Posted on 09/03/2005 12:14:55 PM PDT by Cedar
Mississippi Gulf Coast Reeling from Hurricane Katrina From Ground Zero
By Keith Burton – Gulf Coast News Publisher
This is not going to be your regular news story. There are a lot of reasons for this. The first is that I am as much a part of the staggering story of Hurricane Katrina as the hundreds of thousands of people all along the northern Gulf Coast whose lives have been changed forever by this storm. After all, I live here too.
You cannot believe how difficult conditions are here and how frightening our immediate future is. This story will also be different because of how GCN is getting this to you. You have to know that communications, telephones, Internet and cells phones are not working, or working only marginally at the time of this report.
After great effort we have managed to get online, but we still need help and we are not sure even our current efforts will work long.
I have to thank GCN acting editor Perry Hicks, who is based in Virginia for relaying information from me to get some information out from Biloxi. And I want to thank my brother, Ken Burton, who is in Colorado Springs for engineering the GCN Survivor Connector Database to help people find the status loved ones impacted from the storm.
Many of you have already seen the videos and news stories from the national media. I can tell you that aerial photography, as graphic as it is, in no way shows the true story from the ground. I struggle to find the words. The faces of friends, and family, the hollow fearful eyes as Coast residents, long experienced with hurricanes, know that this is a life changing event.
I have to thank God that my home and the homes of my brother and parents survived. But that doesn’t mean in any way that we don’t have major work ahead of us. Like thousands on the Coast, our days since the storm has been filled with trying to clear downed trees from our roofs and making makeshift repairs to protect our property. The amount of debris from trees is staggering.
Imagine every tree and bush from a lush semi-tropical environment stripped of the green of life and dumped limp and lifeless. It is as if winter in the coldest states suddenly came overnight, yet temperatures are still in the upper 90’s. It is the heat and humidity that is so debilitating, which brings up a major point of survival here - Water!
Wednesday, the first distribution of water began to be seen. With just three days since the storm, that sounds pretty quick, but keep in mind that the high temperatures mean you go through water fast.
The national news media has given you the big picture on how the Federal and State governments are responding and the news has been bad on that front with widespread criticism. But people just don’t appreciate the scale of what has happened, and how hard it is just to begin to help.
First, just getting around is extremely difficult. Trees are down everywhere, especially in neighborhoods where people actually live. The news media generally talk about cities as if their downtowns was where everyone lived. But it is in the subdivisions and neighborhoods that Hurricane Katrina ruined lives and dreams.
Concerns over how badly Katrina tore into families and how shook people are is that officials have not released death figures. It will be shocking. One person who I know that is working on the recovery of bodies said that the teams are not being informed of the totals.
If the word chaos describes confusion, than Katrina may find itself another word for the same. It is now four days since the storm and communications are still nearly impossible. This is for residents and officials alike. It would be wrong at this point, however, to blame public officials for the problems that they are having with getting the help to the ground. The communication system on the Coast suffered tremendous damage and no effort of the scale that is needed can move quickly without communications. A lot of work on lines and telephone poles is underway, but we are talking miles and miles of line and thousands of repairs. Bell South and Mississippi Power are working as hard as possible.
There is some water flowing into homes and apartments at this time. The pressure is extremely low, and not enough to fight a fire with, but it will fill up a toilet tank. It doesn’t take long to realize that the simplest necessities of life make really big differences.
The lack of gasoline has largely stopped the sightseeing and frivolous driving that initially clogged the few streets that were opened shortly after Katrina. For the brave folks that have gone on gasoline runs, they report they have to go more than 150 miles just to find a few gallons as restrictions are in effect.
The result is people cannot risk driving much. This is a major issue because even if food, water and medical distribution centers are set up, people can’t get there.
Just last night, Long Beach police and city vehicles were out of fuel. The city’s employees were scrambling for fuel in school buses and wherever they could find it. The hundreds of emergency service workers are finding that once they get here, there are only a few places they can get fuel and those places are running out. If the fuel issue is not resolved within two or three days, the situation on the Mississippi Coast will become extremely dangerous.
I will update you more soon.
How are you online? Do you have phone and electricity?
Thanks! I have been looking for updated information about MS.
I agree. The rest of the nation needs to know the truth.
Good thing we have the internet to get a more accurate description of the situation.
Just found more info at this MS news link--story below:
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=3789025
Below is a town-by-town summary of damage done by Hurricane Katrina along the Mississippi gulf coast and northward.
Overall:
U.S. 90 buried under inches -- or feet -- of sand.
Communications down.
Transportation systems demolished.
Medical services crippled.
High-water marks set by Camille shattered.
Bay St. Louis:
Whole neighborhoods washed away.
Highway and railroad bridges to Biloxi demolished.
Biloxi:
Legacy Towers condos survive.
Ryans, Red Lobster, Olive Garden washed away along U.S. 90.
Lighthouse still standing.
Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge gone.
Bottom floor of the library and the home of Jefferson Davis home, Beauvoir, destroyed.
Sharkshead Souvenir City gone.
Edgewater Village strip shopping center gutted.
Also gone: the steeple of historic Hansboro Presbyterian Church; Waters Edge II apartments; Diamondhead Yacht Club, the old neon McDonald's sign on Pass Road.
Massive damage in east end of city.
Almost total devastation primarily south of the railroad tracks near Lee Street, Point Cadet and Casino Row.
Beau Rivage still stands.
Hard Rock Casino, originally scheduled to open this week, suffered 50 percent damages.
At least five casinos out of commission.
St. Thomas the Apostlic Catholic Church, which sits on U.S. 90, is gone.
D'Iberville:
New addition to Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church of D'Iberville destroyed, damage to sanctuary.
Structural damage to D'Iberville High School.
Hundreds of homes destroyed.
Gulfport:
Gulf Coast Medical Center lost power and evacuated patients to Alabama hospitals.
Mississippi State Port lost its lifting facilities and cranes.
Historical Grass Lawn building destroyed.
Fun Time USA left with only bumper boats, pool and go-cart track.
Numerous businesses and homes on Pass Road damaged or destroyed.
Dozens of homes missing on Beach Boulevard.
Fire chief estimates 75 percent of buildings have major roof damage, "if they have a roof left at all."
The storm surge crossed the CSX railroad tracks.
Heavy damage to Memorial Hospital.
First floor of the Armed Forces Retirement Home flooded.
3 of 4 walls have collapsed at Harrison Central 9th Grade School in North Gulfport.
At least three firehouses with significant damage.
Hancock County:
Emergency Operations Center swamped.
Back of the county courthouse gave way.
Harrison County:
Old courthouse building destroyed. Damage to virtually all shelters.
Lyman Elementary lost two buildings.
Woolmarket Elementary lost its roof.
West Wortham Elementary has significant roof damage.
Hattiesburg:
A number of businesses and homes damaged in the area.
U.S. 49 and Highway 11 shut down.
Wind speeds of 95 mph.
Jackson County:
Ocean Springs Hospital remained open for emergency treatment.
Roof peeled off Emergency Operations Center.
Long Beach:
Most buildings within 200 yards of U.S. 90 disappeared.
Stately homes and apartment complexes that lined the shore are gone.
First Baptist Church is leveled.
Moss Point:
Floodwater surrounded two hotels full of guests.
Much of downtown destroyed.
20 feet of water flooded most of the city.
Pascagoula:
Six blocks of Market Street destroyed.
Jackson County Emergency Management Agency had to relocate to the courthouse after the roof came off their building downtown.
Roof came off the gym at St. Martin High School.
Reports of flooding in the Chipley area.
Pass Christian:
Bridge to Bay St. Louis destroyed, along with several other bridges.
Harbor and beachfront community gone.
In eastern part of city, water rose to more than 20 feet above ground level.
Flooding on Beatline Road at the 90-degree turn.
House in the middle of the road on Second Street.
YES! We got the electricity and telephones back this morning. :)
Their are still many people in harms way. The aftermath is in many ways more difficult then the hurricane for some. We should not demoralize the rescue effort right now. The number will come out. It wont be accurate because some people will end up as missing forever. Some people were not even known (illegals, unregistered poor). Right now the morale of rescue workers is the most important factor. Perhaps we need to be patient and give it time. In the case of the Tsunami, it was a week before some towns were even discovered completely missing. No need for rescue teams when the entire town is gone.
I agree (and I live in an oceanfront condo). What worries me about Florida is that Miami-Dade and Broward counties are the only counties in FL with strengthened post-Hurricane Andrew building codes, and those codes (for glass doors, etc.,) are for 135 mph winds (Cat 3 storm). As for the rest of the states, I don't think any of them have adopted Dade/Broward codes, so the Gulf/SE is a disaster waiting to happen.
I'm beginning to think we need a national building code for coastal 'hurricane' areas that can handle Cat 4. That means lowrise, circular homes that can disperse winds, wind- resistant (bulletproof?) glass, home electrical generators, etc.
New construction will become expensive, but over time, say 40 years, lives and property will be saved. I doubt the US has authority (except, of course, as a condition of federal aid) to impose this, but the Gulf/SE states should collaborate in drafting a model building code for their coastal areas.
That's the main thing!
Thank you Mr. Burton for giving this problem some perspective!!
They could use insulated concrete forms to create walls. This could make them not only stronger, but cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter with less fuel needed to maintain temperature! You could even pour concrete roofs that wouldn't become sails in a high wind.
I talked to my sister-in-law this morning. Their small town has NO GAS. The Piggly-Wiggly has no power, and that means no milk, eggs, bread, and a lot of other things are available. She lives about 30 minutes south of Jackson. If conditions are the way they are there, then they only get worse the further south you drive. Add to these conditions a whole lot of displaced residents of the Coast and Louisiana, and you have a whole lot of people who are unhappy, hungry, thirsty, etc. Imagine if the government starts talking about all the dead people and missing people. Imagine lots of traffic into the area and NO WAY OUT BECAUSE THERE IS NO GAS. There is no gas. Delivery trucks can get in but not back out. It is a nightmare.
Sister-in-law also was advised not to take a planned trip to Florida because the roads in Mississippi AND ALABAMA are unsafe. Forget the problems with gas. The roads are unsafe because thugs are shooting people in their cars. This is according to my sister-in-law's sister's brother-in-laws, who are in the National Guard and working on the Coast. (I had to put the familial relations in that sentence. It's just so Mississippi.) Things are much worse than the media is reporting or maybe even knows.
They didn't want to have hundreds of thousands of worried people driving down to check on their relatives
In MS, some unknown number of the dead will never be found, washed out to sea or deeply buried in mud by the storm surge
Thanks for the ping!
Glad to see you are back, and in one piece!
How'd ya' like camping? ;o)
Glad to see you've returned and are doing fine!
Thank you for your informative posts. Are you in MS?
The gas shortages here in Jackson, MS (for folks not familar w/ the area--that's a 3hr. drive north of Biloxi) are severe. My place of business was closed on Friday due to the shortages. If you go out driving, you will see abandoned cars lining the roadways.
However, it is possible to get gas if you can find a station that has gas and you're willing to wait in line for 4+ hours.
I'm choosing not to drive anywhere except to our Church (two blocks away) until at least Tuesday.
I hate the gas lines, but I followed Howlin's instructions prior to Katrina and have full tanks in both cars.
I have enough batteries left over for stocking stuffers...lol.
The worst part of the damn hurricane was being stuck with ONLY a radio for news with the only clear channel being that of NPR. My blood boiled listening to their tripe and hysterics.
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