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I regret saying “fools” and I apologize.

I know that no place is risk-free but some are just inherently more dangerous. The Gulf Coast is beautiful, but eventually you WILL get hit by a hurricane. My cousin, who had a very nice home right by the water in Biloxi, was very shaken (he did evacuate). He lives in Baton Rouge for now and says he will never live on the coast again. And even with his millions, he was also unable to find a place to live for a while (except with family).

My relatives who were hurt mostly picked themselves up, although my aunt did get a trailer. But they also all had money and insurance. And they had family support, otherwise I’m not sure my oldest aunt could have gotten through.

My family lived through Camille and through Katrina. After the last storm my sister said enough was enough and she picked up and moved to SC about 5 minutes from me. The rest of my family are still on the coast. After Camille I remember a conversation between my dad and grandmother. She wouldn’t leave during the storm and rode out some horrible times because of it. She stayed in the old courthouse in Gulfport and saw a woman on top of a mattress washed out with the surge and I will never forget her crying as she spoke of the cries she heard all night. My dad told her she was an idiot not to leave and my grandmother simply said “I will die sometime anyway”.
Fast forward to Katrina. My dad, now 75 wouldn’t leave the coast either. I asked him if he would consider coming here to SC and he said “No, I will stay where I am at and where I am comfortable and where my home is....I will die sometime anyway”. Geez! Nothing ever changes.

I love the coast of Mississippi and I miss it terribly. I still have found memories and it makes me almost cry when I see the beauty gone. But it will come back better as it did after Camille, after Frederick, after Betsy...etc. But what makes the coast so grand to me are the people...not like people from New Orleans or Mobile or Jackson. They love a good time but work for it. They aren’t lazy and for the most part not white trash either. they get along with you whether you are black, white, gay, straight, Vietnamese, Korean, Muslim...whatever. They get their party hardy attitude from NO and there strong spirit from re-building and they are some of the most gracious people I have met in my life. The coast will build back if the people build back. You can’t blame them for being mad that their insurance they paid for decades won’t rebuild their homes. My fathers home suffered little damage from either Camille or Katrina yet he still could not get insurance because of where he lived. They are no different then San Francisco with the earthquakes or OK and it’s tornadoes...the damage of this storm was more widespread all at one time...not over a period of years or decades as it is with other parts of the country and their visits from Mother Nature.