31 August 2005

Likely an Aussie!

On a significantly lighter note, news has reached us that Lisa and Mike are expecting their second child soon after the dawn of the new year. Peggy shares information that the baby, a boy, is due in early January and will likely be born "down under" — our first Aussie.

For those who may not be aware, the members of the former Washington State branch of the May Clan have spent the better part of the past two years living in Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia. They were first scheduled to return around the end of 2004; that date was pushed back to March of this year; evidently the date was again pushed back an additional nine months. After returning to the States in mid to late February, the family plans to settle in Idaho.

We congratulate Lisa and Mike on the anticipated arrival of their son!

30 August 2005

Katrina

Many members of our extended family live in or very near the area directly affected by the path of Hurricane Katrina. Most all have been contacted and are safe.

Of pressing concern are the households of Jennifer and Christopher as well as Kimberly and Jimbo. Unfortunately, the latter have yet to check-in, but working on the assumption that no news is good news, we are maintaining an optimistic outlook.

The NOAA Hurricane Center indicates that Katrina made landfall at 1200UTC yesterday at Grand Isle, Louisiana. Residing in Franklin Creek, Mississippi, Jen and Christopher were less than one hundred miles to the windward side of the eye. According to reports from Christopher, they experienced wind velocities in excess of 100MPH. Their damage assessment? Only the loss of a few shingles. Given their location, deep in the woods north of IH-10, the trees appear to have buffeted the bulk of the potential damage. Their neighbors were not so lucky. A tree was felled into the home of one, while another's vehicle was crushed by a similar event. The danger has not passed, though. As of last night, the water from the creek behind their home was up to the garage and still rising. (Community members are invited to revisit Christopher's post of 01 April for a visual of the potential.) They are hoping for the best, but the heavy rainfall upstream may result in their greatest inundation to date.

Kimberly and Jimbo reside in Slidell, Louisiana,. Though on the leeward side of the storm, their proximity to the eye still makes them very much susceptible to the full brunt of the storm's energy. Inquiries into their situation remain unanswered.

Moving a little further west...Kristie reports that her family — located largely in the Baton Rouge area — made it through the storm unscathed. As is the case along most of the Gulf Coast from the Florida panhandle to the Texas border, they are without power. However, there have been no reports of either physical or property damage to anyone.

Media and other sources indicate that both land-line and wireless communications are out in the region. Contact is sketchy at best and consists mostly of calls getting out.

Given the experiences of the Tranchina Clan, we are assuming that our Andrus cousins fared equally as well in the Jennings, Lake Arthur and Lake Charles areas. The leeward side of such storms always fare much better than the windward side and the further from the eye, the better.

While not residing in immediate proximity to the landfall, the South Carolina and Georgia branches of the May Clan lie on the widward side of the rapidly diminishing storm migration northward. Reports received from Bill indicate that they have experienced no harm to life or property amongst any of their family members.

The only remaining household is that of Carmen and Fred in Viera, Florida. Radar images showed rather violent storm cells over their immediate area yesterday evening, but suggest that Katrina missed them completely — both on its transect of the peninsula and its turn northward once it reached the Gulf and strengthened. However, inquiries have gone unanswered and should a subsequent report indicate otherwise, we will update this post accordingly.

2100
Contact was made with Jen late this afternoon. She reports that the water rose to a level about halfway up the staircase in the garage. At that point, it stopped, held steady for a while and began to recede slowly. Thus, it would appear that they have been spared intrusion of water into the house.
 
A report has been received from Kristie's sister, Elizabeth, regarding her apartment in Biloxi. She is a lawyer and works for a casino in the area. While she and her husband live in Baton Rouge, she maintains a place of residence in Biloxi where she sometimes stays during the week. Elizabeth reports that the complex in which her apartment is located no longer exists. Stories in the national media corroborate this as well. They indicate that many communities along US90 have either disappeared or are missing whole sections along the coast.

20050831, 0900
Fred has checked in and all is well in Viera, Florida. They experienced little impact from either the peninsular transect by Katrina last week or the northward migration following.

20050831, 1200
A report has been received regarding the Borchert branch of the May Clan. Kristi indicates that Kimberly, Jimbo and the girls bugged out of Slidell on Sunday. They took refuge in Vidalia, Louisiana, to wait out the storm's passage. Even at that location, power and telephone communicattions were lost for a period.
 
Kimberly and the girls left earlier today to make the trip to Plano and will stay with her mother, Glenda. Meanwhile, Jimbo is scheduled to make an attempt at returning to Slidell this afternoon. Information received from the area suggests that a tree fell upon their home during the storm. The extend of the damage and whether rising water damage accompanied the wind damage is presently unknown.

20050901, 0930
Contact has been made with Roberta and the Broussard branch of the Andrus Clan. (Apparently, she and Malon have recently changed ISPs and their AOL address is no longer valid.)
 
She reports that Lake Arthur, Jennings and points west got little more than heavy winds from passage of Katrina. That is good news and we are happy to hear everyone is well in that area.
 
We have now heard from or about everyone in the immediate vicinity of the storm's path. Certainly, should a drastic change in situation concerning either Jen and Christopher or Kimberly and Jimbo be received such information will be shared. Otherwise, this brings to a close our running coverage of the fallout from Hurricane Katrina.

09 August 2005

Turtle Scutes v02 #08

The August issue of the community newsletter has been mailed. Check your inbox for an update of site activity during the last month.

 

continue to the July 2005 archive ⇒