Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Dave & Cindi and Katrina
Many of you know my former associate pastor & family. Dave & Cindi are currently serving a parish in Silver Hill Alabama. The following is their report on Katrina:
Family and Friends--
I think they said it was a storm with an eye of 902 microbars, the most intense storm ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. By now you have heard that it came ashore near New Orleans as a Category 4 hurricane, but the storm extended a couple hundred miles on all sides, definitely carrying hurricane winds perhaps 200 miles from its center. We were perhaps 150 miles from the storm center, but endured hurricane winds throughout the day even where we were. Mobile, about a half hour drive on the west from us, and Mobile Bay had major flooding, a storm surge may have reached 18 feet in the Bay--parts of Mobile were flooded and total rainfall exceeded 12 inches in less than 24 hours. Louisiana and Mississippi took major damage and the county immediately south of Mobile also took heavy hits, but the flooding along the coast of Alabama is significant. Those who experienced Hurricane George feel the flooding with Hurricane Katrina is worse; the extent of damage was worse than Camille 30 years ago.We boarded up our windows yesterday and "hunkered" down through the storm. Our power was out for 6 to 7 hours, but a quick assessment tonight just before dark showed tree damage, but our house appears intact. There is a curfew on the coastal counties, so we have not been to our church to check for damage. Mobile is less than 30 miles away, but our rain level is reportedly less than 5 inches, so I suspect less damage on our side of the Bay, but rest assured that there is major flooding down here with much structural damage and likely loss of life along the shore counties in Mississippi especially and in the city of New Orleans. My sister's daughter Gail and family (Benny and Allison and Trey) all were able to get out of New Orleans and were at Margaret's in Lafayette, but we don't know what their home situation is.
The good Lord has seen us through safely and we will update you if and when we learn anything significantly different from this report.--Cindi and Dave
