Under the Clouds of Katrina

Posted by derrick on August 30, 2005

We challenged great storms and sometimes we won

Faced death and disaster, we rose with the sun

We worked and we toiled, we strained our men brane

We were a proud people, will we ere be again? - fisherman’s lament

The plan today was to wake up early and run to Wisconsin Dells to photograph Noah’s Ark Water Park. The forecast called for a sunny 80f day. But even here in Wisconsin we are being effected by hurricane Katrina. The outer bands of the disapating hurricane are keeping us cold and damp as what’s left of Katrina skids by to the south east of us somewhere near Tennessee. We offer our well wishes to those suffering the worst of her power.On September 13, 1984 I rode out a good part of Hurricane Diana in the back of a 1965 Ford stub nosed van. At the time we were staying in Myrtle Beach, SC as Diana rolled in just north of us and finally came ashore at Cape Fear in North Carolina. Even though she came ashore as a weak category two storm, the destruction was quite formidable. The damage estimate was set at $65 million dollars.

“Back in the Day”, we were staying just across the street from a then undeveloped long sandy beach that hugged the Atlantic ocean. At the time we were traveling with a business associate who had a friend in Myrtle Beach. We had been hammering away pretty hard over the summer and were taking a few days sabbatical camping on their land right next to the water. Suffice to say Myrtle Beach today is nothing like that small town we visited in 1984. Today there would be no place for an old van and a huge 5th wheel camper to sit right on the sea front with only a small road in between. Late into the night on the 13th While we were sound asleep in the back of our van, the world began to rock and roll and the wind screamed at a volume this Midwest boy had never heard before. As I awoke I could feel spray as water was coming in at every loose seal. In a ‘65 Ford van EVERY seal was a loose seal. Being there open to the wilds of the sea we were being buffeted hard as Diana slipped to the east of us on her way to Cape Fear.

My first thought was to find a place to park behind a building and out of the brunt of the wind. I slid into the drivers seat and started the dog up and turned on the wipers. When we were ready to go I eased off the clutch and turned onto the driveway. Snap! As soon as we faced into the wind BOTH wiper blades snapped right off the truck and disappeared into the dark screaming bedlam.

By this time our travel companion was also up and preparing to head south out of the storm. Since we could not drive the van, I parked it behind a building and we ran through the wind and rain to join him. He felt we had to go at least as far as Savannah to get out of the worst of it. Tired and wet we hit the road and finally at about 3 in the morning we found ourselves parked on a rain soaked street lit by gas lamps. None of us had been to Savannah before and felt like we hand went right out of the tempest into a time warp where Jack the Ripper would be roaming the streets in search of his next victim. To tired to explore our wet surroundings we finally curled up where ever we could fit and got some sleep.

The next morning somewhere around 5am, I awoke feeling hung-over from lack of sleep. I brushed the condensation from the window beside me and could see the sky was still deeply grey under Diana’s southern edge. Unable to get back to sleep I quietly let myself out of the truck to roam the misty streets. I still felt out of sorts walking on cobblestone streets under the wrought Iron bridges and moss covered Oaks. Slipping down some unknown back alley I was now walking below the bluff with historic looking shops to my right and great Savannah River rolling past to my left. After roaming the streets for a couple hours I still had not come across anything to hint that I was not lost in the past. Today I know I only had to turn a corner here or there to be suddenly thrust back into the modern McDonald’s world. It was only the fact that we arrived in the middle of the night and just happened to park above the river bluff on Bay Street that had created the the feeling of being dropped blindly into the past. A moment that I’m sure I will never live again. Since then I’ve returned to Savannah and River Street a couple times but it’s never felt the same as that damp, early morning stroll in 1984. The world is a different place when covered in rain and the only thing you hear is the sound of your own footsteps clacking against the cobblestone beneath your feet.

By afternoon we were back in Myrtle beach. We drove past downed palm trees and an old gas station who’s sign had fallen haphazardly across it’s round red pumps. When we arrived back at our van it looked wet but undamaged. When I opened the side doors about 5 inches of water came rushing out onto the pavement below carrying all sorts of personal belongings with it. It took a few days for things to dry out although the smell of mold lingered for weeks. Not long after that we had returned to a much more urban version of Savannah to open our new office. It did not take long before I stopped noticing how people kept saying “Can I HEP you” when we went into stores. In fact it wasn’t long before I was ready to hep myself, thank you.