Salvage Me
Published September 02, 2005
A curfew is imposed for citizens to stay off the streets between midnight and 6AM. I must report to work Wednesday at 9AM so it doesn't really affect me. What does affect me is the mandate to shut off the city's water because it has been contaminated. So people with power now have no water and those with water have no power. Conditions continue to worsen and the storm is long gone.
I did not get power back until late Thursday evening. The only reason I am not at work is because I had vacation time 9/01 and 9/02 ironically to go to New Orleans or the coast. There is no such thing as normal here. Where I am used to pulling up to a pump getting gas and heading home, pumps are scarce and gas is rare. Normal has become a two-hour wait to get gas or food. There are still people without lights or ice. There are strangers walking the streets because they literally have no where to go. We have shelters to meet every kind of need there is but they are full. The population has doubled in 48 hours. My little sister's boyfriend, a native of New Orleans here for school, has not talked to his mother or siblings since Sunday night when they told him they were going to the Superdome; today is Friday.
There is no more Mississippi Coast, it has been obliterated. Entire buildings were picked up and moved like Legos. I spent just over three days miserable because I had to stay with my mom until my lights came back on. I understand how foolish and selfish that is now. But, the sentiment still applies. As much help as there is available for the wanderers created by Hurricane Katrina, it can not replace the fact that people have suffered a loss. Books can be replaced, televisions, camcorders and cars can be replaced, but homes are made. There is nothing quite liked feeling displaced, and I can only relate on a small scale having experienced only a modicum of the separation 'the wanderers' are feeling.
There is a general discord here in Mississippi about the help we will actually receive. The rest of the country looks down on us. We are the uncle in the back who you keep the door closed to. There is no doubt in my mind had it been New York or Cali we would not have waited this long for the President of the UNITED States of America to survey the disaster sites. Why?
- Salvage Me
- Published: September 02, 2005
- Type: News
- Section: Culture
- Filed Under: Culture: Family and Relationships, Culture: Society
- Writer: Dew
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- Dew's personal site
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I can also understand a bit of sensitivity here on some of the racial issues. There's been quite a bit of varied political and social foolishness from various sides shoehorned into this terrible situation. I will note, however, that such foolishness comes not just from one side of the political aisle, as per this Blogcritics post.
Also, please do not hold Bill O'Reilly's nonsense against President Bush. He's certainly no spokesman for the administration.
I note that you answered my previous question about distance in the first sentence of your column. My only defense is that I was so excited to see you back that I read too quickly.
I'm glad you're safe and wish you continued safety.
Thank you for providing us a look into your experiences.
Dew! So glad to see your prose again, though sad to hear of your trials. Please stay safe and stay in touch. BC is a sadder, colder, lonelier place without your presence.
Very well-written. It could be professional. You should publish that in a newpaper or magazine.
Thank you all for the well wishes. Things here are improving. Power is being restored faster and further south working its way to the coast. I have no idea how they will begin to tackle the problem there or in New Orleans. News of Mobile, Alabama has been scarce but they were just as devastated. The mayor of Jackson is working with the city council to get evacuees enrolled in area schools hopefully there are efforts such as these going on in all relief areas.
Shame on Carnival Cruise. What a bunch of hipocrates. I just heard they were going to offer the HOLIDAY ship to shelter the homeless- meanwhile they just marooned me and my wife and all the other HOLIDAY passengers in Tampa refusing to return us to mobile where we shipped out from on thier cruise and now they are offering to "shelter" the homeless? They didn't even shelter thier own cruise clients and FORCED everyone off of thir ship in Tampa instead of Mobile where we shipped out from! I am so mad at this hipocrisy! They boarded up all the windows on the cruise during the hurricane. They were too cheap to stay in port in cozemel so forced all of us to float around in the gulf instead of staying ported in cozemel. Then, instead of returning us to Mobile where we shipped out of they forced us all out of the boat in Tampa NO REFUND! And many of us are still trying to get our cars which are still in mobile! What a joke. SHAME ON CARNIVAL.
Thanks for also raising the point that it is not only New Orleans that is devastated. This disaster hit three states, not just the Big Easy...
Five, actually: Georgia and Kentucky saw damage too, though not on the same scale as the others.
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(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/35350)
Miss Dew! Glad to see you back in print, and especially with a strong and timely report from the affected area. Obviously New Orleans has gotten the worst of this, but this goes out a long ways. How far is Jackson from New Orleans, anyway?