Ray Bonneville penned a wonderful song about New Orleans and he performed it live in Folk Alley studios, check it out!
Jul 292009
I grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi, attending high school in Gulfport and college at the University of Southern Mississippi. And to illustrate the span of time I spent in the area, I also went through Hurricane Camille in 1969. I was 13 years old. I left southern Mississippi in 1980 to move to Utah, but until recently my mother and two sisters lived there, providing many reasons to return at least once a year.
My most recent trip was in late August 2006, when I attended a College Park neighborhood reunion. It had been exactly one year since Katrina sucker punched a 200-mile stretch of coastline from Mobile, Alabama to well past New Orleans.
As luck would have it I also happened to be on the “Coast” to attend my 30th high school class reunion in late August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck.
My family’s home was, from 1972 until it sold to a real estate speculator in October, 2006, located just over the railroad tracks, directly north of the now-condemned US Naval Retirement Home on the Service Drive in east Gulfport.
What strikes me now is the utter devastation that still remains in the form of thousands of broom-clean slabs, although considerably tidier without the mountains of debris beside them. But in places like east Biloxi, Point Cadet? The Imperial Palace was open. Beau Rivage opened on the 1 year anniversary date to a packed house. Inland one block, I could not orient myself in this place where I had spent so many happy years. Just piles of concrete, torn-up streets, no white, slate-sided shotgun houses, no street signs.
Working people won’t return to these former neighborhoods. The land’s value has actually increased because multiple lots can be bought by developers. Boomtown. Hurricane-aware, hardened, battened down.
Maybe the Ocean Springs bridge shouldn’t be rebuilt. Turn east Biloxi’s nascent casino row into an intentional destination accessible via the Interstate 10 just north and Highway 90 to the west.
Feb 132006
Here’s a first-person account of the devastation and personal trials caused by Hurricane Katrina. It’s a compelling read (PDF) from Lawdragon Magazine about my lifelong friend Reilly Morse, an attorney in Gulfport, Mississippi who lost his legal office to Hurricane Katrina.
One could easily assume this to be a picture of the devastating tsunami in Asia in late 2004. It’s actually the coast of Mississippi Louisiana, at the very height of Hurricane Katrina storm surge around 1 p.m., August 29, 2005. (Poster’s note: I was 1/2 mile from the beach in Gulfport for this frightful storm and glad I couldn’t see the waves coming ashore.)
Thanks to Susan Rayborn of Sumrall, Mississippi for providing this great shot! According to Susan the picture was reportedly taken by a nun from the grounds of Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis. The image is one of a series captured by Don McClosky, manager of Entergy’s Michoud power plant in New Orleans. Mr. McClosky rode out the storm at the power plant, from which he snapped pictures of the storm surge.
More info here and here.
Sep 232005
Hurricane Wind (Blowin’ Sideways)
Jay Toups
A song/poem in progress about both Hurricane Camille (August 17, 1969) and Hurricane Katrina (August 29, 2005) in Gulfport, Mississippi. I was visiting Gulfport for my 30th high school class reunion when Katrina struck and lived there with my family during Camille.
August 29, two thousand and five
Only the cautious and lucky survive
The Gulf swept in block after block
All the way to the railroad never really stopped
Most folks left but a lotta people stayed
Wound up drowned or attic bound prayin’
Katrina made Camille look like trailer trash
Her hurricane party was a big time bash
Katrina dressed to kill, her eye had sin
Pushing water where it had never been
30 feet high up to ten miles in
You just wouldn’t believe the destruction
Twelve hour blow, a hundred fifty strong
A million people homeless when the day was long
Four hours from the east, eight from the south
Katrina blew the deep right out of the south
Hurricane wind, hurricane spin
Weatherman says leave you should listen to him
Most people lived but a thousand people died
And everything still livin kinda shriveled and cried
Nothing to do but go back to work
Pick up what’s left and rebuild till it hurts
Hurricane wind, hurricane spin
Next time you’ll know from how bad it’s been
Hurricane when? Hurricane spin:
Weatherman says go y’all listen to him
Back in Montana after 10 harrowing days on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, with all the familiar landmarks now blasted into oblivion for up to 5 miles inland by Katrina. Now that power is being restored and water beginning to flow again, people there are going about the business of cleaning up the mountains of debris in and around their homes and properties. And rebuilding plans are already in the works for most; that is if they still have something left besides a slab of concrete.
The construction/building industry is going to drive the rebuilding efforts. But there’s a long row to hoe because it will take time for the industry to ramp up staff and resources to meet the incredible demand for skilled services that was created overnight by all the destruction. As a result it will be some time before most people whose homes were “only” damaged to get them repaired.
People who have something to rebuild: they’re the lucky ones. Many thousands of families lost everything, including their jobs in many cases. Hundreds of people have reportedly perished, and millions of birds, fish, frogs and other animals too. I hope that coastal residents can find solace and diversion in rebuilding and avoid the pain of too much introspection about how awful this hurricane really was.
One of the things I noticed is that residential roofs made of shingles fared poorly. Most homes in the affected area had at least some damage, thousands were scraped off down to the plywood, and some roofs disappeared entirely along with the trusses underneath.
Another thing I noticed is that virtually all of the intact roofs were made of metal; aluminum, mostly. Perhaps an enterprising company sees the same opportunity that I do. Why replace a shingle roof with another shingle roof if the next big storm will tear it off? Why not spend a bit more and get far more protection and life out of the roof…often without even having to tear off the roof? Metal roofing of all types (plain or architectural tile) can be installed over up to 2 layers of shingles provided the underlayment is intact.
Sep 062005
View looking south from our street. The building in the backgound is a military retirement home on the beachfront about 20 feet about sea level. It is now uninhabitable and probably going to be condemned and demolished because of structural damage from subsidence (the surge was at least 30 feet above sea level here). It certainly blocked at least some of the wind and probably saved us some significant damage.
View from Anniston Avenue and parking lot of the military retirement home.
The brick and steel gate of the retirement home was smashed by the surge.
The cars in the parking area were piled 5 deep in places. Many were overturned, pushed for hundreds of feet and submerged in the creek nearby.
This view from our front yard. The pine tree was a sapling when I was a kid.
My mother, sister Christina and I survived the wrath of Katrina, but just barely and not without some storm damage to their house in Gulfport. The storm surge was 27′ and rose to within six inches of cresting the railroad tracks, which basically is a levee running the length of the Mississippi Gulf coast. My mother’s house is less than 100 yards north of the tracks. Just over the tracks it is complete and utter devastation. These pics are from the street which leads directly to the beach in front of their house.
Aug 282005
11 p.m. (Sorry for missing the promised 10 p.m. post time…)
Winds picking up to approximately 30 mph. Still not much rain, but clouds are lowering and moving very rapidly from east to west, following the counterclockwise rotation of the storm. There is also a tornado watch in effect till at least 2 a.m for all of the coast from Mobile to New Orleans.
My visit to the beach around 9 p.m. was interesting, as the waves had increased considerably in size/frequency since 5 p.m., beginning to wash over the pier at Courthouse Road. Police and National Guard vehicles were the most common vehicles noted, mainly because of the 9 p.m. curfew, which carries a $1000 fine for people without a very good reason to be out on the streets driving around.
Aug 282005
7 p.m. CST: The thunder now rumbles long and hard to the east, rain in bands beginning to increase in frequency. Still not much wind, just incredibly warm, about 90 F and 98% relative humidity.
I’m about to head down to the beach to see the surf kicking up its heels. There’s a mandatory 9 p.m. curfew, so I’ll be back about then to update. Next update: 10 p.m. CST.
Aug 272005
Just fargin’ great. I’m on the Mississippi coast for my 30th high school class reunion and there’s a category 4 hurricane headed right this way on Monday sometime. I’ve been through a few of these mega storms, like Hurricane Camille in 1969, Betsy in 1965, Frederick in the mid 80s, and Andrew in the early 90s. It is no fun when they are this big and powerful.
I intend to post throughout the storm, at least until the power goes down, which it doubtless will. I just hope and pray losing power is the largest inconvenience and nothing real bad happens. Short of evacuation, there’s not much you can do but sit down, shut up, and hold on.
