The Forces of Nature

[gabosaurus]

While my husband met with the head of a company in Pensacola, we got to stay at his home. We decided to spend Thursday in New Orleans before heading back home.
Since I wanted to see the Gulf Coast, the guy let us drive his car to New Orleans, where his daughter lives. He and my husband flew to New Orleans on Wednesday night.

My daughter and I drove along Highway 90, which hugs the coast. It was incredible to see the devastating damage done by Katrina, still present almost three years later.
Entire blocks of former neighborhoods where only slabs remain. A large sign advertising a strip center where nothing still stands. Resort hotels lay vacant. Huge trees bent and stripped.
I tried to explain much of what we saw in the three-plus hour drive, but often I was dumbstruck. You can't explain it.

[manu1959]

While my husband met with the head of a company in Pensacola, we got to stay at his home. We decided to spend Thursday in New Orleans before heading back home.
Since I wanted to see the Gulf Coast, the guy let us drive his car to New Orleans, where his daughter lives. He and my husband flew to New Orleans on Wednesday night.

My daughter and I drove along Highway 90, which hugs the coast. It was incredible to see the devastating damage done by Katrina, still present almost three years later.
Entire blocks of former neighborhoods where only slabs remain. A large sign advertising a strip center where nothing still stands. Resort hotels lay vacant. Huge trees bent and stripped.
I tried to explain much of what we saw in the three-plus hour drive, but often I was dumbstruck. You can't explain it.

global warming or bush caused it....... i am sure sufficed.....

[gabosaurus]

I am not looking to engage in a Katrina debate here. I simply explained how hurricanes happen and how much damage they can do.

[jackass]

I am not looking to engage in a Katrina debate here. I simply explained how hurricanes happen and how much damage they can do.

Sounds like liberals!!! :laugh2:

Sorry I just couldnt help it!! :laugh2:

[hjmick]

It takes time to rebuild from that type of devastation. Not many people realize that hurricanes are the most destructive of all natural disasters.

[gabosaurus]

Being a SoCal girl, I am fairly unfamiliar with hurricanes. The power was unbelievable. We went to some abandoned houses in New Orleans where you can still detect the water line on the exterior of the second floor.
Where the storm actually did the most damage, on the western Mississippi coast, the scene remains unbelievable. The scene that remains with me is the strip center sign on the outskirts of Biloxi. You can tell what was there -- a Home Depot, some restaurants, a few other stores. All that remains is a fenced in vacant lot.
In Bay St. Louis, there are a couple of signs marking what used to be subdivisions. There are streets and a few street markers left. But no houses. Just concrete slabs. And a ton of debris.
I pulled over a few times. I told my daughter it was to get water, or use the restroom. In reality, I needed time to catch my breath. It was unbelievable.

[hjmick]

I lived in Texas for a time when I was a kid, more than once we found ourselves on the fringes of a hurricane. It truly is awesome. I remember as a kid driving through Corpus Christi Texas after a hurricane, the devastation was stunning. It has stayed with me some 30 plus years.

[gabosaurus]

The business contact of my husband that we stayed with has a daughter who was living in New Orleans at the time of Katrina. He told us that he had this eerie sense of doom about it. He told his daughter to get out. He even drove a rented truck over to get her things.
At the time, she was working at a building supply company. She told us that the people who owned the company had no concerns. When she told the owners that she was leaving, they told her that if she didn't show up for work the next day, she would be fired. She left anyway.
The company was completely destroyed and has never reopened.

[hjmick]

Yeah, there are some you can sit through, but when they say get out, the mean get out.

[manu1959]

I lived in Texas for a time when I was a kid, more than once we found ourselves on the fringes of a hurricane. It truly is awesome. I remember as a kid driving through Corpus Christi Texas after a hurricane, the devastation was stunning. It has stayed with me some 30 plus years.

were you in so cal for the northridge quake.....

ss quake that took out the marina was pretty amazing....

[hjmick]

were you in so cal for the northridge quake.....

ss quake that took out the marina was pretty amazing....

I was in Canoga Park for the Northridge quake, 6 miles from the epicenter.

[manu1959]

I was in Canoga Park for the Northridge quake, 6 miles from the epicenter.

that must have been fun......i would take an earthquake over a hurricane or tornado any day....

[hjmick]

that must have been fun......i would take an earthquake over a hurricane or tornado any day....

Actually, I did enjoy. As soon as I knew my loved ones were all okay. I'm with you on the disaster of choice. You never know when it will hit, and it only lasts a few seconds.

[gabosaurus]

The power of the Northridge quake can not be underestimated. I lived in Anaheim and the quake threw me out of my bed.
One of my sister's friends had a relative who actually lived in Northridge. The quake caused a large bookcase to fall on his bed. It took almost an entire day to dig him out of all the ruble.

There is an earthquake vs. hurricane line of discussion. You can forecast and predict a hurricane, but not an earthquake. At the same time, an earthquake rarely lasts more than 60 seconds. A hurricane takes hours to blow through.
The earthquake damage I saw was bad, but was not as extensive as the hurricane damage I saw.

[Said1]

The ice storm in '98 was kind of neat. We didn'tlose power at all,but some were out for a month or more. I suppose they might have a different opinion. I have some photos, I should scan and post them one of these days.