I was at home just north Hattiesburg MS when the storm hit. Most of the damage was from trees blown over by the 110 mph winds. Oak trees were uprooted and pine trees snapped off. A pine tree about 1 foot in diameter hit the corner of my house and knocked the eave off. No leak resulted. Other than 2 uprooted trees in the backyard and falling branches that knocked down my fence, I had no other damage. Several houses down the hill from me were flooded because of the heavy rain. There was just too much for the ditch to contain. Plus the houses were below street level. Mine is too, but the front yard is landscaped to carry water away from the house. Water came about 1/3 the way on the walkway next to my house, but none came in. The pine trees cracking sounded like cannon shots. I thought at first it was lightening.

The electricity was turned off about 8 am, 3-4 hours before the storm. It never was turned back on because of downed power lines everywhere. We still had phone service. I even got online Monday night. However the next morning a couple of good ol' boys with chainsaws clearing the road ripped our phone line out of the box. Water was still on when we left Wednesday morning.

As the the reason we left. My wife has cancer and was supposed to start treatment in New Orleans this week. Of course that is off. We decided to go to MD Anderson in Houston to get treatment. We left Wednesday mornining about 8am. Power was off all the way to Richland, just south of Jackson. The roads were clear by then. There were two stations pumping gas in Richland, but the lines were very long. I had enough gas to get to Monroe LA, so I went on. I went on US 80 which parallels I-20. There was no power anywhere, so I got back on the interstate. I stopped at the first exit in Vicksburg and waited about 45 minutes to get gas, but they had no ice. I stopped at the last exit in MS and found the stations there open and no one in line and I got ice. I spent the night in Tyler TX and got into Houston this afternoon. Through contacts on the internet I found a garage apartment about a mile from MD Anderson where we will be able to say as long as we need to.

So tomorrow we begin the task of convincing them to treat me wife.


I have contact with at least one person by cell phone who lives outside Hattiesburg. If I get any news from him, I will post it.

I heard today that they declared Martial Law in Laurel and Hattiesburg because of the looting. The only one of my extended family left in Hattiesburg is my son-in-laws sister. She works at Forrest General Hospital. She went to work Sunday night and is still there. The hospital only has electricity for vital functions. Most parts don't have lights and none has air conditioning. In the newer parts of the building the windows don't open and the heat is stifling.

Cell phone service is sporadic and land line appears non-existent. I've only been able to contact one cell phone out of 5 co-workers numbers I have.

That's all for now.

Gene Phillips