Tuesday, January 17, 2006

WOW!

Folks had said, "you can't really comprehend the enormity of it until you see it" this is SO true! It's really hard to comprehend it even once you've seen it. We've seen the ocean front in Biloxi where the twenty foot storm surge came ashore. The first two blocks are quite simply gone. There's just no other way to put it. There aren't really even words for it. When you see a casino barge that's just as big as a regular barge on the other side of the road, with no scrapings on the road. This thing was lifted up, moved over and sat down!

We worked on a house yesterday where all that was left was the brick foundation. We helped the owner (a 78 year old woman) finish cleaning up the property. You wouldn't think our little pile of stuff at the curb at the end of the day amounted to much, but when it's nearly all bricks... We'll needless to say, we're all sore this morning and glad it's raining. We'll be in the distribution center today (I think).

It's really hard to put into words all the destruction along the coastline. Behind the beachfront, it looks like an huge bomb went off. Houses are off their foundations, the first two stories on apartment buildings on the coast have been completely gutted by the storm. The thing that really gets to me is the stuff in the trees and bushes. There's fabric (unidentifiable clothing), paper, string, and something that never occurred to me... gobs of Mardi Gras beads!

Just listening to the stories from the folks who've lived thru this is amazing. I could listen to them for hours. Like the man who sold his beachfront house a couple of years ago, and that house is now gone. He still suffered damage at his house - he had some roof damage from tree limbs.

Well, that's all I have time for this morning... I only have access to a computer when we're at the church, which is usually in the mornings. We could come back here for dinners, but you really don't want me to get into that (we went out last night). Suffice it to say I wish the Amish women were still cooking, but they've all returned home.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Holly,
Glad to hear you arrived safely. Sounds like they'll be glad your group is there to help. Keep up the good work. Thoughts and prayers are with you and your group.

Marcia

Anonymous said...

I'm loving reading this, Holly; keep us posted!

--Janet