Hurricane Katrina - 6 Month Update
March 6, 2006
Well, its been about 6 months since the devastating hurricane that wiped out the camp and most out the coastal areas from New Orleans to Mobile. I thought I'd review our situation and offer my insight after the 6 months period.
First of all, the debris at the camp has not been removed yet. However, I did receive a call last week, Wednesday, March 1st, Ash Wednesday and the day after Mardi Gras, from the Corps of Engineers, that the contract to remove the debris had been let and I should hear from the contractor in a week or so, that he is preparing to start the job. The same day, I received a call from the boathouse builder, that he had prepared an estimate to replace the boathouse roof and restore the boathouse to its original condition. After the hurricane the boathouse roof sat across the street, upside down and virtually in one piece, and I thought possibly the boathouse builder could somehow get it back on and save a lot of material costs. But during the Holidays, people (neighbors) began removing the wood beams and trusses to make their own sheds and buildings as salvaged lumber. I figured, Let Them Steal. So by the time the boathouse fellow got to looking at the situation, the roof was destroyed. After hearing the estimate, I authorized him to go forth with the repairs at his convenience. I mentioned that the debris had not been removed yet but would be in a few weeks and if he wanted to await that, it would probably make it a lot easier for him. But he said he was anxious to start right away since he has some other work scheduled in a few weeks and that the debris would not interfere with his work on the boathouse. That was OK with me and we firmed the contract over the telephone. I kinda like this guy because his estimates are always simple to understand. He simply prices out the materials he needs for the job then doubles that amount and that's the estimate, or in his terms, contract price. Cool.
The boat insurance folks paid up. They invoked a $2500 wind damage deductible and kept the entire annual premium even though the policy was only in effect for a week before the hurricane. They said the entire premium had been earned out. I didn't contest it.
Other news is the mail system is out of whack. My own doing. I foolishly decided to have my Bay St Louis mail temporarily forwarded to Huntsville. That didn't work too well, though. They didn't forward vehicle or boat license tags or notices and other critical mail that I needed. So a couple of weeks ago, since the roads were usable and the box was still up, I thought it would be best to cancel my mail forwarding and just have it delivered to the Bay St Louis address as it formerly was done. So I went to the Bay St Louis office and said I wanted to cancel the forwarding and have my mail delivered to the Bay St Louis address again. A week or so later at home in Huntsville, I noticed I wasn't getting the usual amount of mail. So one day while I was out in the front yard, the mailman comes by and I went to meet him. He shows me he has a cancellation for mail for my Huntsville address and says, You really didn't mean that did you? I said of course not, and he said well, I'll fix it after I return today. But in the meantime, several critical pieces of mail got sidetracked and after spending about a half hour today discussing this matter with the supervisor at the Huntsville post office, I left him after he promised to find out what happened to the mail that got sidetracked and call me. I learned a lesson though. Never have your mail temporarily sent to another address that you normally use. There's too many things they won't forward. Just complain to the post office if they don't deliver the mail to your destroyed address. They'll give you a box with a key so you can pick it up.
The FEMA trailers continue southbound, though not as many. There's probably close to 400,000 trailers in the area now. About 25% of them in place, either at a camp site or home location, and occupied. The rest are in various staging areas awaiting the next step, either to another staging area or to be finally placed and hooked up. A friend of mine asked me last week if he could place his at my camp and I said OK after the debris is removed. The other day he changed his mind and said he was not going to go through all of that, he would just find a house and rent. Good Luck, Pal! You and about 50,000 others. So if I don't find someone that needs a place to put his FEMA trailer, I just might hook mine up at the place until I decide which way and how far I intend to go. I need a good 25 foot boat first, then I can do the shed and camp. I decided to stay below 26 feet on the boat so I won't need two crewmen when I go out on USCG reimbursable orders. Last year the USCG changed the crew requirements so that boats over 25 feet now need two crewmen plus a coxswain when on orders. Boats over 45 feet need 3 crewmen plus a coxswain. So boating safety is becoming more and more visually important to the USCG.
It's gonna take awhile to get this place back to anywhere normal. Very, very few businesses are open and most of the debris that has been worked on is only gathered together and placed by the roadside. It's still there, just in a pile by the road. Who knows when it will ever get taken to a land fill. We may have another two or three hurricanes before that happens and the piles will just get higher. For most folks, the insurance companies are a joke. The ones that won't pay because of water damage are just as abundant as the ones that won't pay for wind damage. So no matter whether one claims wind or water, to many they simply won't pay up .
To be continued..........