Face to Face with Hurricane Camill1正文.docx

1、Face to Face with Hurricane Camill1正文Face to Face with Hurricane CamilleJoseph P. Blank1 John Koshak, Jr., knew that Hurricane Camille would be bad. Radio and television warnings had sounded throughout that Sunday, last August 17, as Camille lashed northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico. It was cer

2、tain to pummel Gulfport, Miss., where the Koshers lived. Along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, nearly 150,000 people fled inland to safer 8round. But, like thousands of others in the coastal communities, john was reluctant to abandon his home unless the family - his wife, Janis, an

3、d their seven children, abed 3 to 11 - was clearly endangered.2 Trying to reason out the best course of action, he talked with his father and mother, who had moved into the ten-room house with the Koshaks a month earlier from California. He also consulted Charles Hill, a long time friend, who had dr

4、iven from Las Vegas for a visit.3 John, 37 - whose business was right there in his home ( he designed and developed educational toys and supplies, and all of Magna Products correspondence, engineering drawings and art work were there on the first floor) - was familiar with the power of a hurricane.

5、Four years earlier, Hurricane Betsy had demolished undefined his former home a few miles west of Gulfport (Koshak had moved his family to a motel for the night). But that house had stood only a few feet above sea level. We re elevated 2a feet, he told his father, and we re a good 250 yards from the

6、sea. The place has been here since 1915, and no hurricane has ever bothered it. We II probably be as safe here as anyplace else.4 The elder Koshak, a gruff, warmhearted expert machinist of 67, agreed. We can batten down and ride it out, he said. If we see signs of danger, we can get out before dark.

7、5 The men methodically prepared for the hurricane. Since water mains might be damaged, they filled bathtubs and pails. A power failure was likely, so they checked out batteries for the portable radio and flashlights, and fuel for the lantern. Johns father moved a small generator into the downstairs

8、hallway, wired several light bulbs to it and prepared a connection to the refrigerator.6 Rain fell steadily that afternoon; gray clouds scudded in from the Gulf on the rising wind. The family had an early supper. A neighbor, whose husband was in Vietnam, asked if she and her two children could sit o

9、ut the storm with the Koshaks. Another neighbor came by on his way in-land would the Koshaks mind taking care of his dog?7 It grew dark before seven o clock. Wind and rain now whipped the house. John sent his oldest son and daughter upstairs to bring down mattresses and pillows for the younger child

10、ren. He wanted to keep the group together on one floor. Stay away from the windows, he warned, concerned about glass flying from storm-shattered panes. As the wind mounted to a roar, the house began leaking- the rain seemingly driven right through the walls. With mops, towels, pots and buckets the K

11、oshaks began a struggle against the rapidly spreading water. At 8:30, power failed, and Pop Koshak turned on the generator.8 The roar of the hurricane now was overwhelming. The house shook, and the ceiling in the living room was falling piece by piece. The French doors in an upstairs room blew in wi

12、th an explosive sound, and the group heard gun- like reports as other upstairs windows disintegrated. Water rose above their ankles.9 Then the front door started to break away from its frame. John and Charlie put their shoulders against it, but a blast of water hit the house, flinging open the door

13、and shoving them down the hall. The generator was doused, and the lights went out. Charlie licked his lips and shouted to John. I think we re in real trouble. That water tasted salty. The sea had reached the house, and the water was rising by the minute!10 Everybody out the back door to the oars! Jo

14、hn yelled. We II pass the children along between us. Count them! Nine!11 The children went from adult to adult like buckets in a fire brigade. But the cars wouldnt start; the electrical systems had been killed by water. The wind was too Strong and the water too deep to flee on foot. Back to the hous

15、e! john yelled. Count the children! Count nine!12 As they scrambled back, john ordered, Every-body on the stairs! Frightened, breathless and wet, the group settled on the stairs, which were protected by two interiorwalls. The children put the oat, Spooky, and a box with her four kittens on the landi

16、ng. She peered nervously at her litter. The neighbors dog curled up and went to sleep.13 The wind sounded like the roar of a train passing a few yards away. The house shuddered and shifted on its foundations. Water inched its way up the steps as first- floor outside walls collapsed. No one spoke. Ev

17、eryone knew there was no escape; they would live or die in the house.14 Charlie Hill had more or less taken responsibility for the neighbor and her two children. The mother was on the verge of panic. She clutched his arm and kept repeating, I cant swim, I cant swim.15 You wont have to, he told her,

18、with outward calm. Its bound to end soon.16 Grandmother Koshak reached an arm around her husbands shoulder and put her mouth close to his ear. Pop, she said, I love you. He turned his head and answered, I love you - and his voice lacked its usual gruffness.17 John watched the water lap at the steps,

19、 and felt a crushing guilt. He had underestimated the ferocity of Camille. He had assumed that what had never happened could not happen. He held his head between his hands, and silently prayed: Get us through this mess, will You?18 A moment later, the hurricane, in one mighty swipe, lifted the entir

20、e roof off the house and skimmed it 40 feet through the air. The bottom steps of the staircase broke apart. One wall began crumbling on the marooned group.19 Dr. Robert H. Simpson, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla., graded Hurricane Camille as the greatest recorded storm ever

21、to hit a populated area in the Western Hemisphere. in its concentrated breadth of some 70 miles it shot out winds of nearly 200 m.p.h. and raised tides as high as 30 feet. Along the Gulf Coast it devastated everything in its swath: 19,467 homes and 709 small businesses were demolished or severely da

22、maged. it seized a 600, 000-gallon Gulfport oil tank and dumped it 3 miles away. It tore three large cargo ships from their mooringsand beached them. Telephone poles and 20-inch-thick pines cracked like guns as the winds snapped them.20 To the west of Gulfport, the town of Pass Christian was virtual

23、ly wiped out. Several vacationers at the luxurious Richelieu Apartments there held a hurricane party to watch the storm from their spectacular vantage point. Richelieu Apartments were smashed apart as if by a gigantic fist, and 26 people perished.21 Seconds after the roof blew off the Koshak house,

24、john yelled, Up the stairs - into our bedroom! Count the kids. The children huddled in the slashing rain within the circle of adults. Grandmother Koshak implored, Children, lets sing! The children were too frightened to respond. She carried on alone for a few bars; then her voice trailed away.22 Deb

25、ris flew as the living-room fireplace and its chimney collapsed. With two walls in their bedroom sanctuary beginning to disintegrate, John ordered, Into the television room! This was the room farthest from the direction of the storm.23 For an instant, John put his arm around his wife. Janis understo

26、od. Shivering from the wind and rain and fear, clutching two children to her, she thought, Dear Lord, give me the strength to endure what I have to. She felt anger against the hurricane. We wont let it win.24 Pop Koshak raged silently, frustrated at not being able to do anything to fight Camille. Wi

27、thout reason, he dragged a cedar chest and a double mattress from a bed-room into the TV room. At that moment, the wind tore out one wall and extinguished the lantern. A second wall moved, wavered, Charlie Hill tried to support it, but it toppled on him, injuring his back. The house, shuddering and

28、rocking, had moved 25 feet from its foundations. The world seemed to be breaking apart.25 Lets get that mattress up! John shouted to his father. Make it a lean-toagainst the wind. Get the kids under it. We can prop it up with our heads and shoulders!26 The larger children sprawledon the floor, with

29、the smaller ones in a layer on top of them, and the adults bent over all nine. The floor tilted. The box containing the litter of kittens slid off a shelf and vanished in the wind. Spooky flew off the top of a sliding bookcase and also disappeared. The dog cowered with eyes closed. A third wall gave

30、 way. Water lapped across the slanting floor. John grabbed a door which was still hinged to one closet wall. If the floor goes, he yelled at his father, lets get the kids on this.27 In that moment, the wind slightly diminished, and the water stopped rising. Then the water began receding. The main th

31、rust of Camille had passed. The Koshaks and their friends had survived.28 With the dawn, Gulfport people started coming back to their homes. They saw human bodies - more than 130 men, women and children died along the Mississippi coast- and parts of the beach and highway were strewn withdead dogs, c

32、ats, cattle. Strips of clothing festoonedthe standing trees, and blown down power lines coiledlike black spaghettiover the roads.29 None of the returnees moved quickly or spoke loudly; they stood shocked, trying to absorb the shattering scenes before their eyes. What do we dot they asked. Where do we go?30 By this time, organizations within the area and, in effect, the entire population of the United States had come to the aid of the devastated coast. Before dawn, the Mississippi Nat