A seasoned reporter now has another storm to haunt memory

Opinion

August 31, 2012

A seasoned reporter now has another storm to haunt memory

By David A. Farrell, Item Staff Writer The Picayune Item Picayune Item Fri Aug 31, 2012, 08:41 AM CDT

PICAYUNE — I have been through most major hurricanes to hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast in my job as a reporter for the Picayune Item.

Those that stick out are Hurricane Camille in 1969. It was small but considered one of the most powerful storms to hit the U.S. mainland. It killed almost 400 people and devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast. There were winds of over 200 miles per hour in Camille and the storm completely leveled the city of Pass Christian near here. One of my close friends was killed in the clean-up after the storm. He touched a downed high voltage line.

And then there was Katrina, which killed several thousand in Mississippi and Louisiana and devastated New Orleans, which is only 45 minutes from Picayune, south on Interstate 59 and Interstate 10 and virtually wiped out three small cities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005. Katrina was big and powerful, and its storm surge did most of the damage along the Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Coasts.

So, how, you might ask, was Isaac different.

Isaac wobbled on shore near Houma, La., not knowing where it was headed, and stalled. Pearl River County, Miss., where Picayune is located was in the northeast quadrant, the part of the hurricane-affected area where there are supposed to be highest winds and torrential rains.

While the winds were in the 60 mile-per-hour range, it was the rain that was the hallmark of Isaac. From Tuesday night up until Thursday, when I am writing this, band after band swept over the county with stiff winds, but mostly torrential rains, lashing homes and businesses, and sweeping across vacant streets in sheets.

And the rains aren’t supposed to let up until Friday morning.

And it kept on and on. I finally realized that I knew now how Noah felt.

But when the rain doesn’t stop, you realize that the creeks which flow through the town will be gorged with runoff and people you know, have known all your life, will be flooded and forced out of their homes.

That still is going on as the creeks and rivers here crest, and emergency crews strain to reach stranded residents, who built just a little too close to the picturesque streams that flow through this section of Mississippi and down to the Pearl River and on to the Gulf of Mexico 30 miles south.

I sat in my living room Wednesday night, reading and surfing the Internet most of the night, waiting for my old home to spring a leak; I had my pans and buckets ready.

But nothing happened. As I read, I was lucky that my electricity had not gone off. My daughter’s electricty had gone out ,and I was keeping up with her by phone to make sure she and my grandson were okay.

About midnight I realized that I had for hours been sitting in my living room listening to torrential rains lash the side of my home and windows, with no let up.

How could nature be so cruel. I felt a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach because I was afraid of a high gust ripping shingles off the roof and the torrents of rain pouring through the ceiling. I prayed; I prayed for myself and for my town and the people I know in it.

You really can’t explain the feeling unless you have lived through one of these great events of nature.

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Opinion

Mary Dorsa Guttry
Mass of Christian Burial for Mary Dorsa Guttry, 90, of Carriere, Miss., who passed away Friday, June 14, 2013, will be held Wednesday, June 19, 2013, at 2 p.m. at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church.
Visitation will be Wednesday, June 19, 2013 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at McDonald Funeral Home.
Burial will be in New Palestine Cemetery under the direction of McDonald Funeral Home.

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