[Sca-cooks] OT - Katrina aftermath

[kingstaste at mindspring.com]

To try and sum up the emails of the last 12 hours or so, here are the
conditions in southern Meridies and Gleann Abhann:

Pensacola, FL (Shire of Arenal) Baron Ulrich and Baroness Arabella reported
power outages that came back on this morning, some minor damage (Cat. 1
strength when it hit there).  Most SCA members have reported in safely.

Mobile, AL (Barony of Osprey) still out of power, most folks have reported
in with tree damage but nothing major.  Baron Baras and his Lady Cai report
no storm damage to their home at all.

Gulfport/Biloxi, MS (Barony of Seleone) many residents heard from, with the
exception of Sir John the Pursuwer, mundanely an air traffic controller that
was not allowed to evacuate. No word has come through on him, or on Mistress
Daphne, Mistress Diana and Master Sir Loric who had intended to ride the
storm out at their homes.  Mistress Taya reports typical problems of the
area, lots of debris, lack of power, intermittent phone communications - but
her house is intact and none of them are injured.  The big concern now is
getting an oxygen tank for her father.
WKRG, CBS out of Mobile, got a chopper out over the area along with
Reporters in the area of Biloxi/Gulfport.  You can watch live streaming at
http://www.wkrg.com/

Slidell, LA (Barony of Axemore, maybe a canton but I'm not sure - Slidell is
just north of the city across Lake Ponchatrain) Downtown is under 15 feet of
water.  Their Stellar Highnesses Radu and Bri along with baby Harry
evacuated to his parent's house in Jackson, then moved on to SCA friend's
house when the power went out.  Bri joked that they would puddle-jump from
friend to friend until it was safe to go home.

New Orleans, LA (Barony of Axemore) Total devastation.  Up to 20 feet of
water and rising, also becoming toxic with sewage, runoff, salt water, dead
bodies (some fresh and some from above-ground mausoleums).  Anyone that
remains is being evacuated.  I have not heard of anyone from the area
checking in, but I'm assuming all of our folks got out.  An SCA couple,
Byron and Dawn, that live in Metarie (a suburb of N.O. to the west) got out
safely but have been told their house is underwater.  No one is being
allowed back to the areas until at least Friday (but more likely Monday).
However, with no power, no potable water and the areas still flooded "what
do we have to go home to" said Byron.

Phone lines and cellular towers are down all over the Gulf Coast making
communications difficult. It is easier for them to call us than for us to
call them.


The Meridian Grand Tournament that was scheduled for this weekend at the WOW
camp in southern Miss. has been cancelled.  There has been no word on the
Gulf Wars site.  Radu and Bri are set to be crowned at the Gleann Abhann
Coronation (they are becoming their own Kingdom) in October, supposedly at
that site.  Hopefully they will have a home in Gleann Abhann to live in by
then.

We were just commenting earlier this evening that the Trimaris Coronation
was marred by Hurricane Elaine - I got chased around the state of Florida by
that one myself.  There is something cosmic there about leaving Meridies...

Nothing we can do just now but wait and see - although there have been some
good communications from the SCA Exchequer regarding SCA fundraising rules
and the correct way to go about it.  SCA-Disaster group is full of folks
offering long-term crash space, but not much information from those in the
affected areas yet.  Lord Cian has posted contact info for the HAMM
operators network as well as shelter locations.

The Atlantian Stronghold of Raven's Cove, is sponsoring a Red-Cross Fund
Raising effort for the victims of Hurricane Katrina at the upcoming Fall
University, to be held in Raven's Cove (Jacksonville, NC).

To this end, donations accepted at Troll for the Red Cross earmarked for
Hurricane Katrina relief. Make checks out to American Red Cross and in the
memo line put "Hurricane Katrina Relief". You can go to
https://www.redcross.org/donation/formprint.html to get proof for your taxes
of your donation.

This will be a very long recovery process, and once we know that everyone is
safe, we can go about figuring out how best to help in the long run.
Christianna