Random News Clips from SunHerald.com about Hurricane Katrina:
Posted on Tue, Aug. 30, 2005
Storm kills one in Long Beach
JOSHUA NORMAN
Sun Herald
LONG BEACH — Hurricane Katrina killed at least one person in Long Beach and turned its shoreline into a forest again.
Most buildings within 200 yards of Highway 90 disappeared and the rest became shells as of Monday night largely because of a storm surge that several locals reported to be over 30 feet high accompanied by pounding waves and a fierce current.
"What we’ve got south of the tracks is like a nuclear bomb without the heat," Assistant Police Chief David Bass said.
Rubble piled 10 feet high in parts littered nearly every inch of land for 100 yards north of Highway 90.
The famous coastal highway itself had been torn to bits by the water and wind, with huge chunks of concrete strewn about leaving it completely impassable except by foot.
Gas mains spewed flammable and foul-smelling air Tuesday afternoon because so many houses had been destroyed and ripped from their foundation. Fire and police crews worked as fast as they could to prevent a further disaster.
While only one fatality was confirmed as of Tuesday afternoon, Police Chief George Bass said the city was getting at least eight cadaver-finding dogs Tuesday evening to help sift through the mountains of rubble along the southernmost parts of the city.
Several officials and firemen expressed concern for the well-being of the numerous people who chose to ride out the storm near the beach and had not been heard from.
The damage was less severe inland but still horrible in parts. Tornadoes touched down in some places, some residents said, ripping storefronts and homes apart.
Flooding was bad in parts that traditionally flood and it could be weeks before the waters fully subside.
About 100 people were in Quarles Elementary School shelter, some of whom fled the storm at the last minute possible.
Water was on in parts of the city Tuesday, but service was expected to be spotty and could go out. Electricity was down throughout the city. All phone lines were cut.
Firemen and rescue crews had switched over to 12-hour shifts indefinitely.
Almost no one was allowed south of the train tracks Tuesday, with police turning vehicles back at all the track crossings.
Alderman Allen Holder, who was one of the many to lose his home, said the plan was to clear three north-south roads immediately and then work out from there. As of Tuesday, the roads the city planned to clear were White Harbor Road, Jeff Davis Avenue and Richards, Holder said.
Mayor Billy Skellie said he was confident attentions would soon be diverted to improving living conditions throughout the city.
"We’re going to do our best to take care of people hurting once we have finished search and rescue," Skellie said. "I went through Camille as a young man and this surpasses anything that I saw in Camille. This is the most serious thing that I believe had ever happened to Long Beach and the Gulf Coast."
Long Beach: Most buildings within 200 yards of U.S. 90 disappeared . . . Stately homes and apartment complexes that lined the shore are gone . . . First Baptist Church is leveled.
First, though, an important survivor: the 600-year-old Friendship Oak, symbol of Long Beach, made it through.
It lost only one branch and a bunch of leaves, and now stands as a symbol of the community’s determination to recover from Katrina, as well.
Also standing: The Biloxi Lighthouse, and the signature guitar of the Hard Rock Café Casino, said to be the world’s largest. The new casino itself, scheduled to open in September, was half gutted.
Now, some of what’s gone:
--The Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge and Bay St. Louis Bridge, two of the community’s main connectors. Along much of the spans, only pylons remain.
--The historic Grass Lawn building in Gulfport, a reception hall that dates back to the 1830s. Only its foundation survived.
--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.
--The Coliseum Pier across from the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Pelicans lined its remains.
--The Mississippi State Port at Gulfport. It lost its lifting facilities and cranes, and the waves deposited cargo containers as far as a block north of U.S. 90.
--The Isle of Capri casino barge. There was no sign of it.
--Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis home in Biloxi. The bottom floor of the library and the home itself were gutted. A Confederate flag, though, still draped over the arm of Davis’ statue in the library.
--Fun Time USA in Gulfport. The bumper boats, pool and go-cart track were the only things left.
--The President Casino barge in Biloxi, now sitting on a nearby hotel.
--Pass Christian Harbor and the community’s entire beachfront.
--Grand Casino Pier, also in Biloxi. Its two barges broke in half. One plowed across the yacht club north of U.S. 90. The other landed in the middle of the highway.
--The Treasure Bay Pirate Ship casino barge in Biloxi. It was grounded on the beach, with the bottom half blown out.
--The old Harrison County Courthouse building, which now houses other county offices. The roof was sitting on nearby railroad tracks.
--The Palace Casino barge in Biloxi, sunk in place.
--The Armed Forces Retirement Home water tower. It collapsed as waves surged beneath it.
--Several blocks of stores and restaurants along U.S. 90 in Biloxi between Rodenberg Avenue and Treasure Bay casino.
--Sharkshead Souvenir City, a Biloxi landmark. The pink shell that topped it sat in the yard of a home more than half a mile away.
--U.S. 90 through Long Beach. Chunks remained, like the aftermath of an earthquake.
--The stately homes and apartment complexes that lined the shore of Long Beach. The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast campus was pretty much the only structure still standing.
--The Edgewater Village strip shopping center in Biloxi. Buildings were gutted.
--The popular El Maguey Mexican restaurant in Gulfport, managed by Mercedes Carranza, a local landmark himself.
--Six blocks of Market Street through Pascagoula.
--The Diamondhead yacht club, and the roof of the Diamondhead Country Club, as well as the community’s business district, including the supermarket. More than half of the community’s huge pine trees also snapped in two.
--Alberti’s Italian Restaurant on the Biloxi strip.
--The steeple of historic Hansboro Presbyterian Church.
--Luckie’s Furniture and Appliance store on Pass Road. It was washed out, the walls gone, but the roof was still standing.
--Waters Edge III apartments in Biloxi.
--The restaurants
--The old neon McDonald’s sign on Pass Road.
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