Mississippi father finally reaches his Cape daughter

Since the start of Hurricane Katrina, Cape Girardeau resident Chris Pendor has waited for news of her uncle, grandmother and father in both Mississippi and Louisiana.

By Wednesday afternoon, all were accounted for except for her father.

At about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, her fears were relieved when her father called from Slaughter, Miss., about 30 minutes from Baton Rouge, La. Power had finally been restored, although her father was surrounded by a 500-foot wide pile of debris.

One day after Hurricane Katrina dissipated, the devastation continued hit home to local residents who have family ties and even childhood memories in the areas on the path of destruction.

Pendor was born and raised in Meridian, Miss., and spent several years in Ocean Springs, Miss., and Slaughter, La. News footage of floods and debris engulfing favorite vacation spots seemed surreal to her.

"They're not there anymore," she said.

Pendor received good news throughout Wednesday. Her uncle in Oceans Springs and her grandmother in Meridian had survived.

Family contacts spread across two states have been the only way Pendor has learned about surviving family. A cousin in Saucier, Miss., had traveled to Ocean Springs to contact her uncle, then she drove north until a cell phone signal was strong enough to contact relatives in Tennessee, who then sent e-mail to relatives across the country. Road conditions were not passable to Slaughter.

"I've said a lot of prayers," Pendor said. "You want to go down to help, but they have so many trained people already there."

Erica Dunn of Slidell, La., knows that her husband, a Louisiana state trooper, starts the unimaginable task today of searching every home for dead bodies. In a second phone call in two days, she learned Tuesday afternoon that her husband is well and staying at a hospital 30 miles from her home.

"I won't be able to see him until we go back down," which could be as long as six months to a year, she said.

Dunn and her six children are staying with an aunt in Cape Girardeau. The basement has been converted into a makeshift nursery where she entertains her 5-year-old daughter, Payton, and her 21-month-old quintuplets -- Jakob, Matthew, Madison, Morgan and Reagan. Since raising five toddlers is a full-time job, Dunn will rely on family for support, she said.

For Sgt. Cody Fulkerson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Dunn is family, and he has collected donations for the family.

"Employees of the highway patrol have been tremendously generous in times of crisis," he said. So after he heard about Dunn from a television news interview on Monday, he contacted her about his plans to send an e-mail to all the troopers in Southeast Missouri.

"It's really been endless with the people responding," Fulkerson said. Offers have included completely furnished homes free of charge, diapers, clothing and money. He will continue to take and send donations no matter where Dunn lives in the state.

Another aunt lives in St. Peters, Mo., so Dunn plans to find a home there and enroll Payton in kindergarten.

Since Payton has been displaced by the hurricanes, she qualifies as a homeless child to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Benefits include automatic enrollment even without school or immunization records, free- or reduced-price lunches and Title I services.

The Jackson School District reported Wednesday at least five enrollments from families displaced by the hurricane. The Cape Girardeau School District reported several inquiries but no enrollments.

Payton seems less aware of the destruction, Dunn said, because they keep her away from the television.

"She doesn't know that we don't have a home," she said.

jmetelski@semissourian.com