at a loss for words....

i am just blown away by the devastation that katrina has caused the south. i am glued to the television and internet whenever i have a spare moment. i just cannot seem to fathom it. yes, i understand the amount of destruction but to think of an entire city submerged in 15-20 feet of water is just mind boggling.
my thoughts are with anyone who lives there or has friends or family affected by this storm. i have a friend who evacuated new orleans and is now on her way here because she has no where else to go down there. i hope she has something left to go back to when the water receeds.
i have a patient who's entire family lives in mississippi. she is the only one that lives here. she said that they evacuated for the hills, so they are all okay. her sister in law is a nurse and when she got off of her shift she managed to sneak by their house. well, what was their house. she said there is nothing left.
so sad, so heartbreaking, so undescribable. i cannot imagine losing all of my worldy posessions. i know it's just 'stuff' but it's also the home where someone created memories. built their family.
and the level of destruction...our tsunami as they say. i say worse. a tsunami didn't have sustained winds of over 100 mph. now don't get me wrong, i'm not arguing that it wasn't a totally devastating occurance but to me, this just seems so much worse.
i'm not there. i don't know. but it's all what i'm taking away from what i read and see and hear. just a perception. a thought. i hope that they can find more survivors. that the damage isn't as bad as they say. but i know that in actuallity it will probably be worse.
nick and i have talked about donating. now we are just trying to figure out how much and to which charity. i feel like i should be doing more but i know that there isn't much i can do. that money talks. so we will figure it out....