Status of MS and LA friends

KenSmith

KenSmith

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My family is safe. On Tuesday I was able to fly into Memphis and rent a car. It's a 300 mile drive, which I was surprised to find was pretty easy going. I was reunited with my family that night around midnight, after having a little trouble finding my mother-in-law's house where they weathered the storm. The neighborhood looked quite a bit different. With the late hour, the total darkness, and the constant dodging of debris, downed trees and power lines, it took me a couple of tries to accurately identify her street. Once I did, I was actually able to drive within 60 feet of her driveway.

Everyone was fine, and her house sustained only light damage from one tree. All of the huge trees in her yard are down, but they mostly missed the house. The next day we headed over to my house (my wife had been the day before). My house is on a wooded lot, and we lost probably 30 major trees. Miraculously, none hit the house and we have basically no damage. My next door neighbor's house is a total loss, with 4 trees in the roof. Much of the neighborhood is similar. No power, which is bad but tolerable, but no water either, which makes life truly miserable. We were using water from a nearby swimming pool to flush toilets in the house for the night I stayed. We loaded up some things, and me, Jan, Matthew and my mother-in-law left the area again. We're holed up in a Tunica hotel at the moment, and we'll wait and see how things go for a while.

We are very fortunate, and it seems so unfair that our situation is so much better than hundred of thousands of others. Please, turn your thoughts and prayers to those who are still in the affected area.
 
Here's what I know...

Now, on to the real purpose of my posting. Here's what I know about the status of others from the area:

Loyd and Rita Bagot (New Orleans) are here in Tunica. They are hoping to return to their home in Jefferson Parish on Monday to assess damage. The latest I'm hearing is that they will be allowed in to determined the damage and retrieve a few items, but won't be allowed to stay.

Richard Rockwell (New Orleans): I've heard that Richard got out of New Orleans, evac to Baton Rouge. However, his wife Mo was said to be taking her mother to a hospital and hoped to weather the storm there. I have no further info about them.

Jim Haik (Long Beach, MS): Jimmy599 on Global, he was chatting with us during the Sunday tournament at Global, and planning to weather the storm in his house, which can't be more than 2 miles from the beach. Loyd Bagot has heard from him since the storm, via a voice mail that was essentially one word: "Devastation". I was thrilled to hear that we had heard from him, as I was worried that he might not have survived the storm.

Barry Gollott (Biloxi): I have third-hand info from someone that has spoken to him. He and his family were said to be OK.

Henry Tamburin (Daphne, AL): I spoke to Henry today and all is well with him and family.

That's it... I don't know about any of the other many friends we have in the affected areas. As any of you learn more, please post and let us know.
 
Damages

Ken, Glad you and your family are safe. It is impossible for any of us in the rest of the country to fully comprehend what your state's residents must be going through. I can only hope and pray that things get better soon. Let us know if there is any way we can help.
 
I got an email from Richard Pace indicating that Richard Rockwell, his wife Mo and her mother are in Baton Rouge.
 
Your family has been in our prayers. And now we thank God that your family is safe and unharmed. Also glad to hear about the others that are safe. Wish we could do more to help. We made donations to the Salvation Army and Red Cross.

Tom & Jan
 
Hello world!

Thx for the concern.

My wife and I are ok. Our home had basic roof, and siding damage, and our A/c unit got flipped over by a tornado that just missed us. It threw huge trees like missiles into our neighbors house (they're ok). Unbelievable site. I did lose 4 rentals homes near the beach...I mean they aren't there anymore. For 26 miles along the coast going back about 1/2 mile or so, there is nothing but rubble and few steel beams, and pieces of homes and businesses.

I'm no hero, having learned from Camille, but I had to stay since my wife is a nurse, and had to report for work the day before and the day after the storm. I just got to my brothers home in Ft Walton Beach this evening, to recharge my brain, get supplies for a few familes, rest my poor wife, and send this message.

I'm glad you're okay Ken, and Loyd and Rita, too. I have not been able to reach Barry G. either, or Jim Pierce.(Jim P.) I do think Jim P. Left town, tho.

I know how you must have felt trying to get back to your family, Ken.

Looks like I won't be online much for awhile since we wont have power or phone service for a month, or more. New Orleans will be worse, since the main Bell South fiber optic line from New Orleans out is badly damaged.

Please send gas!! and oh yea, You won't have to worry about the rebuys at he Grand on the 9th...:) (First smile for me in a while) Take care-Jimmy
 
NRob

Ken,
Thanks for the postings about the BJ tournament players. Have you heard
from any of the Biloxi folks.
I rode out the storm in Oak Grove with my daughter. Don't know how my house fared. It's located 2 blocks from the back bay in Biloxi.
I didn't need Katrina, especially since Bill passed away on Aug 10.
Norma Robinson
 
I'm very saddened by the news about Bill Robinson, which I hadn't heard. Norma, you are in our thoughts and prayers.
 
Weathered The Storm

We were very fortunate at our home. We suffered only minor roof damage to our house. We do have about twenty large trees down. After one week, we now have electricity, telephone, and water (it must be boiled for drinking). I just got internet access today. It is good to hear the most of our friends near the gulf coast also weathered the storm o.k.
Has anyone heard from Ricky Rousell in New Orleans? I was on the telephone with him on Sunday night. He was at his home in New Orleans. He said that he was not going to leave.
 
Glad to hear you came through OK Moses.

I haven't heard anything about Ricky Roussell. I hope someone can assist with information about him. I hope he's safe in an evacuee location somewhere.

I keep putting off my family's return to the area, but we're planning to head back in tomorrow morning. Neighbors report considerable progress near us on power lines, and they think we might get power back tomorrow or Wednesday. That's pretty amazing news, since they are having to literally rebuild the entire system. From what I hear, there are no usable utility poles in the ground at all. They must replace every one.

Meanwhile, the fuel shortage has finally reached Tunica, and some stations are out of gasoline while all the others limit purchases to $30. I'm hoping we'll be able to top off the tank a couple of times on the drive south before we get to the really scarcely supplied areas.
 
Woohoo! Power! We have crews from Nebraska in our neighborhood, and we had power for a few hours last night, and we'll have power throughout the night tonight. Tomorrow we'll be dark for a while, and after that we're supposed to be all set.

The size of the cleanup task is a bit overwhelming. My earlier estimates of 30 trees down at our house was a massive understatement. Our neighbor across the street counted how many they have down, and counted 115. I expect we'll have more than that. That's counting everything from 6 inchs or so up to massive 30 inch trees. I'd guess we lost more than half our trees, some upturned, some broken off high in the air, and others splintered near the base.

This area won't look the same for many, many years. But, as I've said before, we were very fortunate. Life is pretty good.
 
Godspeed Ken!

Great to hear things are returning to normal and hope the process continues for the entire region.

I'm impressed with the compassion of people who are either physically getting involved in the rebuilding or are generously giving money to help the region, such as author John Grisham. Hopefully a tragedy like this will bring out the best in mankind and help us all realize what is truly important in life.
 
Sandy Newbold

Sounds like most all the players have been acounted for except for Sandy Newbold. Has anyone heard from her yet? We heard from Jimmy yesterday during the Global weekly tournament and he is safe.

Thanks to everyone that posted to let us know about everybody that is safe.
 
We got our power back on Labor Day and it sure was nice to sleep in the good ole AC that night. ;) The tree service guy came by last night and assured us that he is going to be able to handle the two oak trees we have poking through our roof. Hopefully, he can get it done over this weekend. As much as we enjoyed having that shade right on top of the front porch, we are about ready to get the trees down now. We went back to work :( on Tuesday so things are much more normal feeling now. We got 6 students at our school who were displaced by Katrina and they are some really nice kids.
 
Sandy Newbold

Spoke to Sandy Newbold tonight. She is safe in her home. Has roof damage, but her house is habitable.
 
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Think that is everybody

Thanks Nrob, Sandy was the only one I haven't heard from. Glad everybody is safe. Tell her that Rick said hi next time you talk to her.
 
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