WHAT POLK'S CREW IS DOING IN MISSISSIPPI

Yesterday I mentioned that a team of Polk County sheriff's deputies, Lakeland police officers, and Polk County EMTs travelled to the affected area to assist in the recovery.

Today, the Lakeland Ledger reports on their first actual day of service, assisting the police department of Waveland, Mississippi on rescue and recovery missions. Waveland is a small town of nearly 6,700 located on the coast near Biloxi, and was virtually destroyed by the storm. The city lost it's police station and all it's patrol cars, so the Polk deputies are using their cars and are teamed with Waveland officers in the effort.

The local officers have an incredible story to tell:

Trapped inside their station, someone used a chair to break the glass at the front of the building. But the water continued to climb toward the building's eaves, forcing members of the police department to grab whatever they could and hold on.

"We clung to this bush for about 31/2 hours," 52-year-old dispatcher Judy Frank said.

About 14 members of the department held on to what is little more than tall shrubs during the height of the storm. A few more wrapped themselves around the flagpole in the parking lot and others jumped into the back of a heavy pickup truck.

Eventually they figured out a way to rig a cable from the roof to those fighting the high water.