The 'near miss' was for New Orleans which ended up to the west of the eyewall. The hardest hit was the Bay St. Louis/Gulfport/Biloxi area because those were on the eastern side of the eye; the area with the greatest wind and water concentrations. The distance from the farthest city, Waveland, to Biloxi, is only about 40 miles by road, max, maybe 15 miles as the crow flies, so it's all one area in storm terms.
As the storm approached, the water from the Gulf was pushed ahead of it, and that's why they had 22-25' or more, storm surge in that area. It's the same area that was damaged in Camille. In that one, the bridge that spanned Biloxi Bay buckled, like the one over Escambia Bay in last year's Ivan. I haven't seen any helicopter footage of the Gulf Coast. They are showing the flooded New Orleans neighborhoods, but nothing else at this point. I'm going to keep the TV on, just in case. SirKit's brother's Parish is just north of the RR tracks, and he was sure he'd be high and dry, but we read that the water went over and past the tracks in some areas, but that CSX line runs all along the coast, so we don't know just WHERE the water breached it. It sounds like the area of Biloxi where I-110 comes down from I-10 to Hwy 90 might have been affected by the storm surge the most, but we can't tell.
We read on a Coast Blog last night that the superstructure of one of the Casinos had come loose and floated across Hwy 90, coming to rest on the other side. I guess they'll have LAND based casinos now! Now, I know just how HUGH those suckers are, so that must have been one big a$$ wave to move it!
I'll let everyone know as soon as I hear from anyone in the family!
Prayers for your family and friends too Suzi.
It has to be frustrating for so many people that the coverage is really focussed on NO when so many other places were hit hard.
Let us know if you hear from your family! I'll be praying.