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Coming West: Hurricane Katrina survivor Bill Baumgardner is currently staying at aRoseburg motel until he finds a place of his own. Baumgardner drove himself to Roseburg after his home in Long Beach, Miss., was destroyed by the hurricane.
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ENLARGE
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Home lost: In a photo dated Sept. 7, Hurricane Katrina survivor Bill Baumgardner’s home in Long Beach, Miss., is left in ruins.
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Hurricane Katrina wasn’t Bill Baumgardner’s first storm. In 13 years living on Mississippi’s coast, Baumgardner guesses he had nine different major storms barrel down on his modest rental home.
It always came out standing. So did he.
After each storm, “two or three months later, things were normal,” he said.
When the 72-year-old started hearing about Katrina, he said he didn’t believe it would be any different.
“I wasn’t gonna go,” he says.
A friend persuaded Baumgardner to leave his house in the coastal town of Long Beach on Sunday, Aug. 28 for a place farther inland.
Katrina thrashed south Mississippi the next day. CNN reported Long Beach was “mostly razed” by Katrina. Other reports stated 90 percent of all the city’s buildings were destroyed.
Baumgardner’s house was one of them. It was shoved 10 feet off its foundation. The inside was gutted.
Hardly any personal items were salvageable.
“I never thought this would ever come about, but, boy, I’ll tell you what, she made a believer out of me,” Baumgardner said of Katrina.
Now Baumgardner is looking to start over in Douglas County.
Around 75 people in total have relocated to Coos, Curry, Douglas, Lincoln, Linn, Lane and Benton counties from the Gulf Coast, according to Brian Newton, district director of the Oregon Pacific Chapter of the American Red Cross.
“A few of them have even hitchhiked,” he said.
Baumgardner, a Korean War veteran, has a list of medical conditions that makes living near a Veterans Affairs hospital essential.
Oregon nurses were at a Mississippi relief shelter that Baumgardner was staying at. They said Douglas County might be the place for him.
So, on Sept. 13, Baumgardner packed his Nissan Altima with all that he had — four pairs of shorts, four shirts, underwear, socks and his two cats — and started a 2,700-mile trek from Mississippi to Oregon.
He just didn’t see any options where he was.
“There was absolutely no place to live. No place,” he said.
<b>LEFT BEHIND</b>
Baumgardner went to the remains of his Mississippi home five times before he left the state.
“The floor was gone in my house,” he said. “We never did see the floor.”
He compiled a collection of digital photographs detailing the devastation.
For the first few days, Baumgardner said he couldn’t even talk about what had happened without crying. Now, he points to each picture like they’re vacation slides, almost numb to the fact they are pictures of his former life.
He has a shot of a McDonald’s sign standing high above an empty parking lot. The restaurant once underneath it is now completely gone.
Another picture shows the frame of a small building. It’s almost all that remains of a prestigious yacht club at Long Beach Harbor.
Baumgardner showed a picture of his bank, completely hollowed out. The vault is all that is left.
An auto parts store was caved in and a Kmart was ravaged.
Trees that likely stood for generations were cleanly snapped in half.
“I mean, wreckage you will not believe,” he says.
Baumgardner also has another compact disc filled with pictures. They actually make him more somber than the pictures of Katrina’s wrath.
They are pictures of what he had.
Baumgardner didn’t have any family in Mississippi. He worked three days a week driving trucks for Goodyear Tires. The rest of the time, he was either building models of aircraft and cars or fly-tying.
He has photographs of stacks and stacks of model kits. He also had an extensive collection of fly-tying equipment.
It’s a collection he doesn’t anticipate starting again.
It always came out standing. So did he.
After each storm, “two or three months later, things were normal,” he said.
When the 72-year-old started hearing about Katrina, he said he didn’t believe it would be any different.
“I wasn’t gonna go,” he says.
A friend persuaded Baumgardner to leave his house in the coastal town of Long Beach on Sunday, Aug. 28 for a place farther inland.
Katrina thrashed south Mississippi the next day. CNN reported Long Beach was “mostly razed” by Katrina. Other reports stated 90 percent of all the city’s buildings were destroyed.
Baumgardner’s house was one of them. It was shoved 10 feet off its foundation. The inside was gutted.
Hardly any personal items were salvageable.
“I never thought this would ever come about, but, boy, I’ll tell you what, she made a believer out of me,” Baumgardner said of Katrina.
Now Baumgardner is looking to start over in Douglas County.
Around 75 people in total have relocated to Coos, Curry, Douglas, Lincoln, Linn, Lane and Benton counties from the Gulf Coast, according to Brian Newton, district director of the Oregon Pacific Chapter of the American Red Cross.
“A few of them have even hitchhiked,” he said.
Baumgardner, a Korean War veteran, has a list of medical conditions that makes living near a Veterans Affairs hospital essential.
Oregon nurses were at a Mississippi relief shelter that Baumgardner was staying at. They said Douglas County might be the place for him.
So, on Sept. 13, Baumgardner packed his Nissan Altima with all that he had — four pairs of shorts, four shirts, underwear, socks and his two cats — and started a 2,700-mile trek from Mississippi to Oregon.
He just didn’t see any options where he was.
“There was absolutely no place to live. No place,” he said.
<b>LEFT BEHIND</b>
Baumgardner went to the remains of his Mississippi home five times before he left the state.
“The floor was gone in my house,” he said. “We never did see the floor.”
He compiled a collection of digital photographs detailing the devastation.
For the first few days, Baumgardner said he couldn’t even talk about what had happened without crying. Now, he points to each picture like they’re vacation slides, almost numb to the fact they are pictures of his former life.
He has a shot of a McDonald’s sign standing high above an empty parking lot. The restaurant once underneath it is now completely gone.
Another picture shows the frame of a small building. It’s almost all that remains of a prestigious yacht club at Long Beach Harbor.
Baumgardner showed a picture of his bank, completely hollowed out. The vault is all that is left.
An auto parts store was caved in and a Kmart was ravaged.
Trees that likely stood for generations were cleanly snapped in half.
“I mean, wreckage you will not believe,” he says.
Baumgardner also has another compact disc filled with pictures. They actually make him more somber than the pictures of Katrina’s wrath.
They are pictures of what he had.
Baumgardner didn’t have any family in Mississippi. He worked three days a week driving trucks for Goodyear Tires. The rest of the time, he was either building models of aircraft and cars or fly-tying.
He has photographs of stacks and stacks of model kits. He also had an extensive collection of fly-tying equipment.
It’s a collection he doesn’t anticipate starting again.
“Hell, I lost $10,000 worth of feathers,” he said. “The chances of me building that back up in my lifetime, I don’t think is practical to even think about.”
Baumgardner purchased renters insurance this year, though he isn’t sure what it will do for him. He said contact has been infrequent with his insurance company.
He said he has received support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as his own family. The local Red Cross chapter is also working on cash grants for those who have located in the area.
Baumgardner commends the military’s efforts in bringing relief to the disaster areas. He similarly compliments the Red Cross and nurses providing support.
“They’re all angels, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
He doesn’t feel the same way about state and federal government.
“There wasn’t enough gas. There wasn’t enough food. There wasn’t enough water in the beginning,” he said.
“People were down there stealing your car to get your gas.”
<b>‘THIS IS HOME’</b>
Baumgardner calls himself a “loner.” His cats, he says, are his best friends.
In their Roseburg motel room, one cat, Bud, hides under the bed, afraid of the traffic sounds billowing into the room from Northeast Stephens Street.
“It’s been a real trauma for them,” Baumgardner said. “They’ve never been outdoors in their life and I’ve had to drag them all over the country.”
There are several ready-to-eat military rations in the compact motel room, remaining from his time in a Gulf Coast shelter. They taste all right, he says, “if you’re being shot at.”
Several oxygen tanks also line the room, courtesy of the Roseburg VA Healthcare System.
Baumgardner takes 13 pills for various ailments — from heart disease to sleep apnea — when he goes to bed. He takes another eight when he wakes up.
He also requires an oxygen machine. After registering at the Roseburg VA, Baumgardner said he quickly had a hospital employee waiting at his motel room with extra oxygen tanks.
Sharon Carlson, community and public affairs coordinator at the VA, said the local VA staff thought more people might come to the area after the hurricane.
The hospital is still prepared if others make the trek.
“If their condition is urgent, then we will get them in right away and take care of their needs,” Carlson said.
Baumgardner has applied for a pension from the VA, because he said it isn’t likely he’ll find another job like he had in Mississippi.
His medical conditions limit how much he can work. He can’t lift more than 10 pounds.
Baumgardner said he can only afford $425 a month for a rental house. He said he doesn’t need much, just a place for him and his cats.
He said he just wants a place to start over.
At the same time, Baumgardner repeatedly calls himself an “old man.”
He doesn’t seem sure that it’s even worth trying to rebuild what he once had.
Katrina’s jarring effect is clear as he excitedly describes models he’s built, but, in virtually the same breath, questions his own mortality.
“If I’ve got five or six years, I’ll be doing good under the circumstances,” he said.
Baumgardner still gets flashbacks to the carnage in the Gulf Coast. The smell of “dead bodies and decay” will be hard to shake.
Southern Oregon has always been special to him, though. Growing up in California, Baumgardner said he went fishing in Grants Pass every year. He always believed he’d retire there.
The Umpqua River has already caught his imagination and, he says, “this is home.”
It was a simple life he had before. As long as it can be again, Baumgardner believes he will be comfortable.
“I’ll get me a recliner and I’m good to go,” he said.
• You can reach reporter Paul Craig at 957-4211 or by e-mail at pcraig@newsreview.info.
Baumgardner purchased renters insurance this year, though he isn’t sure what it will do for him. He said contact has been infrequent with his insurance company.
He said he has received support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as his own family. The local Red Cross chapter is also working on cash grants for those who have located in the area.
Baumgardner commends the military’s efforts in bringing relief to the disaster areas. He similarly compliments the Red Cross and nurses providing support.
“They’re all angels, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
He doesn’t feel the same way about state and federal government.
“There wasn’t enough gas. There wasn’t enough food. There wasn’t enough water in the beginning,” he said.
“People were down there stealing your car to get your gas.”
<b>‘THIS IS HOME’</b>
Baumgardner calls himself a “loner.” His cats, he says, are his best friends.
In their Roseburg motel room, one cat, Bud, hides under the bed, afraid of the traffic sounds billowing into the room from Northeast Stephens Street.
“It’s been a real trauma for them,” Baumgardner said. “They’ve never been outdoors in their life and I’ve had to drag them all over the country.”
There are several ready-to-eat military rations in the compact motel room, remaining from his time in a Gulf Coast shelter. They taste all right, he says, “if you’re being shot at.”
Several oxygen tanks also line the room, courtesy of the Roseburg VA Healthcare System.
Baumgardner takes 13 pills for various ailments — from heart disease to sleep apnea — when he goes to bed. He takes another eight when he wakes up.
He also requires an oxygen machine. After registering at the Roseburg VA, Baumgardner said he quickly had a hospital employee waiting at his motel room with extra oxygen tanks.
Sharon Carlson, community and public affairs coordinator at the VA, said the local VA staff thought more people might come to the area after the hurricane.
The hospital is still prepared if others make the trek.
“If their condition is urgent, then we will get them in right away and take care of their needs,” Carlson said.
Baumgardner has applied for a pension from the VA, because he said it isn’t likely he’ll find another job like he had in Mississippi.
His medical conditions limit how much he can work. He can’t lift more than 10 pounds.
Baumgardner said he can only afford $425 a month for a rental house. He said he doesn’t need much, just a place for him and his cats.
He said he just wants a place to start over.
At the same time, Baumgardner repeatedly calls himself an “old man.”
He doesn’t seem sure that it’s even worth trying to rebuild what he once had.
Katrina’s jarring effect is clear as he excitedly describes models he’s built, but, in virtually the same breath, questions his own mortality.
“If I’ve got five or six years, I’ll be doing good under the circumstances,” he said.
Baumgardner still gets flashbacks to the carnage in the Gulf Coast. The smell of “dead bodies and decay” will be hard to shake.
Southern Oregon has always been special to him, though. Growing up in California, Baumgardner said he went fishing in Grants Pass every year. He always believed he’d retire there.
The Umpqua River has already caught his imagination and, he says, “this is home.”
It was a simple life he had before. As long as it can be again, Baumgardner believes he will be comfortable.
“I’ll get me a recliner and I’m good to go,” he said.
• You can reach reporter Paul Craig at 957-4211 or by e-mail at pcraig@newsreview.info.
