Katrina

Casino barge almost hits St. Michael's Catholic Church in Biloxi, MS.

Katrina damages last original McDonald's sign on Pass Rd outside Gate 7 Keesler AFB. The sign would later be completely torn down and replaced.

It has been four years since Hurricane Katrina slogged ashore cutting a swathe of destruction that reached from Mobile, AL to west of New Orleans, LA. The hardest hit sections would be along a stretch of coast from Ocean Springs, MS to New Orleans, LA.

1,836 people would lose their lives during this storm with another 705 missing. Tens of billions in dollars worth of damage would be inflicted. Whole communities vanished like Waveland, MS. In Biloxi, casino barges would break free and became battering rams for more destruction. In New Orleans the poorly designed levees would fail to Katrina's less than Category Three waves, flooding vast stretches of that city and repeating what happened with Hurricane Betty.

Lets remember all the lives lost and worlds destroyed just five short years ago. Like the grandmother I met at a shelter who was patiently cleaning of mud and sorting all the money she had been saving for her granddaughter that Katrina almost took away. Or another woman at the shelter trying to save all of her important documents like her diploma from the ravages of water and mud. I just hope they have picked up their lives and built anew.

News:
The Sun-Herald: Storm Brought Out Survivor's Spirit.
Remembering Hurricane Katrina events in the New Orleans area.
Eyewitness to Katrina.