Hurricane Gustav Pics and Vids...

[lesofprimus]

As most of u know, I live on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, just East of Biloxi... Hurricane Gustav decided, thanks to the prayers of the most excellent board members' around, to veer to the West and slam into Louisiana instead of us...

We had a 6' storm surge on the beach, about 4" of rain, and sustained winds of 40mph with gusts up to 60mph... We are about 1/2 a mile from the beach, and about 1/8th of a mile from the marshlands.... There is one way into our developement here in St. Andrews, and its over a causeway on the marsh...

It was no big deal really, the kids were even playing outside in the rain and wind... We were prepared, as any good Boy Scout is, for much worse than we got... The power didnt even go off....

Anyways, enough talkin, heres some pics... Vids to follow...

Pics below are from Sunday evening, before the storm....

 

[lesofprimus]

So I wake up around 5:30 am, get coffee goin, check the news and jump into the van for a ride to the beach to see what the surge is doing.... To my surprise, the road is being washed away... Check the vid clip at the bottom of the pics...

 

[lesofprimus]

Then I drive over to the Causeway to make sure my escape route is still intact... Im putting up the morning and then afternoon pics to compare the surge heights... Normally, the first pic is nothing but reeds and sawgrass that any normal Mississippi Marsh has.... THERE IS NEVER ANY VISIBLE WATER.....

 

[lesofprimus]

Heres 2 shots from the Weather Channel News Team... The weatherman almost gets knocked over on his ass.... For an insight, on the radar clip, I live right where the F in Gulfport is...

 

[lesofprimus]

Then the winds start getting over 30mph and the rain starts really comin down....

 

[syscom3]

Looks like some birds were flying around.

Good to hear youre OK!

 

[lesofprimus]

Around 12:30, I again head out to check whats goin on down at the beach, and Jesus Aged Christ, where did all the water come from??? It went all the way over the road and flooded out the 12th hole at St. Andrews Golf Course..

 

[lesofprimus]

I then headed back to the Causeway, to once again make sure the evacuation route is still intact... I was shocked at how much water had come in... As u can see from the pics, where did the marsh go???

 

[lesofprimus]

After a few hours and many many beers, the rain lets up and we decide to head to the beach and see the damage and possibly get some cool driftwood... The wind was still blowin pretty good...

 

[lesofprimus]

All in all, we had a good time, except for fillin the sandbags... God that sucked....

I would like to extend my most sincere, heartfelt gratitude to all u guys that cared enough to include us in ur prayers, as well as all ur well wishes and support....

Thanks once again u bastardos......

 

[JugBR]

ate least was a diferent monday isnt ? did had any loss of power there where you live ?

 

[Heinz]

Wow scary shots. Thanks for putting them up. Once again I'm glad everyone is safe and sound.

 

[evangilder]

I'm real glad that you guys came out of this one okay. I figured with the array of religions and beliefs on this board, we had you covered, one way or another.

 

[JugBR]

unfortunelly acording with g1.globo.com, 81 people in caribean island died. but the positive side is that it was less devastator than katrina.

another positive thing for americans i gess, was check the security improvements and testing the rebuilded dykes in n. orleans.

i hope everything should be fine with les and his family, with united states, cuba and haiti. life continues and better !

 

[rochie]

great pics les, i'm glad the weather in england is generally just crap and not dangerous, its great you all came through unscathed

 

[Graeme]

Incredible photos! Hard to comprehend, living in a country experiencing its worst drought. There was a news item tonight interviewing residents of New Orleans complaining that officials had "over reacted" regards the storms intensity and they "would not trust them in the future".

Poor officials! Damned if they do, and damned if they don't. I'd be out of there in a hurry.

 

[Gnomey]

Yeah me too Graeme, much better safe than sorry.

Good pics Dan, like rochie I'm glad I live somewhere where the weather generally isn't life threatening (except in the Winter - especially if you have no clue).

 

[B-17engineer]

wow....!!

 

[wilbur1]

Glad everything is ok Dan, by the look of those winds though that storm could of changed directions real fast

 

[timshatz]

Congrats on getting through with nothing more than pictures. Good for you. Been through two of them. But both were Northern Cat 1 storms and we didn't take a direct hit. Not much to talk about.

Although there is a storm coming out of the Carribean (Hanna) and heading our way. We are down in terms of rainfall around here and could use a good foot of rain. Probably have people out doing rain dances on the Pa/MD border trying to get it to come this way.