Memories of Katrina: the battle

So, the journal past this point isn't really about Katrina-related stuff. So instead of reminicing on old journal passages, I'll just display something I made shortly after regaining power and internet abilities. I believe it sums up the whole story.

I wonder who will win?

Memories of Katrina: Sept. 11

The power in the apartment came back on around lunch time and Leon and I were estatic!

I cleaned out the fridge, after getting all the rotten food out. The fridge smelled like cat breath.

Memories of Katrina: Sept. 7

It's Dad birthday, will give him a call later. Had actually picked out his presents the Saturday before the storm.

GameStop'll be opening today, so I'm back in my dorm.

Apparently, the water's okay to drink now, which is great as it's awkward to brush your teeth with bottled water. I end up wasting most of it instead of getting it on my brush.

Memories of Katrina: Sept. 6

Sonic's finally open, which is great since it's next to GameStop. I doubt they're serving drinks though, due to the water still having a possibility of being contaminated.

I wonder if the apartment has power.... that would be awesome.

The floor's a bit hard here, at GameStop, back's a little stiff.

I talked to my parents last night, Dad was putting up plastic to cover the roof and the insulation.

Mum and I ranted about Harry Potter 6. They had come back from Illinois that afternoon. Mum was so proud of Nick, as they were up to see his graduation from bootcamp, she told me that her eyes welled up so many times.

I think I may be allergic to Orbit Citrus Mint; everytime I've had it, it's made me feel sick.

The neighbors stopped by GameStop, said the power wasn't back on yet.

I wonder what's going to happen about our lease. Our resident manager never brought it up, and I'm pretty sure it's overdue. Of course, there's a lot of things that he didn't do or take care of.... so, I think that's the last of his worries.

Memories of Katrina: Sept. 5

We stopped by the apartment to check on Leon and noticed that they were finally working on the roof.

Memories of Katrina: Sept. 4

So, school is supposed to start back up on the 12th and the dorms are closed to people who haven't been there during the storm.

I was lucky because I was periodically in and out of the dorm.

There's air and water at GameStop, so Manon stayed there last night. I would have too, but Manon thought that I would have trouble sleeping on the hard floor, also I have a shower in the dorm and was quite stinky this morning, so it worked out well.

We walked to Walmart yesterday, took a while because I needed to take a break anytime my feet started to ache a little; didn't want to get a migraine.

We stood in line for over an hour, but it wasn't too bad, the workers were passing out water and umbrellas, which was really nice.

Memories of Katrina: Sept. 2

The destruction of New Orleans didn't totally hit me until today, while watching news at Jess and Sheree's apartment on their battery-operated TV. I'd heard stories of bodies floating down streets, of sharks patrolling main streets, of people packed into the Super Dome screaming for water, food and help; it was nothing compared to actually seeing it:

-- a woman raking up garbage because she believed that if she doesn't try to clean up, then noone will come to help

-- a man pleading for his dialysis treatment

-- a mayor venting his frustration and anger at the goverment

-- a police chief's words stolen by his tears

Yesterday, the water started working in the apartment and the university had power. Yesterday was also the day that they finally sent some people down to New Orleans to evacuate the Super Dome.

Why did it take so long?

Memories of Katrina: Aug. 31

Got my days a bit mixed up, so this one is a little behind, but tomorrow, I'll be right on track.

After the crisis is when the real torture begins.

We still don't have water or power and only now are we seeing power trucks working or even around.

Most of them are from Arkansas, which is nice.

The Commons is feeding students three times a day, which is great and gives us a chance to see the damage done on campus.

The campus was full of tree, now it's full of trees all over the ground. A few even landed on/in some buildings. The library front is littered with glass from some busted-out windows.

I didn't sleep very well last night: way too hot, too angry and too misrable.

We've swam in the pool a few time, but it's starting to look more and more gross as more and more people get in and less and less chlorine is left.

The sky was amazing last night. I saw Scorpio, which made me quite happy and possibly the Milky Way. The sky was littered with stars.

Our Wal-Mart is closed and there's a line outside of Walgreens.

Right now, we're making a run to Laurel, on hope and hearsay that they have power, food and gas.

We stopped by my car to get my phone charger and found my gas cap on the ground. Someone tried to siphon gas out. The upside to this is that it was pretty much on empty to being with.

The damage around Hattiesburg is intense: whole roads are covered with trees, signs from restaurants are gone, scattered to the winds and sides of the street.

Laurel is in bad shape too. We're hoping the Wal-Mart here is open as we're nearly out of food and water.

Laurel was a bit of a failure. There's no power, no gas, but we got some food(granola bars, beef jerky) and a few sports drinks. The Wal-Mart wasn't open but we have seen a few of there trucks heading toward Hattiesburg. So I suppose that's a good sign.

We're heading back home now, hoping to make it in time to eat at the Commons. The convention center was packed when we drove by, maybe they were handing out ice and water.

My pen broke, so I'm just writing with the ink stick.

We're following a Wal-mart truck right now. I hope he gets off at Hattiesburg.

My phone doesn't have any signal unless we're in Hattiesburg, so I'll have to wait until then to find out how my parents are.

My mum says that half of Jackson has power, the side the Uncle Curtis lives on.

Memories of Katrina: Aug. 29

Excerpts from my journal written during Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath.
This is the longest of all the excerpts:

It's pretty bad out right now: we have no power, no water and I keep hearing noises in the closet. [We have] nearly no food... excluding cake and fruit cocktail.
I suppose a little fasting isn't so bad.
The roof of a nearby apartment complex is in the road and there's tree branches and leaves everywhere.
At 8:30 a.m. this morning, the eye was over New Orleans, the landfall has dropped Katrina's category and the wind was already at 50 mph here: that's all I was able to hear before the power went out.
We don't have an FM radio that works, so I don't know how bad it's gotten since then.
It's gotten darker outside, and Leon seems to be taking everything well. There's no lightning or thunder ... errr(lightning had arced across the sky at this point)... well, no thunder, so it doesn't bother him.
I'm watching this lamppost swing back and forth. I hope it holds up.
It keeps getting darker and darker, New Orleans is only about two hours away, which means if Katrina continues on her projected path, we'll be in the eye soon.
The shaky window has been rattling quite a bit, but we've piled some stuff in front of it.
Right now, we're huddled in front of the leaky window, using the little light Katrina has allowed us. Granted, it's not the smartest idea, but it's not on the windward side.

Soon, I'll have to light some candles, much against Manon's pyrophobic wishes.
Cracking sounds can be heard outside, but it's not exactly safe to open the door to see.
Hope my parents are okay.
Manon's been working to keep my mind off the weather, suggesting I nap, read and help him with making a homemade Othello board.

The sky's been getting brighter and brighter, but the fruit cocktails are gone.
It's only 2:30 p.m. and I'm wanting to sleep the day away.
We found some flashlights and we've seen people running out to their vehicles to listen to the radio.
The rain has stopped for a bit, but there gusts are still there.

The lamppost is still standing and there's more food in the kitchen than I thought!
The wind gusts sometimes sounds like sirens or someone whistling.
There goes someone running up the street...
There's a gutter scraping down the street.. at least that's what it looks like.

It's about 4:30 p.m.and the eye has passed us, it was probably that really bright spot I saw earlier.
There's people walking and driving around, I have no idea where to.
I was able to talk to my parents and then go outside and see the damage: the roof I wrote about earlier is probably what knocked out the power, as it's laying across the power lines, what little tension the poles could give keeping it about a foot or two off the street.
The tree next to the School of Nursing building has half of it laying in the road, with other smaller tree uprooted nearby.

The wind is still going, the closet is still creaking and I would kill for some french fries, but we've bared the worst part of the storm.
All that's left is the angry bottom, the aftermath, waiting for power and water and cheering when everything open up again.