Helpless and nostalgic

I have been watching the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina that ripped through my home state and some of my old stomping grounds, including the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coasts and New Orleans, and I have been thinking about the time I've spent at the various locations that were hit the hardest and how sad it makes me to see the rubble they've become.
First of all, there is no worse feeling than the one I had yesterday when I didn't know where the storm was, knowing how devastating the winds could be even as far up into north Misssissippi where my parents and a majority of friends live, and I couldn't get through to anyone.
The news coverage of anywhere but the coast has been deplorable, as my parents, way the hell up in north Mississippi, had been without power for 20 hours, not that I would've known it, because the national media didn't mention the small towns throughout the South that were affected.
Now, I'm worried about friends I can't reach, although through local news there, I do now basically now that they're okay, but any of you reading this that I haven't spoken to, need to call me. I mean it, bitches!
I hate that helpless feeling, and I hate even more knowing that amazing areas of the South that colored memories of my youth are virtually destroyed now and will take weeks and months to rebuild.
We always went to Orange Beach in Gulf Shores for our annual family vacations, and, honestly, I have no idea what shape that area is in, but for other vacations, we went to Biloxi, and it was hit hard.
I remember Biloxi before its biggest boon was casinos, and it was a beautiful beach town. The beach left a lot to be desired at the time, because not nearly as much care was put into as has been since the casinos popped up, but it was a sleepy Southern beach town that afforded Mississippi families who wanted a short trip within their state a place to go, have fun and come home feeling satisfied.
New Orleans is a whole other story. I never went to New Orleans until I was in college, and I regret that I haven't been there more often.
New Orleans is easily the best part of the South with perhaps Memphis as a bit of competition, and it literally hurts my heart to see what shape not only the city itself, but the people are in right now.
New Orleans is a picture-perfect blend of quaint Southern charm and the naughtiness that non-judgmental Catholics can enjoy.
The architectural alone is enough to make you sigh, but then you experience the city, which has an actual pulse, and you're hooked.
I regret that I've only been there during Mardi Gras which is no way to fully appreciate such an amazing place, alive at all times with jazz and gypsies and who knows who else might be strolling down a street in the Garden District.
If you've never been there, give them about 3 months, and I know without hesitation, that they will rebuild, restructure and come back with a vengeance.
I was listening to NPR today to a guy who rode out the storm in his 160-year-old French Quarter apartment, and after the eye had passed, he went out exploring the immediate neighborhood. He encountered a few bars that had stayed open, boarding their windows and spray painting on the boards, "We refuse to die sober."
That city ain't going out into that good night..