Editor’s note: During the past 10 days, we’ve invited readers to share their Hurricane Katrina

memories with us. Some sent e-mails and others logged onto our Web site’s forum to share their memories. Here are some of those submitted stories. In some cases, the writers submitted their names and locations.

For those who didn’t, we have included their screen names on the forum.



Caring for pets after the storm



A year ago, we prepared for Hurricane Katrina. We made sure we had plenty of food and water stored in a secure place for the animals, and made sure that fences were as secure as they could be made and that the animals were moved to pens that trees could not fall on them.

The day before the storm hit here, family from the coast and Louisiana started arriving. Our four-bedroom home was soon full to the limit and then some — additional people and their four-legged companions.

The day the storm hit, we all watched the wind blowing trees over to the point the tops were touching the ground. Several times, we would hear one fall. When it was all over, we had seven trees down and had lost almost 200 feet of fencing. But all was well — no one hurt, no animals hurt.

We were without any communication until the next day when we got phone service back. This was only because I had one of the “old” phones that did not require electricity to work. (You remember the ones that have a cord connecting the hand set to the phone? Now my family understands why I keep it in the closet!)

Within a couple of days, the calls started coming needing temporary care for animals. We took as many as we could. At one time, I had seven extra dogs that were victims of the storm here at my home. Five of these were house dogs. It was wonderful! The animals understood that something had happened and they all were so very good. Other foster homes in the organization also had “visitors.”

In the weeks following, all the animals but two were reunited with their humans. Two of them remain with us today. Sadly, the owners of both of these animals made the decision to release them. Both are adult animals and will most likely remain with us the rest of their lives. (We hold out hope of one of them being able to someday reunite with her humans.)

We were lucky. We were safe. Our animals were safe. We had trees down; we were without electricity for what seemed like forever. But we had a roof over our heads. After three weeks, family members went back home to find their home was completely gone. Others had massive damage.

I was blessed to be able to see the work being done by rescue organizations in Gulfport. The job they did was amazing! We can only hope that, when faced with this type of disaster again, the officials will allow people to be evacuated with their animals.



Virginia Robinson

Hard to believe it’s been a year



I can hardly believe it has been a year since all this happened to us — seems only yesterday. My baby nephew and I were home alone because my husband is a volunteer firefighter and he was out helping all he could, cutting trees, clearing the road, getting gas for people.

He came by in between trips to check on us. We sat and watched as the rain pounded down and trees bent over to touch the ground. All of a sudden you would hear one snap and hear a big thud. They were falling all around the house.

Roofing was flying off my roof, a metal shed was twisted up like a tin can and rolled across my yard. An old pecan tree that belonged to my dad started coming down. It didn’t just fall, it leaned over inch by inch and stopped short of my roof just as though an angel had stopped it.

We purchased a generator in the midst of all of this to try to stay a little cool and to save some food. The poor baby was burning up. We got fans going and watched the television to see what all was going on.

We were without power a week. We switched the generator from the house to the shed and plugged in the freezers. Thank God we didn’t lose our food or our lives.

We still have things that need to be done, such as replacing broken windows and other small jobs, but we were so lucky compared to some. We were blessed in finding a trustworthy guy to fix the roof for us and I thank him so much for the job he did and how kind he was to us.

I just thank God that we were all spared and that we had no more damage than we did. It could have been so much worse. I will never forget how everyone came together to help one another.

It was such a sight to see. It made me think of the days my daddy use to talk about — everyone helping everyone. I know of people that took the meat out of their freezers that was thawing, cooked it and invited anyone that wanted and needed food. That is what neighbors and friends are all about.

God Bless all of you that helped in any small way.



Wanda Locklear





Angels with chain saws



My parents’ home in Meridian was heavily damaged by the seven trees that fell on it, so I spent that week helping them pack and move to another house.

I just remember the sound of chain saws all through the neighborhood, the awful heat, gas shortages, problems getting enough ice, and how generous most people were.

A group of men from North Carolina came and cut one huge tree off of the house so my parents could get a car out of the garage. They were indeed angels! They also cut a tree for a next-door neighbor and stacked the wood by the street, raked the yard and swept the driveway — all with no complaints about the heat and with a smile on their faces.

Unfortunately, the seven trees that fell on my parents’ house belonged to a neighbor and she showed absolutely no concern for my parents and has never said a word about it to this day! Her mother obviously didn’t raise her right. This hurricane brought out the best and the worst in people.



Zoie (screen name)

Quitman

Katrina:

Hot nights, sausages and mosquitoes



I was four months pregnant with my twin boys when Hurricane Katrina happened. Luckily, the morning sickness had subsided a week earlier.

Like so many people, we were completely unprepared. We lived off Vienna sausages and water for a week. One night I couldn’t sleep because it was so hot without air-conditioning and my in-laws were snoring so badly that I went out to the car with a thin sheet and slept with the windows down. Of course a swarm of mosquitoes attacked me that night, but it could have been a lot worse.

I’m just so glad that I wasn’t any further along with my pregnancy because we couldn’t even get out of our driveway for a week. I would have hated to see my husband try to deliver twins at home!



CaseyLittle (screen name)



Silver lining to bad

memories



My rental home was totaled due to two trees falling on it. Half of my own home was damaged due to two 100-foot pines.

There’s no need for me to relive that time because my home is still not finished being repaired. I lost flooring in three bedrooms, two hallways and the living room/dining room. The same goes for the paint because water was running down the walls from the trees crushing the house.

Ceilings were also lost in different rooms. Water drips down the fireplace into a convenient bucket I have placed in it.

The roof and trusses have been repaired. My brick wall has been replaced. Garage doors have been added. From the outside my home overall looks pretty good. Come inside and it’s another story.

To top it off, the neighboring trees that landed on my homes were never even responded to by saying, “Gee, I’m sorry.” Of course we knew that the part on our property we were responsible for. That’s really a “no brainer.”

I do want to thank a couple here that were so sweet to us after it happened. They brought us food from the hospital for us to eat and lent us their generator. One other couple also lent us a back-up generator and would call me when they were at the pumps and knew there was some gas.

My contractor came down after we had the power supposedly back on and checked fuse by fuse and wiring to make sure it was safe to flip the switch. I also want to thank my employer who was kind enough to let me off during the day to take care of things that would crop up and needed immediate attention.



Ingamaxma (screen name)

Meridian







Hurricane

Katrina, she brought out the best in me



I am a 20-year employee of East Mississippi Electric Power Association. I am also a 20-year mother of two, a 30-year wife, and a 50-year daughter. There is a lot of history and a lot of memories in all those years.

On Aug. 29, 2005, EMEPA was waiting for the most devastating power outage that they had ever witnessed. Preparations were being made several days in advance. One of those preparations would be scheduling a group of EMEPA employees that would soon be answering phone calls from customers that were without power. I was one of those employees. I felt privileged to be asked to help. I wanted to do my part in helping the community get through this emergency situation.

When Aug. 29 arrived, I knew I would have to be in the building at EMEPA waiting when the storm arrived. I left my family at home to take care of themselves. I felt a very strong obligation to stay home and ride this storm out with them. There was my husband who could take care of himself, but then there was my 9-year-old son, whom I knew really wanted me there with him. And then my mother, who lived beside my house in a mobile home, would have felt better if I had been there, also. My 20-year-old son and his wife lived in a mobile home beside my house and they were riding out the storm with my husband, my 9-year-old son, and my mother. Everyone that I cared the most about in the world were all in one place during a very dangerous storm and I was somewhere else talking to complete strangers on the phone.

I knew I needed to make this sacrifice. My superiors at EMEPA had asked me to do a certain job and that is what I did. As I answered phone call after phone call, I realized that in some cases, I was the only connection that these customers had with the world outside of their homes. They were left without electricity, which meant no lights, no air conditioning, no refrigerators and in some cases, no medical care.

What could I possibly do to help? So I did the only thing I knew to do. I reassured them that they were not in this thing alone. I told them that we, at EMEPA, were without power at our homes, too.

I let them know that we were aware of their situation and that we were doing everything possible to get their power restored.

And after everything was said and done, I knew that I had made the right choice to help the community get through this crisis. As for my family, they felt I had made the right choice, too.



Denise Knost

Clarkdale community



Close-knit Poplar Springs Drive



I’ll never forget that sound. A sound like the footsteps of a giant beast slowly trudging through the near distance. Standing in the doorway watching the wind blow the rain sideways, I knew as I listened that Meridian was losing pieces of history one by one.

The gigantic elms and oaks that lined Poplar Springs Drive were falling like toothpicks in the midst of Katrina’s fury. The trees that had seen us grow up and walk to school under the cool shade of their limbs were now gone — each one hitting the ground with a sickening “thud.”

Then there were those we heard hit homes in the area while they splintered themselves over cars and telephone/cable lines. The sound of the storm seemed to go on for hours. Watching the sky opening where trees had been and were still falling was something I’ll never forget.

We were of course without power after that. The curfew kept us from going out to investigate too far, but we walked around the corner to see what damage had been done.

Fortunately for us, our home wasn’t affected. As we neared a half a block, we stopped in horror. Where we were standing we could see six huge trees down with their roots standing up like the grotesque limbs of fallen mastodons. Our hearts were sick with the knowledge there must be worse out there.

Our outage lasted a week, so we moved everything to the shade of our front porch and camped out. We had always spoken to our neighbors and knew them on a “friendly” basis, but now we had a common ground. We all faced the same dilemma of needing the basics. We had been prepared, but not for something like this.

Quickly the men grouped together and ventured out to get supplies for those who needed it the most. Ice was essential and was handed out first to those with small children and the elderly. When you have these kind of neighbors, you know everything will be all right.

More days passed. By that time restlessness had set in. We had been listening to WMOX day and night as they tirelessly brought us each and every update.

It was said the Red Cross needed help. Driving the short distance, we decided by the confused state of affairs that maybe we could lend a hand. They put us to work immediately and we fell into place like we had always been there. It was amazing how everyone worked together to get the job done. This wasn’t a time for complaining about not being comfortable or doing something “not suitable” for your taste.

Everyone knew there was purpose of task along with many needs to be met. I’ll always be proud to have been a part of something that mattered so much.

For the most part, things slowly returned to normal. After the week of neighborhood power outage, everyone was pulling their lives back inside where they could once again find the solitude of familiarity. Neighbors waving and smiling with new meaning and a closeness that wasn’t there before the storm. I often wish we could go back to that time for just a day and feel the camaraderie that pulled us all together.

Walks down Poplar Springs Drive are different now. It’s lost a lot of its shade and history. Sometimes feeling a bit melancholy, I reflect on those days when the friendly giants were there, as I had known them most of my life. They have been replaced, however, with something valuable. A feeling of having gone “through the storm” together will be with this generation for a very long time.

I know this doesn’t merit a “memory,” but this poem was written for me by a dear friend in Virginia and waiting for me when I was able to get back online. I hope no one minds me posting it.



OUR HEART OF DIXIE



A DARK STORM CAME

AND HIT OUR LAND

IT TRIED TO DESTROY OUR

SWEET DIXIE LAND



WHERE MAGNOLIAS BLOOM

AND THE JAZZ BANDS PLAY

WE’LL ALL REMEMBER

OUR SOUTHERN WAYS



MANY WERE LOST AND DIDN’T FIND

THEIR WAY

THE ANGELS CAME DOWN AND

TOOK THEM HOME THAT DAY



AND FOR OTHERS NOW

A NATION PRAYED

WE ALL COME TOGETHER

ON THAT SAD DAY



A TIME TO HELP,

A TIME TO HEAL

WE WILL BUILD BACK

WHAT MOTHER NATURE STEALS

OUR SOUTHERN WILL

IS ALWAYS STRONG

OUR HEART IS OF DIXIE

AND DIXIE IS WHERE WE BELONG



OUR HEART IS OF DIXIE

AND DIXIE IS WHERE WE BELONG







SandraJ (Screen name)

Meridian