| We left New Orleans on a miserable rainy day with the weather
(and us) heading east. We first travelled northeast on I10 across the huge
long, and recently reopened, causeway/bridge across Lake Pontchartrain to Slidell. At
the interstate crossroads there we turned east still on the I10 towards
Mississippi. We soon got bored with the interstate and turned south to the
coast to pick up the US90 at Pass Christian. The US90 runs along the beach. |  |
 | This is just about
where hurricane Katrina hit and it immediately became obvious how different
the east and west sides of a hurricane are on this coast. The damage in New
Orleans was bad but habitation here was just erased from the map. And the
trees didn't fare much better. |
| Even substantial concrete buildings were damaged beyond repair.
This is only 100 yards from the sea with nothing to stop it. The storm surge
here was 28ft and these properties are less than10 ft above sea level. It is
not just the coast which was damaged. The surge went ten miles inland and
destroyed most of what lay in its path. |  |
 | In New Orleans about
a third to a half of houses were damaged, here 90% were wiped out over a
50-70 mile front. The front half of this motel has just disappeared. Only
the piers raising the hotel above sea level remain. Not even the debris
remains, it is spread over the 10 miles inland from here. |
| This was one of several quite exclusive condominiums in a gated
community. The whole estate has just ceased to exist. Only a few of the supporting
pillars remain. This is between Pass Christian and Gulfport. |  |
 | An alternative
design to the pillars is to build a concrete raft with steps going up. The
steps remain but not much else. There are several miles where there just
isn't a building still standing. |
| Anything which might catch the wind just got ripped to pieces.
Even the palm trees looked odd because the leaves were just ripped from the
trunks. |  |
 | One might be pleased
at this but we passed one earlier where only the sign remains, and that is
bent sideways. The shopping mall behind has not fared much better. |
| This Walmart store is still standing but the contents have been
washed away. Getting anything locally is just not possible and there is
little employment available and few people left to be employed. One of the
folk at the campsite was down here with her church providing meals the week
after in the car park of a KMart. They found eight bodies on the roof! |  |
 | We keep hearing
about how God will provide but maybe only for the right church. This one was
obviously non-conformist, but that was probably the case all along here. I
don't think the weather was particularly bothered. There had been four churches
along the coast here in Gulfport and they were all wiped out. |
| Some modern substantial buildings had survived but most of those
had many smashed windows. Most of the top floor had gone. |  |
 | As we
moved further from ground zero, the only difference was that the debris
still remains. A number of houses had been blown off their stilts but not
blown away. Most houses which remain had lost structural integrity. |
| One of the more bizarre sights was this mock ship. Most of the
sides had just been stripped away. It was possibly connected to a casino.
Several of these were on barges and one of these ended up half a mile
inland. Harrahs had a casino which was wrecked at Gulfport. The mayor is
lukewarm about having a casino and now Harrahs have decided not to rebuild.
That will probably reduce future income in Gulfport by 30%. A wise move? |  |
 | Another tourist-type
building right on the waterfront. The storm surge here was 28ft. Both the
first two floors just ceased to exist. This is just an unsafe structure -
it's amazing that it is still standing. |
| This was something, once. Now it is difficult to visualize what
it might have been. Remember this is on a 50 mile front! |  |
 | Anything right on
the coast just had the bottom two floors wiped out. If it was solid, the
rest may have survived. Despite the presence of 44,000 FEMA trailers in
Mississippi there is no work, nowhere to work and nobody to work other than
in cleanup. But the problems are only just starting. Next year there will
be no tax income from property, or sales, so no way to fund paying for local
government employees, so delays for rebuilding permits are already causing
problems and that is just the tip. |
| Many people cannot afford to rebuild, as insurance is slow in coming
through. Even the local senator is now suing the insurance companies
because his house has vanished. But most of the local authorities have
debts already for infrastructure development. The debt payments will be due
next year and there will be no income to pay with.
The FEMA trailers are only available for 18 months. These issues won't be
resolved by then. Recriminations have already started. |  |
 | There is a bit of
protection from offshore islands but these did little to stop the hurricane.
Part of the problem is that the taming of the Mississippi with levees
changed the flows and the deposits of silt which used to provide protection.
Most of the silt now falls off the continental shelf into deep water and so does nothing.
The solution is not going to be easy. |
| Biloxi is a larger city and financially may survive. Some parts
of the city seem to have survived rather better, and though their
casinos are still closed they are being rebuilt. They at least understand
where the money comes from. But other buildings are in no better shape than
in Gulfport. |  |
 | The piles of debris
are still here and will take months if not years to clear. Remember this
hurricane hit five months ago. We drove past a site filled with huge piles
of shredded wood - the best way they have found to deal with all the tree
debris - but it looks like they will be able to supply the whole American
market for the next few years. |
| This was part of one of the casinos and has the glass and most of
the siding just stripped away. It will take months and many millions to
refurbish this. Inevitably it will then be much more expensive to live here
which will change the social/racial mix (this is still a very racist
society) which will cause more political upheaval. |  |
 | We had looked in the
guide books for possible attractions to visit. This is the seafood industry
museum. It was lucky, it still had most of a roof.... |
| Biloxi is connected by a long causeway across the bay to Ocean
City. Well it was - this is, or was, the US90. |  |
 | Now it is just a
pile of rubble being fought over by various agencies as they try to fathom
out how to replace it and with what, and who is going to fund it.
We had to turn inland (over another bridge which has only just been
opened) and return to the I10 to travel on to Alabama. I think our ability
to cope with any more devastation has about run out. |
| Perhaps there is someone up there. The unusual St Michael's
Catholic Church, with its shell-shaped roof, is still standing, although
other buildings in the complex have vanished. It has been completely gutted
as the water wiped out the ground floor. The pews and statues have vanished
along with the bottom 10 ft of glass at the entrance. What is remarkable is
that all the rest of the stained glass windows are unharmed (at least on the
seaward side, which is all we could see). Perhaps it is their ability to
flex which protected them. That's the engineer in me, I'm sure the faithful
think it was someone looking after them. Services have been moved to
another local church which caters to a mainly Vietnamese congregation. |  |
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