Out of the Rubble...

Below is the text from an email that I got from WB tonight. I have also included pictures of the damage to his property.

JED



Everyone,

I have managed to get online for a moment at a friend’s house that has gotten phone service back. Things here are pretty bad. We have basically lost everything and the house, which is structurally unsound. FEMA came out today, but they are understandably limited in what they can help with. We will have to see what happens next. Cleanup and salvaging what little is left is monstrous, and the area is littered with dead fish and eels, adding to the already overpowering smell of mold and mildew.


Ivan's Mess 

I am exhausted and have been at this for more than a week with less than 4 hours sleep a night. I’m not looking for pity, just telling it like it is…there are a lot of us here in the same situation. The photos are of the storm’s aftermath…some are of my friends at Eglin AFB cutting us a path through our driveway so we can get out.


Look at the SIZE of that thing! 

It took two days. The pictures only show the last day’s work.

The flood picture is of my front yard after the water had left the house.


And Noah sent out a dove from the ark... 

The storm surge was about 4 feet high in the house…all of it salt water (and I’m 17 miles upriver from the mouth of the bay). We lost more than 100 trees on my property that were one foot in diameter or more (some up to 4 feet dia.)


Downed trees on Blackwater River 

Thank you, Steve H. for your kind words in your HOG ON ICE blog about what happened here. It really did a lot to buck up my spirits when Jonathan read it to me over the phone. I told Val that we had a FOUR foot storm surge in the house…not 40 foot…I think he was still in shock about the rest of the damage I was telling him about and got confused.


Go Navy, Vote Bush! 

I painted the “Go Navy, Vote Bush” sign when I found a can of wall paint floating past me in my garage…right after the storm had passed. We’ve been getting a lot of helicopter and aircraft circling over since then…maybe they like looking at it…or maybe they just can’t believe we survived the storm.

Steve, Val, good luck with Jeanne…although I hear you guys will not be in the crosshairs with that hurricane. We weren’t so fortunate.

Well, I have to go. We are overcome with work, but wanted all to know that everyone is safe… I’ll check back when I can.


WB