Gulf @ MindSay 
Been talking to my cousin in Mississippi. They evacuated on Sunday,August 31 2008. They live in Pass Christian, and my Aunt in Long Beach.
Lynn said 13 feet of water in Pass Christian.They just finished their house after Katrina and losing everything in it. They did build up though! 18 feet in the air! Hope the surge is over. 5 more feet and it will be in their house. Right now just storage room on bottom level in water. House safe right now. Still has the door intact. Whew! They traveled 2 hours northward to escape. Haven't heard any news about Long Beach area where my Aunt bought a house. She still owns the concrete slab where her house was before Katrina. She did not rebuild in same place. Could stand in her driveway and see the Gulf. She lived Very close.
Keeping my prayers flowing for them!
Two pictures of my cousins house as being built........
UPDATE:10:45 pm Mississippi time:
Lynn said pray hard...water rising again!
Check out www.sunherald.com for pictures
My wife and I recently visited my son in Tampa and while there, went to the Beach at St. Petersburg.
The trip was predicated by the urging of friends fascinated with the beauty of the water and the brilliant white sand, which was in fact, as white as driven snow.
The problem we faced at the beach was parking.... There was plenty of parking and signs everywhere that read; (Pay for parking when leaving). We parked and looked around for someone or perhaps a building that would house a ticket booth or place to get a ticket to park... Nothing was in sight, so we began walking down the beach enjoying the view when I saw a strange miniature ATM looking machine in a bull rush about 100 yards south of where we had parked. Curious, I walked up to the machine ( just for fun ) to see what or why it was there.
I said to my wife; It's a parking ticket machine I think..... She replied; Your too late !! I looked back toward our car that we had left only two minutes before, and there was a huge police officer (meter man)???????
He was at least 6'8", 300 lbs riding this tiny little 4 wheeler... It was funny, I had to laugh.
I then realized he was writing a ticket to place on our vehicle. I started yelling and he acted as though he did not hear me. He placed the ticket on the car, mounted his steed and hit the gas.... No wonder they use a giant !!!
A smaller man wouldn't last a day, some one would pound him into the asphalt.
So, it’s twenty dollars for a parking infraction and the price of a stamp to park at ST. PETE Beach.
Despite the cheap tricks, St. Pete beach is one of a kind.
-TechDaddy
I'm starting to hear from some family and friends in the path of Katrina.
My girlfriend, Laurel, in Mobile, Ala. had some minor damage and lost power for a little while.
My ex-brother-in-law, who pastors a church in Metairie, had a home that was in New Orleans and it has 4 foot of water in it. He's safe in Michigan at his father-in-laws house.
One of his rental houses, where my ex-husband lived, got 10 feet of water. My daughter heard from my ex-husband and he's waiting for an airplane to air lift him somewhere. Doesn't know where yet.
My aunt who's house was 3 blocks off the beach in Gulfport, has 4 foot of water in her house and she's safe in Jackson, MS. with another aunt.
I heard from another friend in Gulfport, who's house has minor damage and he was in Florida picking up supplies for his neighborhood.
I'm hoping to hear from more family as the days go by.
I'm am so humbled now that I complained about the water that came into our basement a couple weeks ago from a flash flood and we were trapped in our neighborhood for 2 days. We pulled up the carpet and replaced it with tile. Now we will repaint and reorganize the area to look better. We didn't lose our house or our jobs.
We only lost power for an hour and we had fresh water and food.
These poor people have lost everything!!
