I had the chance to make a quick trip to my former hometown of Gautier, Mississippi, this past week. It was a quick 6 hour visit made on the spur of the moment while in New Orleans, Louisiana, on a business trip. Although it felt good to be back in my former home town even for a short while and visit with old friends, I also felt a small bit melancholy.
I want to address the issue of why people (why I) did not evacuate prior to the storm.
My reason for not evacuating prior to Katrina making landfall is simple: I did not believe the officials who were telling us to evacuate.
My storm-related excitement on Monday, August 29 didn’t actually end with seeing my flooded house. My wife and I had spent the storm with three other families; each family owned a home in the general area. Monday afternoon, after the winds subsided enough to drive, we carpooled in the one vehicle still running to check out the other three houses.
Although Hurricane Katrina was almost three weeks ago, it is not old news for those of us living here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This is the first time I have had enough online time to actually post a diary since the storm passed through. Here is my diary account of hurricane Katrina as seen from Gautier, Mississippi, August 28/29, 2005.