[R-390] Survived Katrina

[Cecil Acuff]

Hey folks,

        After over 6 weeks of pretty rough times I finally got my internet 
connectivity back yesterday.  Gulfport was pretty much ground zero for 
Katrina.  I stayed home with my family and we stayed in the eastern eyewall 
during the storm passage.  It got pretty ugly.  Lost the chimney, opening a 
large hole in the roof on the upwind side and lost the majority of the 
shingles on that side of the house as well.  The paper held though and 
minimized the water entry in other areas.  Still lost some sheetrock 
ceilings and most of the carpet in the house.  Had water running out of 
ceiling fans and a few light switches.  Got most everything under control 
for the moment with tarps.  Most of the carpet and padding and a good bit of 
the affected attic insulation has been removed and we are still waiting on 
the insurance adjuster to make it around to settle up.

Took some roof damage on the shop but no water in there.  All radio's, test 
gear etc. in good shape.  Lost my antenna anchoring pine tree but did take 
down the Windom before the storm so I guess I'll not be listening for a 
while.

Working for the local Power Company I've been real busy as well....16 hour 
days for the first couple of weeks while also trying to squeeze in home 
cleanup and temp. repairs.  The last 6 weeks have been a blur.  Things are 
getting back to a little more normal in the last week or so.

Real proud of the company I work for though.  They took very good care of 
us.  Food, water, ice and fuel for our home generators to keep us all going. 
They brought in as many as 11000 additional people to help get the 
restoration work done.  We went from every customer we had...195,000 in the 
dark to everyone that could accept electricity back on in 12 days!  A 
monumental feat!  Still much to do though.  We lost all of our coastal 
office space including our corp. headquarters to the storm and 500+ folks 
are having to be placed in temporary office locations for up to 18 months. 
Been doing fiber and microwave work for connectivity to trailer villages and 
rented office space for the last couple of weeks.

Coastal economies are a shambles......

Anyway enough of that....once I was able to get back to the lists I had 973 
unread mail messages......good to see dead horses being kicked around still 
on the list....a good diversion for a storm weary reader!

Cecil Acuff
Gulfport MS