Storm brings new friends together

A former Columbia resident and a Mississippi native arrived in town early Saturday morning and are calling Calvary Baptist Church home — at least for now.

Dayrel G. Crowl, a former Columbia resident, and James Belt, a Mississipian, met by chance and bonded at a Red Cross shelter in Natchez, Miss.

Together, the pair traveled with Belt’s wife, Arlene, on a Greyhound bus from Vicksburg, Miss., to St. Louis.

After an eight-hour layover, they arrived in town two days ago and are settling into the church’s Red Cross disaster shelter.

The two men are from different worlds but have connected through their experience of surviving Hurricane Katrina.

“I came here because Papa’s from here, and he’s a good man,” Belt said.

“Papa” is Belt’s joking reference to Crowl, a 70-year-old Iowa native who spent last year living out of his boat while traveling down the Mississippi River.

Crowl has returned to Columbia — his home for about 15 years — after Hurricane Katrina wrecked his 16-foot, gas-motorized aluminum boat in Natchez. That boat, along with two 12-foot boats that he used for supplies, served as his home for about a year.

Crowl was traveling toward New Orleans until he heard hurricane advisories on his radio.

“A little $5 radio from Wal-Mart saved my life,” Crowl said. “All it took was three double-A batteries.”

Returning upstream to Natchez, he docked his boat, called the police and was taken to a shelter at Parkway Baptist Church.

At the shelter, he met the Belt couple and bonded with James in the midst of other Mississippi evacuees. After five days, evacuees were taken in church caravans to the Greyhound station.

Crowl decided to return to Columbia, and the Belts accompanied him to start their new lives.

Despite losing the possessions stored in his boats, Crowl remains upbeat.

“I did get attached to my boats,” Crowl said. “They never caused me any trouble.

“They worked hard for me,” he said. “But, I knew it was a possibility they would get torn up when I went down there.”

Returning to Columbia, Crowl is glad to see people he has not met in a long time.

He rode a Columbia Public Transit bus on Saturday and recalled seeing many of his old friends.

Despite his return, Crowl is anxious to start saving money to purchase a new boat so he can maneuver his way on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

“I’ll get another boat and go back down the Mississippi River,” he said. “I don’t want to pay no rent, no utilities.”

During the past year, Belt, a 56-year-old native of Greenwood, Miss., had been living with his wife, his aunt and her four children in Gulfport, Miss.

Because of the impending hurricane, Belt and his wife left the city, which is located close to the Gulf Coast.

“We seen the storm coming,” Belt said. “The sky was dark and black, something like Noah’s Ark.”

His aunt, Joseph Thomas, stayed with her children to protect the home and their possessions.

Belt worries about his extended family in Mississippi and his wife.

But he is pleased with Columbia and its surroundings.

Noting its beauty and nice citizens, he hopes to make the town his permanent home.

Despite having to leave his native state, Belt remains optimistic and turns to religion.

Asked if he was upset about Hurricane Katrina, Belt said he was not angry.

“You can’t get mad with God’s work,” he said. “If you lost something, you can get it back sooner or later.”