jthserra
Thousand Cranes
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2003
- Posts
- 678
to write poetry when something devestating has happened. It took me several months before I would write poetry about 911, yet within a day or two I wrote an article about what I saw that day. Again it took a long time before I could write a poem of the Tsunami. And now, it is that way with Katrina...
Because I spent the last eight months bidding on a number of Hurricane Ivan repair projects at several Pensacola Naval Installations, I've been sent in to Gulfport to work on repairs at the Naval Bases there. Before this past Saturday I had only seen the damage on the base, which was several miles from the waterfront. There was damage around, but it seemed a bit less intense than what I saw from Ivan. Saturday I had an opportunity to go to the waterfront and was literally left numb by what I saw. I had to write something and since I am not ready to write a poem about it, here is some prose with just a bit of my observations here:
As part of my company’s hurricane repair efforts at several Naval installations in Gulfport, I have been temporarily assigned to Gulfport. During my stay here I have been able to observe first hand the amount of devastation endured by the residents of Gulfport. You can look at pictures, but until you have stood by the docks and looked at completely destroyed buildings or at empty slabs where buildings once stood you cannot fathom the impact of this storm.
The police have a barricade at 14th street allowing only people who have a reason to enter the area to pass. I got to enter the area while assessing a trailer site for the Navy. It appears that nearly everything south of 14th street was either destroyed or took extreme damage. Toward the west I saw a few large apartment buildings that looked fairly intact, but nearby was a casino with its entire east wall missing. To the east I saw nothing but torn up docks and a few piles of rubble.
From 14th street northward to about 30th street, 100% of the buildings took significant damage, to both the insides and outsides of the buildings. The streets are lined with building debris that either was torn from the buildings during the storm, or were removed from the insides of buildings during initial repairs.
North of 30th street probably 50% of the buildings have damage, but businesses are opening, slowly, one by one. 99% of the signs are missing, but they are making due. In the neighborhoods, just about every house has roof damage, either from the hailstorms or the wind. Blue tarps cover all the houses that remain standing. The tarps will remain until the roofing contractors can put in the permanent roof. As a side note, in Pensacola, which was hit by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, some houses still have the blue tarps on their roof.
I have heard that further east in Biloxi the damage is just as bad if not worse. Beau Rivage, the premiere casino in Biloxi received so much damage in their building that it will take over a year to repair. The flood surge rose above the casino level in the hotel, nearly three stories above the street level. Other hotels and casinos here suffered similar damage. These buildings are most likely well insured, but until they can get up and running again, thousands of their employees are out of work. Hundreds of companies that supply the casino industry will experience significant loss of business, probably requiring some to cut back on jobs.
I guess what I am trying to say is that your donations will go to a good cause, helping the residents here in Gulfport and neighboring communities get back to a normal life. On my drive into work this morning, I did see a number of school busses transporting kids to school. It was a wonderful sign that things are getting better.
jim
Because I spent the last eight months bidding on a number of Hurricane Ivan repair projects at several Pensacola Naval Installations, I've been sent in to Gulfport to work on repairs at the Naval Bases there. Before this past Saturday I had only seen the damage on the base, which was several miles from the waterfront. There was damage around, but it seemed a bit less intense than what I saw from Ivan. Saturday I had an opportunity to go to the waterfront and was literally left numb by what I saw. I had to write something and since I am not ready to write a poem about it, here is some prose with just a bit of my observations here:
As part of my company’s hurricane repair efforts at several Naval installations in Gulfport, I have been temporarily assigned to Gulfport. During my stay here I have been able to observe first hand the amount of devastation endured by the residents of Gulfport. You can look at pictures, but until you have stood by the docks and looked at completely destroyed buildings or at empty slabs where buildings once stood you cannot fathom the impact of this storm.
The police have a barricade at 14th street allowing only people who have a reason to enter the area to pass. I got to enter the area while assessing a trailer site for the Navy. It appears that nearly everything south of 14th street was either destroyed or took extreme damage. Toward the west I saw a few large apartment buildings that looked fairly intact, but nearby was a casino with its entire east wall missing. To the east I saw nothing but torn up docks and a few piles of rubble.
From 14th street northward to about 30th street, 100% of the buildings took significant damage, to both the insides and outsides of the buildings. The streets are lined with building debris that either was torn from the buildings during the storm, or were removed from the insides of buildings during initial repairs.
North of 30th street probably 50% of the buildings have damage, but businesses are opening, slowly, one by one. 99% of the signs are missing, but they are making due. In the neighborhoods, just about every house has roof damage, either from the hailstorms or the wind. Blue tarps cover all the houses that remain standing. The tarps will remain until the roofing contractors can put in the permanent roof. As a side note, in Pensacola, which was hit by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, some houses still have the blue tarps on their roof.
I have heard that further east in Biloxi the damage is just as bad if not worse. Beau Rivage, the premiere casino in Biloxi received so much damage in their building that it will take over a year to repair. The flood surge rose above the casino level in the hotel, nearly three stories above the street level. Other hotels and casinos here suffered similar damage. These buildings are most likely well insured, but until they can get up and running again, thousands of their employees are out of work. Hundreds of companies that supply the casino industry will experience significant loss of business, probably requiring some to cut back on jobs.
I guess what I am trying to say is that your donations will go to a good cause, helping the residents here in Gulfport and neighboring communities get back to a normal life. On my drive into work this morning, I did see a number of school busses transporting kids to school. It was a wonderful sign that things are getting better.
jim
