On my way to Mississippi Gulf Coast (made it back)

[LSU2001]

This will be my last post until tomorrow night. I am leaving early in the morning to try and reach my family in Pascagoula/Moss Point area. I have located about 600 lbs of Ice. 75 gallons of gas, food, water etc. My father, my brother in law, and myself are hoping we can get through. We plan to take HWY 26 from Bogolusa La. into Lucedale mississippi and then take HWY 613 to Moss Point. I have checked the official sites and these roads appear to be open. I am probably not mentally prepared for the devestation that I will witness but I have to try and help my aunts, uncles, grandmother cousins etc. I will be armed and will protect myself as much as possible. My only real fear is not getting through. My family called tonight and are in desperate need of water, gas, and Ice. I hope that by bringing in what I can will help in some small way. Wish me luck and please keep me and my family in your prayers. I am so lucky that I havn't lost any family and I am grateful for being able to help.
Till Tomorrow Night,
TIm

[crazycajuncane]

God Bless you TIM!

I hope everything works out well and that you get there safefully.

[soney]

Best of luck to you and your family, take care!

[MomH]

Tim,

Better carry extra gas if you can. You are likely not going to be able to find much along the way.

The Lord be with you.
MomH

[birdwomn]

Tim -

Be careful and stay safe yourself...we are praying for you and your family.

[MBismyPlayground]

Tim, first and foremost be safe! Good Luck and hope it all works out!!

[GulfHills]

Godspeed!

[ChaserUK]

Good Luck Tim. I hope you reach your family soon.

[thunderchief]

Fix-a-flat is probably a good thing to take with you onto roads covered by debris.

[LSU2001]

I got back from Pascagoula area late last night. We got on the road in BR at 5:00 am and traveled HWY 10 and Hwy 26. We were able to locate about 500--600 lbs of ice (we did not get what was initially promised)
A couple of hundred gallons of drinking water, and 100 gallons of Gas. It seemed that the gas was the most important commodity.

Lots of trees down on the road and lots of power lines but at least one lane was open all the way through. The damage even that far north is unbelievable. 100% power outage, the local govts of the small town (Franklinton, Amite, Etc) s are begging for supplies but they think that they can find enough to last until help arrives. They are short of medical supplies, oxygen, etc but are making arrangements to survive.

Once I got to my family in MS. It was both heartbreaking and somehow uplifting to see the damage and the way people are handling the situation.
My family was hot, miserable,out of gas, out of ice, some had no running water and the others had to boil what they were getting but their attitude was "we were blessed" It could be much worse.

From what I saw yesterday, In the Pascagoula area, the major catestrophic damage seems to be confined to the beach areas and about 6-8 blocks from the beach. Pascagoula and moss point were both hit very hard and reports are starting to come in about loved ones being killed and the bodies being recovered. So I assume there will be great loss of life (for these small towns) from this storm. The majority of the damage off the beach did not seem to be all that terrible. Mainly trees, powerlines, some shingles, some metal roofs, but I did not see widespread structural damage of homes. Mobile homes seemed to far fairly well with many appearing to have no damage and some only minor damage. My family members (all veterans of Camile, Georges, Fredrick, Eleana, etc) say the winds were about 100 mph or so. The damage I saw inland would be about right for those types of winds.

The thing that awed me was the fact that I left Baton Rouge and drove 170 miles and witnessed damage and devestation the ENTIRE distance. The area around Bogulosa and Picayune looked to be the hardest hit wind wise and my aunt in Picyune lost parts of her roof but otherwise is ok. I spent a couple of hours late yesterday evening trying to patch up her roof and getting her genny running. We had to leave before nightfall due to a curfew (according to my aunt) and as we drove back into the BR area I was simply overwhelmed with our good fortune. This storm was truly huge and you cannot even imagine the scale of the damage unless you get out and see first hand. I did not travel through any of the truly devestated areas yet what I did witness was scenes of destruction and human misery. One thing I did notice was the confusion and lack of aid in the Jackson County area. I have done this type of supply trip before, most notably after Fredrick and the relief efforts were already well underway. This time while I did see 1 national guard unit giving out ice, there was a distinct lack of distribution points. My family did not know where to go and could not find any information about distribution centers so they went where they were for Georges and found nothing. They are hoping that they get there pretty quick but are OK for about another week. I cannot even begin to imagine what must be pure hell in the parishes and countys south of the area I travelled through. I am just thankful that SO FAR my family has survived this storm.

One sad piece of information I recieved was that one of my cousins stayed in his house in Slidell, south of I-10/I-12 and that my aunt has not heard from him. I can only hope and pray that it is because of No communication and not because of something happening to him and his family. My aunt also told me that here other son (A NOLA Fireman) lost everything and is still in NOLA working. HIs family is relocating to texas for the short term and is looking for a place to live (Apt.) in Baton Rouge for the duration. Anyway this is my best update, so I am going to rest and count my blessings.
TIm