Search starts for survivors and dead in Miss. after Katrina

Sun-Herald ^ | August 30, 2005 | HOLBROOK MOHR, AP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

GULFPORT, Miss. - Rescuers in boats and helicopters searched for survivors of Hurricane Katrina and brought victims, wet and bedraggled, to shelters Tuesday as the extent of the damage across the Gulf Coast became ever clearer. The governor said the death toll in one Mississippi county alone could be as high as 80.

Power was out to about 800,000 customers statewide, according to officials of electric companies and rural power associations.

"The devastation down there is just enormous," Gov. Haley Barbour said on NBC's "Today" show, the morning after Katrina howled ashore with winds of 145 mph and engulfed thousands of homes in one of the most punishing storms on record in the United States.

Barbour said there were unconfirmed reports of up to 80 deaths in Harrison County - which includes devastated Gulfport and Biloxi - and the number was likely to rise. At least five other deaths across the Gulf Coast were blamed on Katrina.

Barbour and emergency officials were to tour the coast later Tuesday.

"We know that there is a lot of the coast that we have not been able to get to," the governor said. "I hate to say it, but it looks like it is a very bad disaster in terms of human life. The beach is essentially destroyed on the coast."

Officials said as many as 30 people died at the Quiet Water Beach apartments. The only evidence of the apartments is a concrete slab. Red bricks which were once its walls are scattered around the area, which is located just across U.S. 90 from the beach. In the debris is a crushed red child's play wagon, jewelry and clothing.

Behind the slab, a wall of debris is washed up against homes. The nearby U.S. 90 is buckled and covered with debris - twisted boards, pieces of wall, bricks and the possessions of those who lived there.

People are digging through the rubble, looking for any possessions that survived. One man in military dress wouldn't give his name but said he had escaped. He picked up a kitchen fork and said: "There's one of my forks." He shook his head and walked away.

Joy Schovest, 55, was in the apartment complex with her boyfriend, Joe Calvin, when the complex began to fall apart in the rising waters. She broke into tears as described what happened.

"The water got higher and higher. It pushed all the doors open and we swam out. We grabbed a lady and pulled her out the window and then we swam with the current," she said. "It was terrifying. You should have seen the cars floating around us. We had to push them away when we were trying to swim."

Her daughter, 30-year-old April Huffman, embraced her as she began crying.

Joy Schovest said: "The cell phones don't work and I know my family thinks I'm dead."

She wouldn't discuss why they stayed despite mandatory evacuation.

Katrina was downgraded to a tropical storm late Monday. Southern Co. officials said power was out to all of its 195,000 customers in south Mississippi served by Mississippi Power Co. Farther north, Entergy Mississippi officials reported power was out to 260,400 customers.

The Electric Power Associations of Mississippi said power was out to about 400,000 customers throughout the storm damaged area from the coast to north Mississippi.

Jack Crochet, 56, Biloxi, walked down a buckled and sand-covered U.S. 90 Tuesday carrying a bottle of champagne. He shook his head, looked at the debris and said: "This is all that's left of my house."

Crochet weathered the storm in his home near the beach in Biloxi. His home also was near an apartment complex where dozens of people were believed to have been killed.

"We thought everything was going to New Orleans," Crochet said. "I've been through Camille and Betsy, but this storm surge here, when it came in, it looked like a tidal wave.

"There's just nothing left," Crochet said. "It's never going to be the same. It's over."

Also in Biloxi Tuesday, 30-year-old Paul Merritt surveyed the damage with his 18-year-old wife, Carla, and their 3-month-old son, Brandon. He said the water rose to the second story of his town house, which is less than a block off the beach.

"I've never seen destruction of this magnitude," Paul Merritt said. "You see this stuff on TV and you hope that it never happens to you. Everything's gone. Our pets are dead. The water got up to the second level of my ."

His 25-year-old brother, Jacob Merritt, said the roof was ripped apart in his apartment complex in Biloxi. He sat in a cinder block Tuesday in the rubble of a beach-front hotel, Star Inn, and clasped his head in his hands. He said he had pulled out 12 people from a building during the hurricane, and he believes they all lived but had minor injuries.

After the storm, "there was a lot of looting going on," Jacob Merritt said. He said he saw people stealing beer and cigarettes from the Circle K convenience store.

Tree trunks, downed power lines and trees, and chunks of broken concrete in the streets hampered rescue efforts. Swirling water in many areas contained hidden dangers. Crews worked to clear highways. Along one Mississippi highway, motorists themselves used chainsaws to remove trees blocking the road.

More than 1,600 Mississippi National Guardsmen were activated, and the Alabama National Guard planned to send two battalions to Mississippi.

Teresa Kavanagh, 35, of Biloxi, shook her head is disbelief Tuesday as she took photographs of the damage in Biloxi

"Total devastation. Apartment complexes are wiped clean. We're going to rebuild, but it's going to take long time. Houses that withstood Camille are nothing but slab now," she said.

The Hard Rock and Beau Rivage casinos took severe damage.

There is debris all around Beau Rivage and the neighboring, Windjammer Condominium's bottom floors are completely washed away. All that remains of the Sun Tan Hotel is the toilets.

Katrina's tidal surge damaged major bridges to three coastal counties, including those linking Biloxi with Ocean Springs and the connection to Bay St. Louis.

The storm swept sailboats onto city streets in Gulfport and obliterated hundreds of waterfront homes, businesses, community landmarks and condominiums.

The concrete Eight Flags display marking the historic Gulfport-Biloxi boundary - a signature of both coastal communities - was gone.

A foot of water swamped the emergency operations center at the Hancock County courthouse - which sits 30 feet above sea level. The back of the courthouse collapsed under the onslaught.

In Biloxi, the mayor's office said the storm's surge put at least five casinos out of commission. Treasure Bay's pirate ship was beached. Beau Rivage still stood, while Hard Rock Casino - scheduled to open in early September - was half destroyed.

Hard Rock's signature guitar, touted as the world's largest, survived the lashing.

Barbour warned evacuated residents to stay away, saying most could not get to their homes, anyway.

"It will be unsafe to return to the coastal area for several days," Barbour said Monday during a televised news briefing in Jackson. "Be patient. Don't be in a hurry to go back."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Residents of Gulfport, Mississippi search for items in the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina August 30, 2005. Hurricane Katrina damaged casinos in New Orleans and along Mississippi's Gulf Coast on Monday, possibly destroying some riverboats and leaving others closed for at least several more weeks, industry officials said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Frank Polich

A section of the bridge connecting Ocean Springs with Biloxi is destroyed by hurricane Katrina in Biloxi, Mississippi August 30, 2005. Hurricane Katrina strengthened into a rare top-ranked storm and barrelled into the vulnerable U.S. Gulf Coast for a second and more deadly assault on the Gulf Coast. REUTERS/Marc Serota

A neighborhood is destroyed after hurricane Katrina struck Biloxi, Mississippi, August 30, 2005. Hurricane Katrina strengthened into a rare top-ranked storm and barrelled into the vulnerable U.S. Gulf Coast for a second and more deadly assault on the Gulf Coast. REUTERS/Marc Serota

The bridge connecting Ocean Springs with Biloxi is destroyed by hurricane Katrina in Biloxi, Mississippi August 30, 2005. Hurricane Katrina strengthened into a rare top-ranked storm and barrelled into the vulnerable U.S. Gulf Coast for a second and more deadly assault on the Gulf Coast. REUTERS/Marc Serota

A casino and a bridge are completely destroyed by hurricane Katrina in Biloxi, Mississippi August 30, 2005. Hurricane Katrina strengthened into a rare top-ranked storm and barrelled into the vulnerable U.S. Gulf Coast for a second and more deadly assault on the Gulf Coast. REUTERS/Marc Serota

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A view of the Sadler Apartments in Biloxi, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina destroyed them and close to 100 condominiums on the Biloxi waterfront August 29, 2005. Hurricane Katrina ripped into the U.S. Gulf Coast on Monday, stranding people on rooftops as it pummeled the historic jazz city New Orleans with 100 mph (160 kph) winds and swamped Mississippi resort towns and lowlands with a crushing surge of seawater. REUTERS/Mark Wallheiser

[apackof2]

New Orleans as we knew it does not exist....

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Flooded roadways can be seen in this photo released on Tuesday as the Coast Guard conducts initial Hurricane Katrina damage assessment overflights over New Orleans, Louisiana August 29, 2005. A widespread disaster unfolded on the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday as up to 80 people were reported dead in Mississippi, and floodwaters poured into low-lying New Orleans through levees battered by powerful Hurricane Katrina. (Kyle Niemi/U.S. Coast Guard/Handout/Reuters)

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Prayers and donations out for these Americans hurt and killed by this.

[ishootskeet]

THE SILVER LINING IN ALL THIS IS THE WONDERFUL WAY THAT THE WORLD HAS COME TOGETHER TO HELP THE victims of this, just as the U.S. HELPS OTHERS IN ANY DISASTER WORLDWIDE. BREAD UPON THE WATERS, HUH?

What, you missed that part of the story? Well, come to think of it, so did I.

If there is trouble in any part of th world, the U.S. rides to the rescue. If the U.S. has trouble, we are on our own, apparently.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Such devastation - prayers sent.

[backhoe]

Take a look- it's gruesome:

 Video of Gulfport MS damage....total devastation -- CLICK

[MSSC6644]

Do you know where I could find out what may have happened in Moss Point, Mississippi? My niece-in-law's parents live there and they wouldn't leave. Now all of us are very anxious about their situation. If anyone knows where to go for information so I might help relieve her anxiety, please let me know. Thanks. rj

[billnaz]

My cousin and her family live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, close to Biloxi. I'm waiting to hear some word from them. Would appreciate a few prayers.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thank you backhoe.

[nopardons]

bttt

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Jessica Parker, of Moss Point, Mississippi, fills her gasoline containers after waiting for approximately one hour in line at a Shell gas station along Interstate 10 in Mobile, Alabama August 30, 2005. Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 29, caused numerous deaths, severe property damage and power outages in that part of the region. REUTERS/Frank Polich

**....Still, the Gulfport and Biloxi area of southern Mississippi bore much of the brunt of the storm.

Katrina's 145-mph wind and huge storm surge shattered multimillion-dollar casinos, turned bridges into nothing but pylons, bulldozed harbors, courthouses, entire business districts in Long Beach, Pass Christian and Moss Point.

''This,'' said Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway, ``is our tsunami.''

Several people said they saved themselves by perching in trees. Huong Tran, 50, and her fiancé were among them. As the water rose, they spent six hours in a live oak tree.

''I thought I was going to die,'' Tran said. ``The water was over the house.''

She prayed to a Buddhist goddess.

'I called to her, `Help me, help me. I think I'll die.' ''

Many perished on Point Cadet, at the southeastern tip of Biloxi's peninsula, officials said. A portable morgue was being brought in. Authorities feared some victims may have been washed away, never to be found.

In many counties, emergency operations centers crumbled or were swamped.

In Harrison County, 35 people swam out of their emergency operations center with life jackets on. ''We haven't heard from them,'' said Christopher Cirillo, the county's emergency medical services director. Miami Herald 8/31/05

________________________________________

***....Now, some of what's gone:

.......Much of downtown Moss Point. Twenty feet of water flooded most of the city. Police and power crews still couldn't get in late Tuesday to assess the full damage. A lot more Mississippi info at this source

[Cincinatus' Wife]

You have my prayers.

[Prince Charles]

The picture of the bridge teaches a tough lesson: the rest of the bridge would likely have survived if it had been built as high above the water as the center section.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

So many causeways are built that way.

[MSSC6644]

Thank you for giving me all this info. I'll pass it on to my nephew and niece. It's not good news, but it's news.

Thanks again.

If anyone else gets any info about Moss Point, MS, please let me know. Thanks to all of you.

[hershey]

We may be alone, but we're in great company.

[mikegi]

In Harrison County, 35 people swam out of their emergency operations center with life jackets on. ''We haven't heard from them,'' said Christopher Cirillo, the county's emergency medical services director. Miami Herald 8/31/05

Ugh, I hope this wasn't during the storm...