Morning Mississippi

Here in the Florida panhandle we're having high winds and a lot of rain. The winds are knocking down limbs severed from Dennis, but it's nothing compared to what you are having. Please stay save! Don't go out when the eye hits! We continue to pray for you and your safety.Pray with us for the folks in Lousiana. After the storm you will see caravans of utility trucks from all over the US. These guys are wonderful and work hard and long hours to return power and phone services. Some will need places to stay, some bring their campers and even live in tents. I don't know who we are more grateful for them or the National guard. Gotta love them!!!!!!!!! Watch out for them as they work. Stay hunkered down and be safe. Watch out for power lines. May GOD be merciful to you and yours and keep you safe.

Hi Velna !!! How are you this morning? I'm jus****ching the weather channel and I'm pretrified, not even really wanting to know WHAT it's gonna look like when I get home. As luck would have it, it figures, I happen to be living in the same area that my father in law lost his house in , back in 69. He told me about Camille and he urged me to leave a few days ago when I had said I was going to stay. When it hit Cat 4, I left, following his advice. Am I ever glad I left !!! Oh boy. The housing area isn't in a flood zone but nevertheless, even as newly costructed buildings, how they will stand up to the hurricane, is yet to be seen. I don't think I'll be going back tonight or even tomorrow. Maybe Wednesday. I didnt sleep all night, been watching weather channel and just thanking God to give me the means to evacuate. I know some folks stayed behind, either because they didn't have money to leave, or simply no vehicle that would make the trip. Did I mention, I had to backtrack several times and do a bunch of detours to get where I am? It did pay off, I'm 100 miles west of New Orleans and I'm safe. 30mph winds are the worst we saw of it here. It was pure hell again, driving ( yeah I don't have AC in the truck, since I brought my dog, I couldnt use my car that has AC ) and sweating and getting lost in the middle of who-knows-where in LA. These are the things my 5 yr old and I are going to remember for the rest of our lives. Now we can sit down, when we're retired and tell our grandkids and great grandkids about the fourth-largest storm that ever hit the USA, during our lifetime. Sorry for the novel again... Just wanted to share my thoughts. I hope everyone is safe and praying that our homes didnt get totally destroyed. God Bless us all. ~Andie~

Girl, You had alot of us woried. Glad you left when you did. I'm sorry you and your 5 yr. old had to go through that ,but the fact that you're ok erases that. Rhonda is in Georgia. Havn't heard from others.The pictures are horrible from New Orleans and even as far as Mobile. Haven't seen much from Mississippi. The civic center in Pensacola is full of people trying to get away from the storm so several of the schools have been opened as storm centers. Here in Milton we have power but it flickers off and on. My daughter in Pensacola is without power as a tree went over and took out a power line. This is nothing compared to what others are going through. Our prayers still are going up for all affected by this storm. Thanks for letting us know you're ok.

I actually know that Dawn was safe in North MS with her parents, hopefully they're ok since the storm is moving North. I tried to call her and there was no answer today, but they could be out, not sure. I'm just praying everyone's ok. Sara went to Atlanta and I spoke to her last when she was about an hour before her target, so she seems like she's ok too. None of our cellphones are working, as our router ( that is responsible for routing our area code cellphones ) is probably the one affected by the power outages and cellsite failures right now , I can call out fine, and use my text messaging,but can't receive calls. Right now, LA state issued a warning to all evacuees to stay put, the news says that there is debris all over I-10, scattered household goods, toys, kitchen sinks. You name it. They say that this is not just beachfront flooding, they're talking about 6 miles of flooding inland. The Dolphins from the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport were moved to a Holiday Inn Swimming pool ( cant remember the city though? kinda makes me wonder about the chlorine in the water? hmmm ) Well, this is the storm of the century for us in MS at the coast. Hope that FEMA is ready for us and thank god for insurance!!!! ~Andie~ PS anyone who wants to email me, use [email protected] since I can't access my regular email , cableone is down too for my local access.