muscadine | Katrina

My uncle was in Gulfport, MS. Sunday morning he had not left yet, but was thinking about it since the Weather Channel reporter was right down the street. The family has not heard anything from my uncle. If he left the coast before the hurricane hit, he did not make it to NE MS/Memphis area (where most of the family is). It appears the area around his neighborhood was heavily damaged and perhaps totally destroyed.

The only means of communication along that part of the coast right now is satellite phone so we wouldn't expect to have heard anything yet even if he is fine. Parents are keeping their eyes out on all the Internet pictures coming out of the area, and family members have added his name to disaster relief agency lists. If we haven't heard anything by the end of the week one of my uncles in Memphis is planning to take his 4x4 down to see if he can get in and find anything out.

From the Biloxi newspaper:

In Gulfport, water washed over the CSX railroad tracks, a line old-timers say Camille did not cross.

The tracks run parallel to the coast, about a block or two in from the beach. My uncle's house is between the tracks and the beach. When Camille hit and the water started to rise, they had to make a run for the tracks, and (as this report says) the water didn't go over. Crap.