"It is
indescribable — blocks and blocks and blocks of no houses. Ninety
percent of the structures are gone. I saw Camille and the aftermath in
1969 and this is worst than Camille." Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on
NBC's "Today."
Ok, This was a big storm (that’s an understatement). Hundreds of
waterfront homes, businesses, community landmarks and condominiums
obliterated. Casinos built on barges along the coast damaged or
destroyed, some floated across beach onto land. Dozens of casinos
employed about 14,000 people, generated $2.7 billion in annual revenue.
Only three have reopened. I have friends and relatives who lost jobs in
these casinos.
Major bridges damaged in three coastal counties, including those
linking Biloxi with Ocean Springs and the connection to Bay St. Louis.
Railroad bridges in Pascagoula and Gautier were swept away.
People picked through casino slot machines washed up in their yards
for coins. If you lived in a part of downtown Gulfport you had tens of
thousands of pounds of chicken washed up and into your house from the
Port storage freezers.
If you lived in Pascagoula, below Ingalls avenue you now have
watermarks on your roof. If you still have a house that is.
The Tragedy that hit Hancock County cannot be related.
And here are the pictures of it all :
more than TWO THOUSAND original pictures taken by myself, my friends,
and my relatives who lived through this horrible mess. These weren’t
taken from the internet. They don’t show New Orleans, they show our
homes, our neighborhoods, our beaches. Or more accurately, what is left
of them.
you are not going to find these anywhere else. This collection is
huge, taking up FOUR cd's. (Note, if you have a DVD-rom computer the
collection can be sent to you on one handy disk instead)
Media coverage of the Katrina Disaster have consistently placed the
focus of the tragedy in New Orleans, as if Hurricane Katrina on caused
damages to that city. But that is not the case. There is an important
distinction between what happened in New Orleans, when set in contrast
to the destruction on the Mississippi Coast and south Mississippi. The
New Orleans calamity was the result of the errors of men. The
catastrophe in Mississippi was the result of Nature. Yet too many people
in the media and government have failed to note the difference. Efforts
to find funds for rebuilding both areas should take that into account.
Mississippi citizens did not riot in the streets. Did not ransack
neighborhoods or shoot at rescuing personnel. We helped, and continue to
help, each other. We are not looking for handouts from the government,
but we surely need everyone's help. And we thank those that have done so
Nearly six months after Katrina, razor wire remains in place along
the railroad tracks in Gulfport, Long Beach and Pass Christian. Harrison
County Civil Defense officials say Coast cities will decide when to
remove razor wire that was installed shortly after the hurricane to keep
looters out of destroyed neighborhoods. Checkpoints with guards still
patrol the few road access points into those areas. The best paying job
to get right now is to be a security guard.
there are miles, tens of miles of total destruction. And when the
debris is removed, emptiness will be what is left for a while.
below are some of the photographs as example. Please be advised that
I am not selling these to profit from someone's misery. I am selling
these to document what we went through here for posterity. I am sending
copies of these cd's to the US Library of Congress as well as the
National Archives in hopes that somehow they will find their way into
those collections as well.
