The day after

This is hell. I am hot and sweaty and my feet are starting to crack and swell because they have been wet for over 24 hours now.. and wet with God knows what. All of us slept last night in spite of the misery because we were exhausted... but the bed is damp and smells like sewage - and my poor mother spent the night on the damp sofa in the living room. All of the doors are open -- we still cannot shut the front door if we wanted to. We keep waiting for creatures to walk right in... especially the two-legged ones -- those are the scariest. The babies are both stripped down to diapers because of the heat and they're being bitten by flies. At least the wasps stop coming in at night -- I spent a lot of the day trying to get those out of the kitchen before someone got stung. William sprawled on the air mattress with Judge. Judge refuses to let his paws touch the wet floor anymore (smart dog) and spends his time sitting on the stairs or the air mattress.

I walked around all night really - back and forth with the lantern to make bottles for the baby or to let mother cat into or out of the crate where the kittens are. Mom says she will never forget the sound of me sloshing through the wet carpet all night. I just want to dry my feet.

We worked today for a long time - ripping the carpet out and piling it at the street. We wonder why no one else has done it yet. How can they live in those houses any longer with their wet, stinky carpets? We started throwing out some of our things as well -- it's beginning to sink in just how much is ruined.

There is still no water and no relief from the heat. We are running out of bottled water already just because we need it for so many different things. I am so tempted to use just a little to wash off my feet, but the baby needs it for her formula. I can hear a generator in the distance. Ours was submerged in salt water... We have about a handful of ice which I'm trying to keep as long as possible in the freezer to keep milk and formula for the babies from spoiling. There is no ice. There is no water. There is no relief.

We waited all day to hear a helicopter.. to see a national guard truck. Anything. Nothing happened. My mother keeps asking why no one has come to help. She says they'll be here. But they didn't come today. Our cars are flooded and we can't get out. None of our neighbors have cars either. Dave put some air in the flat tire of his bike and took it out to scout for help today. He said the entire beachfront is gone. There are no stores - no gas stations - nothing for a long, long way. He went to the county fairgrounds where the radio had said they would be passing out supplies. He said there are trucks there but no one is unloading anything. He wouldn't be able to carry much on his bike anyway. He rode on to Moss Point to check on Mom's house and it is okay from what he could see. The yard is a mess but the house is okay - and her car made it too. We can't use it though because there is no way to get more gas. Maybe there will be some tomorrow.