I promised....

Not to upload any more video unless there was actually something to record. I'm keeping that promise. There are some impressively strong winds swishing about around Pascagoula tonight and I'd really like to share the experience with my readers.

One minor problem: It's dark outside.

Apparently, I'm not destined to be a videographer.

Undaunted - as usual - I present to you the view -uh well the sound - from my back porch about twenty minutes ago a la Ida:

If it helps any - that sound out there is not rain but wind. Hmmm.. I guess you'd just have to be here? On that note - I think we're going to go settle down with the television for the night.

Ida Video: Don't expect much

Because I have a camera and the will to use it - I figured I would share these completely uneventful videos with the world. Oh what I would have given to have had a video-capable camera during Katrina....

TS Ida @ 10:27 am, Pascagoula: Not a lot to look at, I know.

TS Ida @ 3:35 pm, Pascagoula: Still not a lot to look at, I know.

Now that I have that out of my system - I promise not to post any more video until there is something to actually record. Forgive me. Thanks.

Hurricane Katrina at the Beau

Mom sent me a link to a video tonight - taken by some unknown person who rode out Hurricane Katrina at the Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi. Pay close attention to the waves that just keep coming and coming and coming. (And those poor pelicans too...)



If anyone knows the source to credit for this video -- please contact me.

I'd like to make a couple of observations about the video and perhaps put things into perspective for my out-of-area visitors who are not familiar with the geography of the Gulf Coast or with hurricanes in general. First - as I mentioned above - the video was taken from the Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. Biloxi is located approximately 90 miles east of New Orleans, Louisiana. Biloxi is also located approximately 20 miles west of where we are here in Pascagoula, Mississippi. That's a whole lot of area for a hurricane storm surge to cover.

As my husband and I watched this video last night there was also something else we could not help but notice: Katrina lacked a certain oomph when it came to her winds. Shots taken inside a concrete parking garage (I'm guessing from at least the third or fourth floor considering that post-Katrina damage reports tell of waves topping two stories battering the casino facilities) are obviously going to make gusting wind and rain seem a bit more intense than they are, but pay attention to the shots outside the garage. The video showed us that the winds there in Biloxi were no worse than they were here in Pascagoula that morning -- nasty squalls scattered with some impressive gusts. And that's just it - I'm not denying the gusts accompanying this storm... What is lacking are the sustained winds. Did anyone else notice that the feathers on those brave pelican souls floating out there were not even ruffled?

Now I know there are a lot of people groaning out there -- a lot of people embroiled in a bitter battle with insurance companies over wind vs. water damage... So let me clarify: There was a hurricane out there and she packed some hurricane-force winds. However, I have run into quite a few folks who think that the recent downgrade of Hurricane Katrina to a category 3 storm at landfall was not justified. As someone who rode out this storm -- I believe for sure that it was and also contend that if the category were based on winds alone she would have been even weaker.

Uh.. but now somebody explain to me where that 40 foot wall of water came from....