train wreck...

i can't stop looking at pictures from hurricane katrina -- pictures of places i know and know well. i've read the coverage in the post, the times, CNN, NPR, even the BBC. the images are terrifying and the articles are worse.

the sun herald, the biloxi (for you yankees, it's pronounced "bil-UHKS-ee")/gulfport newspaper, is full of stories about the damage done, the deaths, the families who've lost homes and loved ones, the economic repercussions, the resources that will be required to bring things back to normal. rescue efforts are afoot, found corpses left lying on the side of the road until survivors can be found.

it's absolutely horrible.

...picures of new orleans and biloxi and gulfport and other coastal towns submerged in floodwaters...historical landmarks obliterated...neighborhoods and businesses decimated...bridges reduced to rows of unusable pylons...streets rendered unusable because of debris...the casinos on the coast of harrison county (mississippi) have been all but vaporized...

i can't imagine what katrina's victims must be going through. i can't believe that only a few days ago i was foolishly declaring my love for hurricanes and my reckless desire to be on the gulf coast to experience this storm's wrath.

i haven't talked to my dad today. every time i try to call him (or anyone in the 228 and 601 area codes), i get a manic beep beeping, indicating that all circuits are either overloaded or inoperational. my brother called me this evening. he's a wreck, going stir crazy in his arkansas hotel room with his girlfriend's family, wants to be home but doesn't know what he'll be going home to.

sheesh... and there's nothing i can do...