Dear All -
please pass this on to anyone/ everyone you can, this is Chris (& John) we are in Baton Rouge since Thursday after "holing up" in my friends hunting camp approx 30 miles outside of Natchez Miss. My friend Bob had invited John & I up to his camp for the weekend and on Friday afternoon he called me to let me know that he was driving back & he & his family (extended) were evacuating. He graciously offered the camp to John & I for refuge from the storm. It has been some week let me tell you! While after arriving up at the camp, the next morning we lost power and as the storm passed thru Monday a tree came crashing down on the corner of the trailer, it sounded like an explosion, I was on the couch (directly under where the tree came down) and John was trying to sleep through the wind & the storm in the bed, he later told me he thought I was cleaning the guns and had shot one off by accident! The majority of the blow was taken by the top of the tree that impacted the hill in back of the trailer because nothing puntured the roof and the next day when we got up to chainsaw back some of the branches (thanks Koggie!) we could see just how lucky we had been, a taste of what a number of others experienced I am sure (& much worse). We just figured Katrina would be another glancing blow, no big deal, it will turn at the last minute, somehow, someway.... etc... well we all know the rest. Well as man proposes, God disposes... I figured (my x-wife) Pam's house 4 blocks from the beach in Pass Christian (below the RR tracks, the "high" water mark) would be toast & my house on Walthall St the brick structure that survived Camille would most likely be flooded but intact.
Well God does have a sense of humor,after looking at the Satelitte arial pictures today Pam's house appears to be there, mine is pretty much a debri-field, the house across the street on either side are gone, as well as the neighbors down on the corner. Oh well, I think He (or She) is trying to tell me something. But, John & I got out, he is here with me & Pam, her parents and the girls are safe, that is the only thing that really matters, the rest of it is just "stuff" you know what I mean?. The main bridge from Pass Christian to the town across the bay, Bay St Louis is gone, poof, all the sections knocked off the pilings into the water... that is the main route for most people working in the New Orleans area to take for commuting. To have to commute around this adds at least 1/2 an hour... But what am I talking about! There is no job to go to in New Orleans to commute to!. I am sure everyone has seen the video, the numerous news reports, the various "talking head" politicians, etc...
It will take anywhere from 6-9 months to get New Orleans at least "secure" again, power, water, phone, the basics. But this does not even take into account the fact that so many people, businesses have fled, relocated, moved operations & set up in other towns. Many, many of these businesses will never move back, this is a fact, the ones that had the financial wherewithal to survive and set up a branch or new operations in another town will not have the ability to pay for another move, or will not want to put themselves in harm's way again, or quite frankly will adjust to and prefer where they have relocated. The professionals have fled, the teachers, attorneys, cpa's, etc... the ones that have the ability will relocate and find new jobs, new towns, new lives and many will quite simply begin again... The natives will move back, the families that trace their roots back 200+ years, New Orleans is the only place they will ever live and I am sure many people reading this will know why...
Virginia, my 17 year old, certainly has the most harrowing tale, she stayed on at her friend Colleen's home in Diamondhead MS, which is above the I-10 and 55 - 60 ft above sea level. Well the water rose, rose & rose and kept rising up to the counters, the 2nd floor, into the attic where she, her friend and her parents had climbed up into. Virginia kicked out the attic vent window at the end of the house and guided her friend (with a heart condition) & her parents out and she swam out the window under the rood line to pop up above the water and swim down the street approx 8 blocks to a church that was at least on higher ground, they took refuge there with some other families in a similar fate. She was giving Pam phone reports up till the time she went into the water and the phone went dead. We did not hear from her for two days... I never knew two days could feel so long, Pam's brother Steve had a friend in the National Guard who had been deployed to the MS gulf coast area who was looking for her. Pam got a call from her Wednesday that the Red Cross had gotten to the area and that she was OK. What an enormous relief and thanks to God, Pam said she could not help feeling that Virginia had been there with her friend for a reason... I have to agree.
Elisabeth stayed on in the Long Beach area but North of where the flooding area was and she called Pam after the storm Monday and said she had gotten back down Menge ave (one of the roads into the Pass Christian area) got as far as the Woodland way area and saw two bodies floating in the water there.... they appeared to be in uniforms and Pam remembers that she had heard some game & wildlife agents had stayed on in the reserve that cares for sick animals in that area where the reserve is located. The water was too high at that point and she turned back. She is 19 years old, I have never seen a dead body... she has seen two...My heart goes out to her.
Pam's parents house appears to be OK, although there may have been floodwater that made it into the house. I am thankful to be alive and that my family is also, there must be some reason for all this to happen not just to me, but to all the many hundreds of thousands across the coast area & in New Orleans and of course the hundreds I know directly, so many have lost everything. But they are all thankful to be alive. On this note I will close, please know that I feel blessed to have heard from so many of you and your out-pouring of love and support, this has meant so much to me you may never realize...
Much love and thanks to all, From the Gulf Coast (via Baton Rouge!)
Chris Lewis (& John)
Seed 1973 - 1975
AA 1991 -
PS - At one point on Monday I looked real hard at the booze on top of the refrigerator at my friend Bob's camp. I am happy to report I will pick up my 14 year chip on Sept 6th. Love Ya...