Low-Profile Victims Hard-Hit on Gulf Coast
Seven years ago, 238 people were killed here in Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina. This year, Isaac killed just one here.
His name was Greg Parker, 52. He was a father and a tow truck driver who lived on a rural road named after his family.
Sitting around a kitchen table on Thursday afternoon, the Parker family told his story.
Mr. Parker had taken his wrecker out in the darkest part of the storm on Wednesday night, trying to help a stranded driver.
The weather was too rough, so they decided to come back and retrieve the car the next day. As Mr. Parker drove off into the wind and rain, a giant water oak loosened by Isaac crashed down on the cab of his truck. He died in an instant, said Derek Turnage, the Pearl River County coroner.
With nearly every national news organization focused on New Orleans and whether its new levees would hold, the death of Mr. Parker was barely noted.
NYT
8/30/12
Magnolia Tribune
