Hope Stovey's OK!

“I am gonna go help a friend near the AL/MS line tomorrow. By some miracle, his home is intact. His yard is a disaster. Also, my in-laws in Mobile were among the few with restored power yesterday. They are in poor health, so that was really a good thing. The wife and I will be working in their yard Saturday.
From looking at the footage of Stovies area, it is a safe guess that his home is toast. Hey, Time for new gear to replace the blown away gear.
Having my home partially destoyed by Ivan while I was overseas was really tough. The not-knowing about the safety of your family is a very difficult experience. I wonder about all of the deployed soldiers who have loved ones that they can not contact. It has to be nerve-wracking.”

“im betting stovie took his gear with him to his parents house”

“come on Kevin check in with someone :(”

“Chili, glad to hear your family has made it through.

God willing SS is okay.

I finally turned on the TV today (I've been following on the radio) and I am at a loss of words.”

“I remember the ice storm of '98 (or '99, whatever...) I was so busy concentrating on the day to day - taking care of dad, draining my pipes, finding showers, planning for weeks without power...I wouldn't have thought about posting...

Stovie does have many "real" friends here though...”

“Hell yeah he does!

He's a great guy 8)”

“damn! I was hoping someone would have heard something from him...thinking atcha, Stovie!”

“This letter is from those of you that thought 50 miles from the coast should be safe. This is an email that my friend from Hattiesburg received. Luckily he evacuated but does not know anything about his apartment. He doesn't even know when he'll get to go back down.


Came up Friday to Greenville from Hattiesburg for my mom's
birthday. Katrina came in from the Gulf, stranding me up here.
This morning Hwy 49 S from Jackson was finally open, and me and my
mother took off in my (thank God!) fuel-efficient little Kia Rio,
loaded down with 40 gallons of water. We had to take extra gas cans
to make it back. There is no gas from nearly an hour north of
Jackson all the way to Hattiesburg. There are a handful of gas
stations, but there are lines (no exagerrating) a mile long.

Hattiesburg is wrecked. There is no water, no power, no phone
communication. Hattiesburg is isolated in Mississippi. People are
trapped and cannot leave. There banks are not open--people have no
money to even begin to think about leaving, and then where to go?
There is no gas. There are no stores open in Hattiesburg; ergo, no
food.

Hattiesburg is hot and miserable. Hungry. Unwashed. And desperate.

Canebreak looks like a house of straws that collapsed.

Visited Lee Cave and Jeff Sneed, both holed up in Cave's house
together. I'm headed back down to Hattiesburg tomorrow to take
about 90 more gallons of water. Sneed's coming back with me. And
whoever else can fit in. Sneed's got a sister in Lake Village,
about 10-15 miles away from Greenville. My aunt and grandmother are
opening their house to whoever needs to stay. Talked to Mississippi
Power surveyors today in Hattiesburg; they claim it will be two more
weeks before electricity is restored--maybe even three.

FBC is okay. Top steeple glass broken, water in the balcony.
That's it. Lee Cave had pictures for me to peruse.

Wasn't able to do much sightseeing. Had to conserve gas. Just
about didn't make it back to Greenville, even with the extra gas.
Greenville's three hours away. Didn't use the car air conditioning
so we could make it.

That's my update. Heading back to Hattiesburg tomorrow with more
water and ice and food for a just a few, as money and room is not
available to carry more.

No power for the next two weeks.
No phone to contact the rest of Mississippi or other Hatt. residents
No food because the stores are not open; what was in the
refrigerator is either going or has gone bad
No gas. You can't get out of Hattiesburg.

Was told by my grandmother (who heard is on the news in Greenville)
that FEMA was leaving Camp Shelby with five or six tractor trailers
of provisions for Hattiesburg--this was around four or five
o'clock. Can't remember. But how will they let all of Hattiesburg
know? There's no way to communicate. And how hot and miserably
long will the lines be when people do begin to realize? And these
will be rations, that's all. Hatt. is a big city.

Things are not well in Hattiesburg.”

“Appreciate the update Miss Opie. Sounds very bad. Clearly this storm exceeded everything we know about.”

“Again: :(”

“bump”

“Yep, still hoping.”

“damn! no news:(”

“No news is good news...Kevin and his family are safe,i hope. If the place he took shelter stands, I am sure he can do well. He most likely took his gear- water filter, stove, etc...”

“I am really worried. I remembered that he once said that he's known to post from airports on to TT.

Someone #&%!$slapp him when we hear from him. How dare him to live in a natural disaster area and not leave contact info on TT.”

“Can you imagine his parents when he pulls out all that camping stuff?

Son, what the hell is that thing?

Dad, it's a stove I made from an aluminum can.

Son, damn, don't you have an electric one in the kitchen?
last edited: 9/02/05 9:42:56 AM”

“Gem, I had his contact info and tried to get him. No dice. I'm guessing his cellphone has been dead for several days, and besides, there's probably no cell service where he is anyway. He is probably concentrating on taking care of his parents, or possibly the rest of his extended family. If he is alright, eventually he will get in touch with us.

It's hard on us, but I guarantee it's nothing in comparison to what he's dealing with right now.
last edited: 9/02/05 9:45:46 AM”

“Pretty much what bitpusher said. There is no electricity, no cell phone service, no regular cell phone service. Even if he finds a computer, all he could do is look at it longingly.

He will have larger priorities than TT for some time to come is my best estimate.

From all accounts his home is likely gone, and if it's not, there are a host of issues like whether it is habitable, whether looters picked it clean, and when electricity would be restored. And that assumes things were okay at his parents' home.

Does anybody know if he lived in Waveland? That whole town is gone.”

“Gem we too have tried to contact him. We are just going to have to wait.”

“Waveland? I had not heard that. My dad has his summer house in Waveland! I know he had enough common sense not to be there for the storm, at least I hope he was in Baton Rouge or further north. Man, that's freaking me out.”

“He didn't live in Waveland, he lived in a little burg just outside of Pascagoula. His lot backed up to one of the bayous there, so if his house didn't get blown away by the storm winds, he will have extensive flood damage. I don't know where his parents live, I only know that it was 50 miles inland.

I am anxious to get news from him as well.”

“Geo, I think he lives in Gautier, Miss
It is right on the coast between Biloxi and Pascagoula”

“Yep, Gautier is it.

Pitts, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Waveland link:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/obliterated.town.ap/index.html
last edited: 9/02/05 10:09:45 AM”

“I read that. I am still stunned. I mean I think at the least my dad lost his house, but that's nothing... talk about a horror story.

I am sure he wouldn't go there during a bad storm like that.”

“That's awful, if you do get back to beading this SS, anything we can do, anything, then let us know.”

“I guess it beats being west of Biloxi, but there still would have been a storm surge there, I suspect.”

“Also, at some point the phone service and electricity will be restored, so keep calling, those of you who have his numbers.”

“I'm guessing that because of storm surge, his house will be unlivable for quite awhile, even if it is still standing.”

“Considering the photos he posted from his back yard once, I don't think he has a house, or even a slab.”

“It was nice to know that I and the other Floridian hikers had the thoughts and prayers of this place. It was kinda comforting for me. So I think all of our good thoughts are appreciated.”

“Actually, Tango, I had visions of you standing out in the hurricane yelling "Flyers Suck" into the wind.”

“Well, if he needs a hand it's not that big a drive (either way, Stovie's choice) provided the roads are open.”

“thanks for sharing that humanpackmule...i think that story touched me more than any i've read so far”

“There is a lot of good going on right now.
Unfortunately the bad gets more air time.”

“The story of the sad looking bush that the Waveland police clung to is amazing. To think they were talking about cutting it down just a week or so before Katrina.

"Waveland." Lived up to it's name, sadly.”

“It's getting known in the Military Channels here that text messages are getting in where voice does not...

Anyone tried to text message Stovie?”

“Not yet...guess it's worth a try.

When the guy actually gets his VM, he'll be swamped, lol...”

“OK, I text messaged him. I'll let y'all know if I get a response.”

“I honestly don't see how it would. It still goes over the cell sites, like a voice call. If the cell towers are down, then no dice.

Pixie, an ex-T-Mobile employee.”

“I have heard of similar types of weird coverage, places where TM's were going through but voice wasn't. Text messages take a lot less power and time to send than voice, so that may account for it.

Like I said, the poor guy's phone is gonna go crazy when he finally gets service, lol...”

“I am thinking good thoughts for you Stovey. Hope you and your family are safe and well.”

“How inconsiderate can StoveStomper be? His first thoughts should have been to let us know he’s OK. If he doesn’t check in within the next couple of hours, he’ll put a dent in my holiday weekend. How selfish!”

“i figured he would have a laptop with wifi and he would of checked in by now. guess i was wrong. heres wishing you good vibes stovie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Wi Fi still requires cell towers...”

“chili, glad to hear your family is ok.

i hope SS is alright.”

“thanks pixie, i wasn't sure.”

“I keep getting the same msg when I call "all circuits are busy right now"”

“so the next time a hurricane strikes, should we pick someone to give our personal phone numbers to and where we will be? last year when frances(i think that was the one) hit nowslimmer came to the west coast of florida and i didn't have anyway of contacting him so see if he and his family needed anything. just a thought.”

“Even if he did have cell phone service, the power is out and most likely his phone is dead.”

“just becaue you send a text message and it comes up message sent doesn't mean it has. You can check the reports to see if it got delivered. I sent one to Stove 30 minutes ago and the msg is still pending :(”