Katrina relief call out.

[james croft]

Well after 5 weeks of "get ready to go" and "stand down" I am heading down to the gulf area for law enforcement duty. I was originally scheduled to go to New Orleans the first week of September and told to bring my dive gear (not sure why) and a flat bottomed boat. I am leaving on the 18th of October for at leat 2 weeks or so. I am now slated to the Waveland Mississippi area. It appears dive gear optional. I will be doing "routine" LE duties. I will be taking some dive gear space permitting as one of my guys is down there and says the water in the gulf is safe to dive in. I have been on constant stand-by for over a month and my living room full of boxes ready to move out. My Tahoe is ready to roll. I am going down with 7 guys from my agency in VA and since we are located throughout the state I will link up with them in NC and head to Ole Miss.
Really don't know what to expect as my guys that went before me are being shuttled from airplane hangers to tents. The only advice is to bring a 12 volt fan, plenty of bug spray and plenty of pepper spray. Looking forward to some new scenery. If my shifts allow it would like to dive. Any one know if air fills available?

 

[Boater Dan]

James:

Good luck and stay safe! Please post an update upon your return.

Dan

 

[BladesRobinson]

I am sure the guys providing fire protection down there knows how to get tanks filled. I would suspect there is a supporting agency in the area with an air truck and they would be glad to help you out. I believe your biggest challenge is finding a dive boat that is seaworthy.

Best of luck with your assignment!

I would throw out another suggestion. Instead of the fan, consider a small $99 window air conditioner that will plug in to a generator. If you get one, you will have hundreds if friends, instantly.

Stay safe!

Blades Robinson

 

[Gary D.]

Good luck, keep your head down and don't grab a gator by the tail.

Gary D.

 

[emtdan]

Good luck, you are doing what has to be done! I am sure you can get air fills, but not much else... and I am not sure how the sites would have been effected by the hurricane. there is prob an enormous ammt of run-off from the flooding and the millions of gallons of EVERYTHING that they have been pumping into the water... It may have scared everything away, and killeed everything else.

 

[sharpenu]

I was there in Sept, all down the MS coast. Waveland was the worst hit that I saw. The town is gone. Gulfport, Long Beach, Diamondhead, Gautier, Pascagoula all had alot of damage near the coast, but this dropped off rapidly as you left the immediate coast. Most of the damage I saw was water (surge) and not wind damage.

I think Wavelad was hit so hard because it is surrounded on three sides by water.

Most of the power was back on and Dominos, WalMart and McDonalds were even open on a limited basis. Life is returning slowly back to normal. Well, as normal as it is gonna get for the next couple of years anyway.