dick ford

[Guest guest]

Dick Ford e-mailed me and I forwarded this e-mail to the group. I have heard

from him since and he and his family are safe. I will look for his other e-mail

and forward it on.

 

here is the last one I have which I think I already sent..

 

 

I don't know if I can send to the group from this borrowed computer;

please forward if you can.Hi, I live[d] 100 miles north of New Orleans in

Mississippi. The storm was Cat 2 at our location. I saw air doing things that if

you saw it as a special effect in a movie, you wouldn't believe it. People came

from north Mississippi to evacuate my elderly relatives. I stayed with my son to

keep an eye on the houses. We had no electricity, water, communications for 5

days before my son and I left. It was a pioneering struggle. Water was restored

on Thursday night, phones began to work somewhat on Friday, enough for us to

begin to see pictures of how much worse things were further south, and how the

lawlessness was approaching our area. My son and I left Friday night; my brother

returned with a generator and supplies on Saturday. We expect power to be off

for weeks. Many homes were destroyed; a tree and a huge branch fell on my house,

but a powerline bore most of the stress,

minimizing damage. I know elderly people there who are prepared to sit in their

chairs, in the 90-100 degree heat until they die. One shared generator powers my

elderly neighbor's oxygen machine. They can't find a hospital or nursing home to

take her. Resources are strained. The big Red Cross vans were arriving just as

we were leaving on Friday; that day we also saw free ice distriburtion beginning

to arrive. One day I salvaged all the frozen vegetables from a neighbor's

thawed, but not yet warm deep freezer. We cooked freezer soup on a backyard

propane cooker in a huge pot; the remaining neighbors appreciated it. My son and

I cooked much of the frozen veggie meat substitutes we had before it went bad;

we took some of it with us north 100 miles to a town where semi-relatives took

in my mother and grandmother. There we began to see the news on tv and pictures

of the devastation. Our county has spots of destruction, many along the path of

the tornado that destroyed my son's school in

April. We have nothing so bad as it is on the coast. People are unbelievably

grateful for small things, like a bag of ice, or a bowl of soup, or a gas can to

power a generator, or the use of a generator for an hour or two. My house is

partly underground, so the basement never gets warmer than 77 degrees, but most

people are suffering with 90 degree indoor afternoon temperatures. Power company

trucks from several states away can be seen where people are working feverishly

to restore basic services. Insurance agents are working constantly documenting

damage before trees are cleared away. Many homes are destroyed by trees where we

live. Rumors of gas send people driving 100 or more miles trying to get some for

survival. If you want to help, I think the best thing is to send money to the

Red Cross. Be of good cheer,Dick

 

 

Message: 11

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 03:49:56 -0000

" mamacrocs " <angelas2

Re: hurricane - Has anyone heard from Dick Ford?

 

Just noticed this post from last week & was wondering whether anyone

has had contact with Dick Ford....

 

Angela

 

>

> Hurricane Katrina will be passing over our county later today; we

> expect

> power will be out for days. My house has a lower floor with very

strong

> 12 "

> concrete walls; it is a tornado shelter where we've gathered my

nearby

> family, including my elderly grandmother. We expect to be ok.

> ...

> Be kind. Be of good cheer.

> Dick Ford

> www.dick-ford.com

>

 

 

 

 

laurie

 

 

 

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