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Margie
Senior Storm Chaser


Reged: Fri
Posts: 1191
Loc: Twin Cities
Finally got a cell phone call from my brother
      #53662 - Sat Sep 03 2005 05:23 PM

My brother with the Jackson County Sheriff's Dept, working the EOC there, was finally able to get a call through to me.

I could hear the exhaustion in his voice. They have been working nonstop. They worked for three days without sleep (Sun-Tue), then got off for a couple hours Tuesday night. He said they are catching sleep here and there at the courthouse when they can, but it is only a couple hours here and there. He was fixing to go on duty before he called.

They will be working these round-the-clock shifts for some time but he thinks they may be getting to the point where they can get six hours off at a time, before long.

He said that the EOC had to do search and rescue and search and recovery on their own. Their communications are very spotty (I got the impression maybe working 10% of the time). They do not have a ham radio operator at the EOC.

He has seen the FL crews that came in to help with search and rescue but I think they are working with local towns and possibly not with the EOC directly.

He has seen very little presence of the Red Cross; only two pickup trucks, once, on the highway at Ocean Springs.

He said National Guard came yesterday (Friday).

He said there is a big problem with looting and so they are pulled off of S&R and are patrolling now.

I managed by sheer luck to get a call through to MS FEMA operations center, where I was able to find out that they will have people down there to provide some relief to the EOC by about tomorrow afternoon. And also that they will have to make do with a satellite phone because it was not likely they would get a ham radio operator.

So - if anyone knows a ham radio operator, tell them to get the word out to other ham radio operators that might want to voluteer their time, that they should call 602-352-9100, just ask to be connected to operations, as if they know what they are talking about, and then volunteer to go down. Because I think if operations gets enough of these offers to help they might be able to get someone down there. Such a person would have to be self-sufficient because there are no resources down there at the moment.

My brother and his wife lost everything (their home and all their vehicles were completely flooded out), and they are staying at his wife's son's girfriend's mother's house, where they have a bed to sleep in, and she is feeding them. They don't want anything right now. He said he couldn't begin to think about anything like that right now. In other words they are still in survival mode and are working.

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Katrina's Surge: http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/Katrinas_surge_contents.asp


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amanda
Unregistered




Re: Finally got a cell phone call from my brother [Re: Margie]
      #53680 - Sat Sep 03 2005 09:56 PM

I'm happy to hear that your relatives are okay, except for their house and things of course. I am so thankful that people like him are willing to work for 3 days straight to help others. It's so disappointing that S&R is getting sidetracked by looter though. That is so aggravating. IT's one thing to loot food for survival but it sounds like many people are exploiting the situation and taking things they dont need. .

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Margie
Senior Storm Chaser


Reged: Fri
Posts: 1191
Loc: Twin Cities
Re: Finally got a cell phone call from my brother [Re: amanda]
      #53687 - Sat Sep 03 2005 11:17 PM

Thanks much.

They've actually been working around the clock now for seven days (the EOC deployed on Sunday).

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Katrina's Surge: http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/Katrinas_surge_contents.asp


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Margie
Senior Storm Chaser


Reged: Fri
Posts: 1191
Loc: Twin Cities
received 2nd phone call from my brother [Re: amanda]
      #53795 - Mon Sep 05 2005 03:14 PM

For the first time his voice sounded normal. This is because he had the "luxury" of six hours of sleep.

I felt so much better talking to him.

He has had to deal with a lot of looters, and it is a factor that some are on drugs, or a little crazy because they haven't been able to get their drugs. He said he is being very careful.

He said different people here and there are filtering into the county now, in addition to the S&R teams from FL who had already been there. I hope their dept gets some direct relief soon.

Well that is all.

--------------------
Katrina's Surge: http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/Katrinas_surge_contents.asp


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