Score: Zephyr 1, Katrina 0

It's great to hear you're okay. Don't worry about the weather, a cold front's passing through today and temps all over the state are going down about 12 degrees or so, at least for a couple days. Maybe you can get more work done in the improved conditions.

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

Well, like you, I feel lucky as hell, but no, no real damage. Katrina knocked the power out for 5 days, but after 2 days my mother's power came back. I stayed with her until that Friday so I only spent just over a day in hot weather without air conditioning. We had lots of felled trees and power lines here, and for the first couple days only a very few stores were open. Very, very long gas lines formed, and for just over a week it required a considerable investment in time and effort to get a tankful. I drove to Tallulah LA, about 20 miles west, where the lines were shorter, to fill up.The winds were tropical storm force as I understand, but we got only a little rain, I suppose because we were on the west side.Jackson got much stronger winds, and Meridian was on the immediate east side of what was by then a cat 2 blow. Meridian, Laurel and Hattiesburg were all hit hard.We got a LOT more rain out of Rita, so much that my basement apartment began to flood. Nothing was damaged and it took less than an hour to vacuum the carpet nearly dry. From that it was just cranking the AC and putting on sleeves until it dried completely.I was lucky, but I've met a lot of people who haven't been lucky.

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"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you."-George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss.,
Sept. 20, 2005.

Nighttrain writes:

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...but on the next dull day, the mouldy smell starts coming out of the woodwork.

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Sounds like the wood wasn't properly treated after the flood. Once the drywall has been stripped away, you can treat the wooden frame with something (I can't remember what) that kills the mold and keeps it from coming back.I do have some experience with flooding. When Jackson flooded at Easter of 1979 I was living at a reservoir north of the city where I was safely above the water. But a substantial portion of Jackson was below water for a week, and I helped several friends and a civic organization to clean up afterward.Most of the houses and offices that flooded survived and many are still in use. You wouldn't know they were ever flooded. But some weren't properly treated and, like you say, they'll stink forever.In the case of New Orleans, the floodwaters contained sewerage. That no doubt changes things. I'm not sure what can be done about that.

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"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you."-George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss.,
Sept. 20, 2005.

zephyr writes:

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They tore out their carpets, knocked all the drywall off and replaced it, and took the opportunity to repaint all their walls.

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I hope they also treated the wood in the frame of the house. If the floodwater was in and out quickly it might not be as important, but in the Jackson flood I mentioned earlier the water was up for about a week. In the houses that survived but weren't properly treated you commonly have mold and mildew problems.A friend owned one of those houses about a decade ago. Everything was fine so long as he left the A/C going all the time, even when he was away for a few days. During winter he'd sometimes have to run dehumidifiers along with the heater. Only on days with nice temperatures and low humidity could he turn everything off, otherwise a mold odor would set in for a few days.

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"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you."-George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss.,
Sept. 20, 2005.