KATRINA | home
DeGeneres | Miracle at St Paul's | Picking up the Pieces | Trauma and Tragedy | Like Never Again | Kennebunkport | Paradise | Harrowing | No Place Else | East Pass Christian | Back To Nothing | Where's Uncle Earl | Storm of Change | Glimpse of Destruction | Flight to the Attic | Red Cross Journal | What Happened? | DeLisle | Miss New Orleans | Life Saver
Glimpse of Destruction
Friday, September 16, St. Andrews member Wilson Carroll and Jack Taylor loaded up a carload and a truckload of relief and office supplies, and drove from Jackson through Hattiesburg, where they stopped at The Rev. Susan Bear's Church of the Ascension to pick up more supplies, then continued on to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
On arriving at Pass Christian, at the intersection a few doors from Father Chris Colby's home, a group of Wesleyans from Cincinnati serving free meals to anyone who walked up.
We unloaded most of the equipment and supplies, and a case of Bibles, for Father Chris's new home-office where he will conduct church business. We then took a truckload full of baby formula and food, hand sanitizing solution, diapers, toys, t-shirts and undergarments, and toiletries to Coast Episcopal School.
Then the three of us set off down Second Street, heading for Trinity Church.
A glimpse into the destruction to the Mississippi Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Katrina.
On moving closer to the beach in Pass Christian the military presence became quite obvious with ubiquitous Checkpoints and constant sound of choppers overhead.
Amazing scenes of destruction are plentiful. So many, in fact, that the brain quickly begins to filter out all but the most severe. Acre after acre of demolished trees, mile after mile of bulldozed debris to let in volunteers and service personnel.
There is much grief for those who have lost their homes, their loved ones, and even their identities. There is sadness and mourning for the dead on the coast; there is nostalgia for the churches, schools, restaurants, and other special places that are gone. The obliteration of entire neighborhoods and cities is almost too much to bear. Of approximately 5,000 homes in Pass Christian, only about 500 are habitable.
Unlike many New Orleans victims who have homes to return to, many coast residents have nothing but a pile of rubble. If the news media ever got around to really covering the coast, a few things will be immediately clear to people everywhere — there is no panic, there is no violence, and there is no "mob rule" mentality.
All the praise needs to go to the National Guardsmen who drip with sweat in full uniform in the tropical heat; the volunteer workers at places like Coast Episcopal School and a hundred other places, who labor all day and night with only the roughest of accommodations; and the residents of the coast, who are showing superhuman strength and resilience in the face of this disaster.
Behind Trinity lies the Live Oak Cemetery, a place that was so beautiful and serene it made Savannah jealous. Now, the destruction to Live Oaks leaves one speechless; as the scene resembles a particularly disturbing Dali painting. The shattered stained glass windows; the laid-low tombstones. Destructive tornadoes have taken many lives, personal effects and even lifestyles.
These pictures reveal a devastation never often seen. The total destruction is awesome. It looks worse than the aftermath of earthquakes throughout the world.
Trinity Episcopal http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/?p