Posted on 08/31/2005 2:11:38 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Heaviest loss of life appears to be from Biloxi building collapse
GULFPORT, MISS. - Stunned residents emerged from shelters and homes Tuesday to start assessing the massive damage left by Hurricane Katrina as rescuers pulled bodies from crushed homes and apartments near the coast.
The death toll in this hard-hit county rose to more than 100, but officials believe that number will rise. "There's so much rubble, we won't know for a while. But I fully expect the number to be in the hundreds," said Jason Green, assistant to the Harrison County coroner.
In an auxiliary morgue downtown, hearses unloaded bodies uncovered by search-and-rescue teams.
"Several families have brought in their dead," Green said.
County Supervisor Connie Rockco said it appears the heaviest loss of life was in east Biloxi, where an apartment building collapsed and killed 30 people.
"But there are fatalities from one end of the county to the other," Rockco said.
Gulfport Fire Chief Pat Sullivan said most of those who died in Gulfport perished in the zone of the storm surge, which pushed up to a set of railroad tracks about six blocks from the beach.
"We begged, we pleaded, we demanded. We told them they had a good chance of dying if they didn't leave. But there's only so much government can do to protect people," Sullivan said. "Too many people tried to ride it out. We can't regulate good sense."
Thought they were safe
Sullivan said many homes that survived the catastrophic Hurricane Camille in 1969 were washed away by Katrina.
"People in them thought they were safe, that lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place," he said.
In Biloxi, at the Quiet Water Beach apartments, at least 30 people died when the two-story building crumbled in the storm Monday. One resident, Joy Schovest, told the Associated Press she swam for her life.
"We grabbed a lady and pulled her out the window and then we swam with the current," said Schovest, 55, breaking into tears. "It was terrifying. You should have seen the cars floating around us. We had to push them away when we were trying to swim."
All that remained of the apartment complex was a concrete slab surrounded by a heap of red bricks that were once the building's walls. A crushed red toy wagon, jewelry, clothing and twisted boards were mixed in with the debris.
Gulfport Police Lt. Michael Shaw said he and others in his search crew carried bodies across stretches of rubble that ran blocks from the beach.
"I've lived here all my life, and in some places we were, I couldn't recognize where I was," Shaw said.
The central part of the city, near the coast, looked as though it had been rocked by an explosion. At the waterfront, the blocklong floating Copa Casino had been heaved about 200 yards onto the shore. Its sides were blown to tatters, especially on the lower levels of the roughly six-floor structure.
The floating Grand Casino also was pushed aground and came to rest several blocks west of its former location.
On the beachfront U.S. 90, near the center of town, Hugh Keting surveyed where his law office used to be. The two-story stucco house had been scraped off its foundation, although a huge live oak next to it remained with hardly a damaged branch.
Dwight Harper's workplace was all but gone, too. He works for Dole, which runs a shipping operation on the docks. Some of the facility's two-story-tall unloaders and other heavy equipment were tossed about the edge of downtown.
Inside First Presbyterian Church, which faces the water about a block from the shore, waves had pounded away the plaster up to a line about 6 feet high across the entire back wall. The floor was covered with 3 inches of sand.
Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr said the beachfront shopping center that he and his father owned was destroyed, as were their homes.
Warr and his city staff met in the largely undamaged City Hall on Tuesday morning to choose locations for distribution points for the aid they expect to come in. He said he expected it to begin arriving early today.
"We understand the military trying to reach us was bogged down on U.S. 49," Warr said, referring to the main north-south highway into Gulfport. "I was told there were more than 100 big pines across the road in a two-mile stretch in the DeSoto (National) Forest."
City officials said they could not immediately re-establish water or sewer services. All land phone lines and most cell phone communications were out of service, they said, and crews were trying to repair a major gas leak downtown.
Tons of chicken parts, which had been stored for shipping in the port area, ended up scattered across dozens of blocks west of the city.
"That's going to become a biohazard in no time," said Sullivan, the fire chief. "We'll need fast help with that, too."
Police Chief Steve Barnes said there was an immediate need for portable toilets. "There's not one left standing along the whole (Mississippi) coast," he said.
Katrina's destruction was so widespread, Barnes said, that "all the emergency resources we need are being stretched."
Marine life facility gone
After several drug and grocery stores opened late in the day, lines quickly formed and parking lots filled. Some residents, including 67-year-old Norman Vancourt, said they were planning to leave the coast until basic services are restored. "I'll go as far north as it takes to get a hot cup of coffee," he said.
His house in Long Beach, a town of about 17,000 just west of Gulfport, was demolished. "In a storm like this, you don't even board it up," he said.
Six bottlenose dolphins from Marine Life Oceanarium that rode out the storm in two motel pools will leave town soon, too.
"We were totally destroyed," said Moby Solangi, the aquarium's president. "We're planning to put them in another facility until we can rebuild."
Three of Solangi's sea lions that ended up in neighborhoods were recovered alive, he said.
"The birds and fish, they're free now," Solangi said, describing how the storm crushed several 30-foot-tall tanks.
thomas.korosec@chron.com
Yeah, just as black nudity is anthropology and white nudity is porn. Ignorance abounds.
Yesterday as I was watching the coverage, I sat in my big fat La-Z-Boy chair thinking of all the beautiful classic historical southern homes that have been damaged or destroyed. Paul Harvey had spent a lengthy time talking about that aspect on his News and Commentary program yesterday and that's what got me to rethinking about all of what Mr. Harvey had said earlier in the day when I was watching all the coverage.
Just your stereotypical LA demonRat politician.
The report yesterday was that the storm surge was 36 feet in Gulfport...just massive. Structures that survived Camile did not make it though Katrina. So much for the "storm of a century" nonsense. They could have another of these next year or in five or ten years. We don't control nature, period.
I have $100 that says the death toll will be 25,000+ from all storm-related causes.
The Davis home, built in 1854, has been reduced to rubble and a frame of a house.
Landmarks like Beavoir, the final home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, are virtually demolished.
The Davis home, built in 1854, has been reduced to rubble and a frame of a house.......***
Oh, MY..I pray not! It will be bad, no doubt.
Thanks for the post and links.
The Mississippi State Port at Gulfport lost its lifting facilities and cranes, and the waves deposited cargo containers as far as a block north of U.S. 90.
Scores of people were feared dead along the Mississippi coast after Monday's storm surge, which reached as high as 30 feet.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002460534_katrinamiss31.html
Myself as well....
There are 13,000 in the Superdome right now - all are potential deaths if the LA authorities don't get off their a$$es and get those people out.
There are anecdotal and unconfirmed reports that there are bodies by the thousands all over the Mississippi gulf coast.
The true toll of this disaster won't be known or reported for WEEKS to come.
Thank you for all your work keeping us updated on this. My heart is so sad for the suffering these people are enduring.
This part is troubling, "Officials said options include tents, mobile homes or financially troubled hotels and apartments"..please, do this far enough from the danger zone with so much of hurricane season still to come.
An important point. A lot of people in Houston are helping. They got hit hard by Allison about three years ago.
Part of this is due to familiarization, if you will..Look..last year, we had those 4-5 hurricanes in Florida..Bad, yes, but very minimal loss of life..more get killed in trsffic accidents every day..so many people figured why not stay and protect what's mine..
"We can't regulate good sense."
Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call for all future warnings.
saw the navy is supposed to be on the way
saw the navy is supposed to be on the way
The boy who cried wolf comes to mind. If they didn't say exactly the same thing for every hurricane that comes along, then maybe they'd have more credibility when they're correct for once.
Re: Your tagline.
Pick me!!! Pick ME!!!
However, I don't think my wife would appreciate it.
Oh yeah...
The beotch is a certified loon.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.