hammond on Hwy 51 planning to go to Hwy 22.
9/4/05 7:45pm
NOW we are heading west on Hwy 22. Our goal is to take 22 west all the way to Sorrento. The general preference is to end up tonight somewhere very close to where I-10 and I-55 meet.
9/4/05 10:25pm
We're stopped for the night. We made it to the checkpoint on Hwy 90 roughly
3-10 miles from our destination. We were turned back and joined a 500 car
line waiting for 6am tomorrow.
Hwy 22 from I-55 to Hwy 61 was a nice 2-lane road with few slowdowns. It was pretty twisty in places, which is nice to know should I ever drive my WRX around here. ;) Once on Hwy 61, it was clear sailing until we got to the other side of LaPlace, where we hit a checkpoint. After about 20 minutes of inching forward, we were given permission to take I-310 to Hwy 90 and get in line to enter Jefferson Parish. I-310 was basically deserted.
Since it's dark, damage isn't so evident, but we did notice many signs had had the cloth covering blown off, revealing just the light and frame of the sign. Still, it didn't seem to have as much damage as we saw entering St. Tammy Parish. Power has been available pretty much everywhere we drove, although the majority of LaPlace's traffic lights are not working. LaPlace basically has no gas, and there are already people lined up to pump gas tomorrow from a Shell station that wasn't even open.
Cell service has been pretty steady so far, which is nice. Here's hoping it stays that way the rest of the way.
9/5/05 5:55am
We haven't moved since the last update. Last night was tough. It was hot,
muggy, and the swamp right next to us provided us with quite a foul odor
and an unending supply of mosquitos. Uncle Randy was the official Mosquito
Gunner, killing them throughout the night.
It's
like watching a real-world Space Invaders game. Cars and trucks were always
passing by, and the police always seemed to have their lights on. I have
never seen so many police and emergency vehicles as I have today.
Because of all this, we only got an hour or three of sleep, at best. We kept waiting for the 5am alarm to go off so we knew there was only an hour left. Now, we are just waiting for the line to start moving. We have no idea how long it will take from that point until we get to Aunt Karen's house, but it can probably be measured in hours.
9/5/05 7:00am
We are at Aunt Karen's apartment. Traffic moved much smoother and quicker than
expected. Damage in the area is extensive. Power lines, power poles, trees,
and debris are everywhere. Aunt Karen's apartment took on some water, but
wall damage indicates it didn't get higher than about 4 inches. It doesn't
appear that any of her stuff is damaged. Aunt Karen has no power, and we
doubt she has working water.
I must work for now, but pictures to come.
9/5/05 1:45pm
The pickup and trailer are loaded completely, and we were able to fit much
more than we initially thought (Extra Credit... WOOHOO!). The most notable
thing
behind
left behind is a nice corner sofa.
Because of the great deal of gas we were able to get on the trip down, we decided to give our spare gas to some people who stayed behind and weathered Katrina near where Aunt Karen lives.. I'm glad we were able to help.
Our plan is to head to the church and make a couple other stops (including getting some ice we were notified of) and then head back toward Tupelo. We hope to be out of the New Orleans area quickly so that we can beat the rush out.
9/5/05 4:00pm
We are currently inching forward trying to leave Jefferson parish. 4pm is definitely
too late to leave if you would like to beat the rush. The lineup is tremendously
long and barely moving.
Before leaving, we drove through parts of Jefferson parish, and we saw a great deal of wind-related damage. Downed power poles, trees, and missing shingles are the most common items of damage. Aluminum also seems like a magnet for the wind, which ripped it off and blew it all over the place.
I have over 150 pictures, but I'm limited by the cellular internet connection I am using.
9/5/05 5:00pm
Progress has been extremely slow. In the past hour, we've gone approximately
10 miles.
First pics (click for larger version):
9/5/05 6:00pm
Traffic really opened up once we got on I-310 north.
Here's another one (click for larger version):
9/6/05 1:30am
We are back in Tupelo, MS. The Flying J in Jackson, MS once again had gas,
and this time there was no line. I-55 north from I-10 was open but southbound
was stopped 5 miles south of Hammond.
Many more pics to come tomorrow.
9/7/05 6:00pm
Here is the picture gallery. I will be adding more pictures to this today,
and I will post here when each update is done.
9/8/05 11:00am
The picture gallery has been massively updated. More updates to come today
and tomorrow.
9/8/05 10:30pm
The picture gallery has been updated again. I don't plan on posting any more
pics. The highlight section at the top of this page has also been added.