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BEAUMONT, Texas (Dec. 14, 2005) -- An Airman from the Houston, Texas, area who has already won many accolades for his quick thinking and actions received yet another award from Insurance company Allstate Dec. 7 for potentially saving hundreds of lives in anticipation of Hurricane Rita. Faced with a new mission as a result of the hurricane, Master Sgt. Lynn Bailey, 147th Fighter Wing fuel superintendent, completed a task others might have thought impossible. The task garnered him the nickname “The Nozzle Man” because his nozzle was indirectly responsible for the getting vehicles carrying sick and elderly back on the...

NEW ORLEANS — More New Orleans returnees have come into the city as additional sections of town were formally opened. But plenty of them say they're not back to stay. While loading paintings into his car, Paul Kernan said his friends are gone, people are relocating and he considers himself a former resident. Kernan says maybe "the new New Orleans" will be a good place, but he won't be taking part in it. Reagan Schmidt says she'll be back from Baton Rouge, but probably not permanently. A few blocks away, Allison Nunley cleared out her apartment because her landlord needs...

From CO USS IWO JIMA in New Orleans Interesting perspective on the Navy's involvement in Hurricane Katrina relief: Subject: IWO Update - 6 Sep 05 Hello All; Since I took over IWO JIMA over a year ago, I felt as though I had control of the destiny of the ship. I thought I lost it today, the first time ever, and that we were merely reacting to events rather than controlling them. Within the first 24 hours after arriving pierside in New Orleans, IWO JIMA has become many things. We are one of the few full service airports in the...

All, I don't know about you, but the MSM coverage of the aftermath of Katrina has really discouraged me in many ways. They are spending 90% of the time reporting on only the bad that is coming out of the storm. OTOH, I have been uplifted by reports from my particular denomination that are filtering out the area. I would like to establish this thread for the sole purpose of posting information from all churches that are striving to glorify God in the affected areas. Please post any information you might have so that we may pray for these brothers...

This is from Rev. Richard Bailey, Assistant Pastor of the Plains Presbyterian Church in Zachary, Louisiana. Our shelter is up and running very well. We can house about fifty folks. Some have come and caught their breath and moved on to family and friends. Others have been with us from the first day. We are working to get them registered with all of the different agencies. There is a LOT more to a shelter than a bed and a meal. Here is what we know from around Southeast Louisiana Presbytery: Desire Street Ministries and Fellowship are flooded. Their website is...

There’s bad news today for the hard-hit Gulf Coast area – heavy rain could fall this afternoon and evening in a few heavy thunderstorms across the region. The good news is that the heavy rain will be widely scattered. A weak frontal system is sagging southward toward the Gulf today, and it will serve as the trigger for showers and a few thunderstorms. David Eversole, of the National Weather Service office in Mobile, said any storms could produce rainfall rates of up to two inches per hour. “The scattered thunderstorms may periodically hinder hurricane relief efforts,” Eversole said. Showers and...

WAVELAND, Miss. - Hurricane Katrina seemed to take a particular vengeance out on this town. The storm virtually wiped Waveland off the map, prompting state officials to say it took a harder hit from the wind and water than any other town along the coast. Rescue workers there Wednesday found shell-shocked survivors scavenging what they could from homes and businesses that were completely washed away. The air smelled of natural gas, lumber and rotting flesh. "Total devastation. There's nothing left," said Brian Mollere, a resident who was left cut and bruised. Katrina tore his clothes off and he had to...

Katrina now a category 5, still in flux "KATRINA IS EXPECTED TO BE A DEVASTING CATEGORY FOUR OR FIVE HURRICANE AT LANDFALL." That's the special statement from the National Hurricane Center this morning. Here are some more facts from a story I wrote about New Orleans about six months after Tropical Storm Allison struck Houston: It's been 36 years since Hurricane Betsy buried New Orleans 8 feet deep. Since then a deteriorating ecosystem and increased development have left the city in an ever more precarious position. Yet the problem went unaddressed for decades by a laissez-faire government, experts said. "To...

Our hearts automatically go out to the people of Florida, who are being battered by a series of hurricanes in rapid succession. But we have brains as well as hearts -- and the time is long overdue to start using them.  Hurricanes come through Florida every year about this time. And, every year, politicians get to parade their compassion by showering the taxpayers' money on the places that have been struck.  What would happen if they didn't?  First of all, not as many people would build homes in the path of a well-known disaster that comes around like clockwork virtually...

Storm Gathers Strength in Gulf of Mexico By LYNN BREZOSKY, Associated Press Writer SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - A hurricane watch was posted Sunday along the South Texas coast as Tropical Storm Claudette crawled across the Gulf of Mexico, and campers packed up and left low-lying South Padre Island. The storm was expected to make landfall at near hurricane strength as early as Tuesday, said Miles Lawrence, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. A hurricane watch was in effect along the Texas Gulf Coast from Port O'Connor, about 70 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, to Brownsville and...