Today was a travel day for us from Tampa to Houston. The traditional
route is to follow the 10 west through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi
and Louisiana. We were obviously concerned as we knew that so much
damage was done to that part of the states. The network of information
in our business extends from tour to tour and in this case, truck
driver to truck driver. Two days ago we were informed that the 10 was
clear all away up to the 10 to 12 break between New Orleans to Baton
Rouge with the exception of the eastbound bridge crossing the
Pascagoula River on the Mississippi/ Alabama border. I was hoping to be
awake for that part of the trip and as luck would have it, the slowing
for the merging of the two directions of traffic. I happened to grab
the camera...
It was mentioned that two boats had hit the bridge and damaged it...
Named the Sea Horse, it sits near the east bound side of I-10 waiting for some attention..
But soon it was clear that the damage was elsewhere and severe...
(click on the bridge for a larger version of the image...)
The traffic moving east was filled with caravans of
returning police, ambulances and tree trimmers. Army and National Guard
were moving in both directions, carrying bottled water and personell.
Though we stuck to the 10 until the break( the 10 runs inland for most
of the trip) and didn't really get into the heavily hit residential
areas, the amount of damage to the natuaral landscape went on for
hours. Trees, brush and waterways were all clearly damaged. Manmade
things didn't fare well either as this collection of billboards can
attest...
Though we didn't enter Biloxi's damage, Gulfport's remains,
Slidell's sadness or New Orleans' watery space, we got a true sense of
how big this storm was as it spread across nearly 4 states as it came
aground. It's not just New Orleans folks, or the towns I mentioned;
it's a whole region that has been effected by this and though some
people are pulling out, they still need our help.
4:58:06 AM 
|
|
