Please click on this link.

This is a website that my mother in law sent to us. Shawn and I moved from the gulf coast of Florida to Michigan when Hurricane Dennis hit, and we were also in Florida for his sister's wedding when Katrina hit. All we got from Katrina were some power outages and minor wind damage, thank God. But in September of 2004 we got hit by Hurricane Ivan, and hard. I remember the panicky, helpless feeling I had when that was going on...not knowing if our house was still standing, etc. It was God awful. And then when Katrina hit it was worse, wiping out the Gulf Coast from Mobile to New Orleans. This link will take you to a presentation done by a resident of Biloxi, Mississippi, which was hit very hard by Katrina. Shawn and I have spent our last two anniversaries in Biloxi casino hotels. (Isle of Capri and Beau Rivage). I am very familiar with the Biloxi/Ocean Springs/Gulfport areas....they no longer exist. There are pictures in this presentation of hotels sitting crookedly across the street from their foundation. There is a picture of Beau Rivage, and it looks good, but then you see how the back of it is completely torn apart. Also, living on the Gulf, everyone is familiar with the bi-coastal waterways that get you from one point to another by going across the water. There are several pictures in here of the one that connects Ocean Springs to Biloxi and it is gone, just gone. The presentation is a little over five minutes long and by the time it got three minutes through it, I was crying. Mostly because I have been to these places and I have seen the devastation first hand. Also because the Gulf Coast was my home for three years. It's so sad it's beyond words. And the music he added to the slideshow..could not have been more perfect. (Pay special attention to the pictures that come up when the song says, "When your walls come crumbling down (one picture)..I will always be around (another picture.) It must be noted that two structures in Biloxi withstood Katrina..the old lighthouse that has been there for several decades, and a church that stands amidst the ruin, basically untouched.

I know we have been inundated with hurricane stuff and everyone is sick of hearing it, but please take a look at this. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

http://www.datasync.com/~magee/hurricane_katrina_relief.wmv