Katrina's Impact on Mississippi Gulf Coast

[jesse_the_k]

Until we arrived I didn't understand that Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast even harder than New Orleans. As this Photos from Katrina¹ site illustrates in gory detail, huge portions of Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Gulfport, Pass Christian were flattened.

These towns are connected by US 90, aka Beach Boulevard. The casinos rebuilt, but the majority of the shorefront is now grass lots with flyspecked "for sale" signs.

This may have been one hinge point for the "two realities" issues the US is facing in news and politics. At the time, Mississippians felt abandoned. The national news was (if only briefly) packed with New Orleans stories, but the Gulf Coast experience wasn't told.

From the Biloxi TV station, here's a before-during-after trip down US 90. (No narration, just minor-key music.)

Watch on YouTube

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1. www.photosfromkatrina.com/ ↩︎

Comments

[cathexys]

Yeah, for a while the question among my inlaws and their friends (Pascagoula, Gautier, Ocean Springs,..) wasn't how bad were you hit but do you still have a house. Too many had only slates left....

I still don't have a car, so I think I might not make it over to see you. sadface! It's supposed to come later in the week, but you'll be on your way home, right???

[jesse_the_k]

We're headed home on Friday. Is there a great golf course in Mobile (something to keep MyGuy busy while we visit.)

[cathexys]

Well, there's this: http://www.rtjgolf.com/magnoliagrove/ (The Robert Trent Jones golf trail is apparently renowned).

There are two other public gulf courses, one in City Park (http://www.azaleacitygolfcourse.com/) and one on the Spring Hill College campus (http://www.springhillcollegegolfcourse.com/). All of those are 15-20 minutes from my house, so really not far.

If I don't have my car by Friday (here's hoping!!!), I get home with son at 11:15 AM from teaching and am free after that. I'd love to have you come visit or meet somewhere. Email me? (cathexys at gmail)

[phi]

It was really frustrating to watch the news when Katrina happened. Which is not to say New Orleans wasn't devastated too, or that the way the federal government completely and utterly failed the people of NOLA, especially Ward Nine, was at all acceptable. The house I grew up in is gone (although the standalone garage my parents had built is still standing. The contractor who built it was right proud of it, told us his daddy built houses that survived Camille and his work would too. He was right, and I hope he knows it.)

Let's hear it for good carpenters!

[jesse_the_k]

What I'm puzzled by is the willingness to rebuild after fierce storms at irregular yet frequent intervals.

[bibliofile]

I see what you mean. I was of course interested in the NOLA stuff because my friend has moved there -- and evacuated back here for Katrina.

Why we didn't get to see how much of the coastal areas were devastated, not just the cities? [insert rant about news coverage here] It's not just the degree of devastation but also how so much damage was barely dealt with, not actively rehabilitated/fixed.