Hurricane Katrina Update

Hello all, Ken here filling in for my wife. I just spoke to Alicia and her mom around 8:30am Wednesday and they are safe and sound. They were in the Veteran's Hospital in Biloxi, MS during the storm and suffered minimal structural damage or flooding. Mary, Alicia's mom, is a shift nurse there and is required to be in 'lockdown' along with the other staff during any kind of adverse conditions that might prevent them from being available to work their shift. Due to the severity of Hurricane Katrina the families of the hospital staff were also allowed to stay.

Currently, the Biloxi VA hospital is one of the only buildings in the state of MS that has full power, due to the huge emergency generators in the complex. Alicia and Mary have been staying in one of the many small clinic offices in the hospital, but they will soon have to leave as the hospital will need to open the clinics again to patients.

Alicia drove by her mother's house in Biloxi yesterday to survey the damage and was glad to see that all was still very much intact, with the exception of some branches and roofing shingles littering the yard. The house, miraculously, didn't flood even though it's only a few blocks from the Back Bay of Biloxi; known to locals as The Bayou. Truly all the prayers that went up spared this little red brick house!

Both girls are preparing to leave the hospital and move back to the house, though they are still without power there. With current temperatures above 95 degrees and 100% humidity, it's going to be difficult. FEMA is supposed to move in and help the local residents pretty soon, providing food, water and other much needed resources.

Communication with Alicia will be sporadic for awhile as the land lines and cell service is still mostly disabled. She was able to locate a cellular signal this morning by driving around town until she had a single bar of service on her phone. I will keep everyone posted as information becomes available to me. Thank you for your many prayers during this difficult time and please continue to pray for the safety and well-being of others still in need. So long for now...