Subj : Matt is OK
To   : ALL
From : JIM HOLSONBACK
Date : Mon Sep 05 2005 12:44 pm

Hello, ALL.

Matt is OK.  Below is summary of an email he got out predawn this
morning, forwarded by a mutual friend - -

He rode out the storm.  His neighborhood was flooded from the get-go.
Sat in dead car for an hour with water to his neck, then grabbed six
bags of wet clothes and stuff and began walking to his oldest daughter's
house.  A block away, neighbors invited him up on a balcony, so he
stayed there 3 hours, taking pix of wind blowing AC units off the roofs
til the storm passed.

Walked thru chest-deep water, spent the night at daughter's empty house,
then moved her car to high ground.  Got bicycle working, found higher
ground for daughter's car.  No way to drive it out through 5' of water.
(by then, the 17th Street levee was breached).

Day 3, bicycled out to Metarie (not flooded, in Jeff. Parish, to the
west of the 17th street canal.  Joined folks of his religious
denomination, spent the night there working on failed generator
which was standby power for their local area TV station, finding one of
the 8D batteries had a dead cell.  Ran into Sysop of the Southern Star
BBS, joined him moving computers from there to other LA locations that
had power. Finally ended up in Baton Rouge, joined daughter and SIL,
spending night and getting a good shower with real water.

Got a ride up to St. Francisville (near the river, about 30 miles NNW of
Baton rouge and about 100 miles NW of downtown N.O. as crow flies),
staying with cousins of his wife, Elsie, who died earlier this year.
He found the cousin with two dead computers, and finally got an old
Win95 'puter going and sent the email.  Said we may not hear from him
for a few months, as he is being "very portable."

  **************
If any of you have his email addy, he requests don't send him anything
with any attachments, (maybe only brief text emails), as he wants to
keep his incoming mailbox open so as to not miss msgs from family.

Lots of admiration and humility here, seeing that a friend was busy
doing for not only himself, but also for family and others, under
catastrophic conditions, and on his way to being in evacuee status for
what will no doubt be some months to come.  Basic human nature being
what it is, I think most of us would be concentrating on looking out for
number one. Not Matt.

Will update when more info is available.

- - -  JimH.

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