Anybody heard from Tim yet? St. Gabriel is about 10 or 12 miles south of Baton Rouge, right on the Mississippi River. I am certain there was some significant flooding. But they are inland a good bit, hopefully not the devastation that is elsewhere.
I am in Silverhill, AL, East of Mobile by about 30 miles, but we got 100 mph wind gusts with PLENTY of rain.
Our damage is:
Three whole trees down. One I won't miss, two I will. Lots of cutting and hauling!
1 or 2 dumptrucks worth of branches from Pecans, Oaks and Magnolias scattered over 3 acres of lawn (sigh).
And about 20 six-foot bananas are toast. (better than I expected, actually)
5 long days without electricity, except by generator. Had to have refrigerator running for medications.
All in all, I think we came out pretty damn well, considering our friends near Gulfport in Miss. were at ground zero. Their house was erased from the earth. No trace of any belongings at all. Not even anything left for the looters! At least they made it out alive.
We have electricity here now, but travel into Mobile is problematic and electric service there is sporadic, so I am tele-commuting today to save gas. I am the technical manager for an online computer backup company
Enveloc so I will be helping clients in LA, MS and AL restoring data they have backed up with us.
Gas stations all the way east into Pensacola are running out within hours of getting new deliveries. Lots of evacuees and other displaced folks trying to fuel their getaways, and those of us still needing gas to run generators are waiting in line for hours in some cases.
There is no overstating the impact of this thing. No natural disaster in the US has ever been so widespread and devastating. The real number of casualties and property damage may not be known for months or years. The casino industry on Mississippi's coast has been completely wiped out.
Believe it or not, New Orleans didn't get it as badly as it would have if Katrina had moved 30 miles more westward before landfall. There would probably have been no survivors and no recovery for decades! If you've seen footage of Gulfport and Biloxi and Ocean Springs, imagine New Orleans with that impact.
All in all, it's good to see other countries offering US assistance after all these years of us helping everybody else!