On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast with more fury than any other storm in recent history. She has been named the worst natural disaster to ever hit the country, and more than likely the world. Those whose names are Katrina are getting the brunt of remarks. Katrina set new boundaries as to what hurricanes can do, and no longer will hurricanes be measured by Hurricane Camille that hit this same area in 1969. The new standard for destruction is Katrina. She has changed the Hundred Year Flood Plane forever, and whatever is rebuilt will have to be built to new, much stricter codes.

You have seen photos and read coverage everywhere, so you know of the damage Katrina has caused. I am not attempting to depict the entirety of the storm; just where I live. People who don't live below the railroad tracks, which is where things were destroyed, aren't allowed down there. My family and friends who live out of state wanted to see photos of what happened to our home and our neighborhood, so I made this page, and with a little bit of commentary, you can see some of what happened on Back Bay in Biloxi.

Please be aware that these images are nothing compared to the real destruction in other areas. I happen to live in an area that is higher than the areas down by the beach, and we mostly got wind damage and trees down. Roofs are badly damaged from trees falling on them, but we didn't have anywhere near the damage that other areas had. One house had a large pine tree from their front yard fall on it and completely cut it in half. We suffered for lack of power and water, cable and Internet, too, but our area (with the exception of one or two homes) was extremely fortunate and I am truly thankful.

First, in relation to Biloxi, here is a map that shows where we live. Most of the damage did occur in what is called East Biloxi and "The Point" (the peninsula that juts out between the Back Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, where Biloxi was first settled and where Old Biloxi is located), and along Highway 90, as indicated by a heavy yellow line by the shore. "The Point" is where our seafood industry started, and where all of the seafood factories were until casinos came in and took their places, and where a few still are located if they are still standing.

The Point was practically destroyed, including homes, businesses and casinos.
Present buzz is that FEMA may purchase the land and what is left (hardly anything) on The Point and donate it to the city of Biloxi. Talk is that they will not try to rebuild in that area because it is too low and they don't want the same thing happening again. Maybe a park will be built; perhaps a memorial? Probably some of that land will be allowed to house gambling on shore, either permamently or temporarily.

All along Highway 90 and the beachfront, ante-bellum homes, businesses, historical landmarks and other types of buildings, and the highway itself were damaged, or flooded, or totally wiped away with only the foundations left of some buildings; no trace remains of some buildings, Of course, the damage extend way beyond Biloxi, both east and west. The farther east you go, the less the damage, but it was quite bad as far away as Pascagoula. To the west, it got worse.

With a lot of what was damaged and destroyed down in Biloxi, pieces ended up on the southern banks of Back Bay. The floating piers of Keesler AFB Marina (lots of them), which is at least 5 miles away from us, ended up in our side yard and that of our our neighbor's, as well as yards along the shore, but most of them are piled at our end of Popps Ferry Bridge, which connects us to the main area of Biloxi. The bridge was damaged by storm surge and by a shrimp boat that was thrown into it, and will be out for an untold number of months. That shrimp boat is now grounded on the shore about a mile east of the bridge. Oil drums that were washed up by the surge are lying on our property that goes down the hill on the east..

On Sunday, Aug. 28, Jim Cantori, from The Weather Channel, interviewed a National Guard officer about the coming storm, counting the hours until it would hit.. It was amusing to see gawkers behind them on the beach with their cell phones. During one interview, I saw at least 5-6 people with cell phones to their ears. I could just imagine them calling friends or relatives, saying, "Turn on your TV to Channel 30 - I'm in Biloxi on TV!"

My husband and I evacuated to Atlanta on Sunday before Katrina struck on Monday. We came back home on Wednesday afternoon having no idea what had happened to our home or his truck left in the driveway because there was no communication going in or coming out of the entire area. Our first view of our Interstate 10 exit was the long line of cars waiting for gasoline. It stretched south a ways, but that line was nothing compared to the next day when at least 300 cars were lined up for that same gas station. The same scenario unfolded each day thereafter. Cars ran out of gas while waiting in line and had to be pushed along until they finally were able to get some gas. People were trying to keep generators running and have gas to leave.

Some people were walking with their gas cans.

It is now Sept. 17. Many people have had power restored for a week or more. There are no longer the long lines at gas stations since not as many generators are being used. Still, there are over 30,000 destroyed homes, some with people trying to camp out by them using generators. Other homes were wiped off the face of the earth and those people are either in shelters, or have gone to stay with relatives, are in hotels and motels, or are moving away from the area.

We had heard via the Internet in Atlanta that our neighbor, publisher of our regional newspaper, had reported that his house and his family survived, but a neighbor's house didn't. We didn't sleep for two nights worrying that it might be ours, since we lived right next door to him. As we rounded the corner to our cul-de-sac, we saw that it was our neighbor, Ana's house, that had been hit by a storm surge and completely collapsed. It was a two-story wooden house with a below ground level garage, as her property sloped quite steeply down to the Bay. A fairly large sailboat was sitting nicely atop the remains of the house. We don't know who it belongs to.

Another view of Ana's destroyed house and the sailboat. The house to the right looked perfectly O.K. from the front. At first, neighbors said that they had lost their new sun room on the back. After further checking, and after climbing down the hill, dodging debris and nails in boards, we could see that the entire back side of their house had been washed away. Belongings were pushed all together (what was left) and it looked like an open doll house from the rear. It will probably have to be bulldozed.

First look at our house from our neighbor's house. They had already cleaned their yard, so it looked relatively nice. At first glance, ours wasn't so bad. The trees were scalped, with huge limbs gone and most of the leaves blown off along with many smaller branches. We saw that the roof sustained some shingles missing, with a cluster of them gone at the corner of the front porch. Debris was all over the yard.

This is a view of the west side of the house. Shrimp boxes and bags from a D'Iberville shrimp factory (another 5-6 miles away) were all over everyone's yard. We had sheets of insulation and fiberglass and shingles from Ana's house across the street and piles of branches that had been snapped off. The shrubs in the front are mangled and will have to be trimmed, and the huge hickory tree that has given us shade for 28 years (the one slanting to the left in the back) will have to be removed. It was pushed over and the roots are coming out too close to the house, and it is too unsafe to trust leaving it.

This is the east side of the house by the garage. Our little trailer was unharmed, but the tarp we had covering it was ripped off and blown away. Here you see more shrimp boxes, broken plastic containers, and one of about 5 sturdy plastic stacking containers, again from the shrimp factory that were in the yard. We lost a lot of limbs from that huge oak on the right. The magnolia tree just to the left of the trailer is still standing, but it lost some branches and a lot of leaves.

In our next-door neighbor's yard are some of the pontoons that floated Keesler's piers, some plastic sheeting, an oil drum and the new beach of sand - grass and topsoil gone. Their new fence was torn down and washed every which way.

Behind the magnolia tree you can see where the surge line came, and all of the construction lumber that washed in. In that rubble are two pieces of furniture, oil drums, and to the left you can see a portion of our neighbor's
canoe and fishing boat. Their boat trailer was totally covered with rubble. Won't this be a cleanup nightmare? It goes on forever down the hill. Where you can see land, all of the topsoil has been washed away and it looks like a beach with sand.

Here is the scene behind the garage. A Live oak tree that was about six feet beyond the garage fell on the greenhouse. It crushed the front corner of the roof, but didn't fall into it. That was amazing! We expected to return to no greenhouse and no shed. Both survived, plus everything in them. The water level and surge came up an unprecedented height, washing into the greenhouse, and washing debris under the walls into the greenhouse itself.
Branches were down everywhere.

Here is another view of the greenhouse with the oak tree on it. Notice the garbage cans between the greenhouse and the shed? Didn't move. Strange things happened in this storm. Vern's wood piles behind and to the left of the shed vanished, but his lawn mower was still there..

This is a view of part of the back patio. You can't tell where it ends and the yard begins. The red circle shows a house recently build on land down a hill, across a little creek and up the hill from us that we couldn't even see until all of the trees between us were toppled and leaves blown off those that remained. Now we have up close and personal neighbors, whereas before we were separated by a forest.

Here is what's left of my patio pond / frog pond. At last count before the hurricane, I had at least six tiny copper frogs living in what used to be a fish pond before the raccoons devoured the fish and trashed the pond. The frogs moved in and have raised about three generations of tadpoles, and I've grown to love them. At first glance, the pond wasn't damaged; however, after removing the limb and some of the debris and straightening things, I found that there was so much debris in the form of leaves, twigs, pine cones, etc., under the water, plus an oily film across the top, that it has gone downhill. It now smells really foul and rotten, and has to be emptied and cleaned. I have seen only two frogs. This afternoon, two of them had their heads stuck up through the nasty water on a sad looking lily pads. How they can remain in there is more than I can imagine, but I guess they have no place to go. I've filled the smaller pond with clear water tonight and will start transferring things over to it until the big pond is cleaned and sanitized. The only problem is that I'm afraid that the frogs won't live in completely clear water. The bottom of the pond had become rather muddy due to the raccoons knocking over the lily pots, which is what I imagine the frogs like, but at least the water was fresh and clear and didn't stink.

Sept. 8 - The frogs didn't like their clean, new temporary home. They hopped out and moved back to the sludge that had been drained down to the bricks that supported the lily pots in their old pond. I kept trying to use a fish net and put them back in the clean pond, but it wasn't home to them. They hopped right back out and into their old home. I am so worried that the bleach that I put in the stinky water to help eliminate the odor would kill them, but this morning the tiny one was in the old pond, and the larger one was outside sitting on the concrete patio watching me with caution. He is probably trying to tell me, "Leave me alone!". So, I'm going to have to let them do what they want. What is amazing to me is that they have gotten so conditioned to the old pond that they know it is their home.
This makes me wonder if all of the people who have no homes left who are being relocated (they hate being called refugees) will be like the frogs - always wanting to go back to their real home.
I've got to get busy today and completely clean out the old pond, fill it with good water, re-pot the water lilies, and see if it is the dirty water they like or the actual pond location they are used to. This is frustrating to me. The nasty pond had to be cleaned out. The stink was too much to handle, but I don't want to lose my little froggies.

Further down the yard is more rubble and debris. My American Holly tree is leaning quite a bit, and it was the only one on our property. It was here when we moved here. We may get a come-along and try to wench it back up and save it. In this area, I was nursing a small cowcumber (bigleaf magnolia) that was nearly two feet tall after it struggled for three years to survive. They aren't native to this area.. This year it was going to make it. There is no sign of it. To those of you who know me, you know that this was a big loss to me.

This view is from the back yard looking towards our bedroom. What used to be there is what I called my "Secret Garden". I had a flower bed, a fountain, and nice plants. This is where the leaning hickory tree is, although it doesn't show up in this view. There was lots of shade, and I had shady plants planted for the most part. Now, I will have to redesign it for sun plants since there will be little shade left in the entire yard..

This huge Oak tree was on the corner of a neighbor's yard (Bess S.). It was uprooted along with at least 5 more big trees in her yard. Her large magnolia in back was greatly damaged and is about half it's former size. Actually, most of the magnolias fared far better than the pines and the oaks. Other than losing branches and half of their leaves being blown off, they have more leaves than most trees around. The pines are turning brown, as did many of the trees and shrubs, from the salt water spray and surge.

Damaged or destroyed buildings, landmarks and historical places:

Beauvoir - Jefferson Davis's Home - Severely damaged, two buildings destroyed. Plan to rebuild.
Tulles-Toledano Manor - Destroyed - a casino barge landed on top of it.
McDonalds by Edgewater Mall and in downtown Biloxi - ruined.
O'Charlies wiped out.
Cajuns Chicken wiped out.
Biloxi Yacht Club gone
The Chimney's Restaurant was wiped out
Keesler AFB - severe damage to housing, classrooms, hospital. Estimated $500,000,000 in damages
Maritime Museum completely destroyed
Father Ryan's Home was destroyed
Ship Island - Camille Cut is three times wider. Fort Massarhches is standing, but has water and debris and lost some of the marble from the top. The reproduction of the Ship Island Lighthouse (just rebuilt three years ago) is gone, as are the ranger station and the concession stand. The boardwalk across the island has been heavily damaged.
Edgewater Village was gutted; Edgewater Mall damaged and expected to reopen in a year.
Latest news: Some stores in the Mall are openng in November, and others will try to open soon.
Dillards says they aren't coming back.

Ryans, Red Lobster, Olive Garden washed away along US 90.
The Biloxi Lighthouse still standing.
Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge gone.
The Highway 90 bridge across the Bay of St. Louis - gone
Bottom floor of the library and the home of Jefferson Davis home, Beauvoir, destroyed.
Popps Ferry Bridge - heavily damaged and closed
Sharkshead Souvenir City gone.
Edgewater Village strip shopping center gutted
We have no bookstores open still as of 10/26
Some stoers are working hard to re-open such as CiCi's Pizza.
The steeple of historic Hansboro Presbyterian Church - torn off
Gone: Waters Edge II apartments; Diamondhead Yacht Club, the old neon McDonald's sign on Pass Road.
Massive damage in east end of city.
Almost total devastation primarily south of the railroad tracks near Lee Street, Point Cadet and Casino Row.
Railroad bridge between Biloxi and Ocean Springs - torn up; also 27 miles of railways torn up.
Beau Rivage still stands, but has had severe damage on the bottom two floors.
The Amusement Park in Biloxi on the Beach was torn up. Rex the dinosaur, which survived Camille, was broken in to many pieces.
Hard Rock Casino, originally scheduled to open this week, suffered 50 percent damages.
At least five casinos out of commission - all casino barges were washed onto Highway 90 or across the road from 90 and some dropped onto other structures. The President landed on the Holiday Inn Express. Grand Casino landed on the Tullos-Toledano.
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, which sits on US 90, is gone.
St. Michaels Catholic Church on the Point was gutted and damaged.
Grasslawn in Gulfport was destroyed but will be rebuild.
The Chimneys Restaurant in Gulfport was totally destroyed. It was the ultimate place to go to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries for us. I hope they rebuild.
Morans Art Studio was destroyed.
The Mail Biloxi Library sustained massive flood damage. It will be a long time (two years) before it opens again.
Gulfport Main Library was severely damaged.

(Some of the above information taken from WLOX News Web Site. September 5, 2005. For information on other coast locations, click on: http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?s=3807744
However, that story was written right after the storm, and many more destroyed landmarks have been added.

September 15, 2005
Damaged Homes

In today's Sun Herald newspaper, there is a report on housing damage. Of the estimated 171,000 homes on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, 65,000 are destroyed, 38,000 have major damage, 51,000 have minor damage, and 1,300 homes are unaffected. This means that nearly everyone was affected; either wiped out, or with damage that can be repaired. Pass Christian has had approximately 70% of the homes in that area destroyed. In Long Beach, WLOX just mentioned that houses south of the railroad tracks are either standing, or complete rubble. There is no cleanup going on right now.
Biloxi lost at least 5,000 structures (destroyed), mostly on Point Cadet and in East Biloxi.

September 20

A car seen on Highway 90 by my friend, Linda, had this written on its rear window:

Gasoline: $3.00/ gallon
Hotel Room: $90.00/ night
Going Home: Priceless

Update on Hurricane Katrina Coverage - 2007
Katrina 2007 Update

Popps Ferry Bridge, Lorraine Road
Katrina, Page 2

Biloxi Pass Road, Cowan-Lorraine Road, St. Andrews
Katrina, Page 3

Biloxi Downtown and Point Cadet
Katrina, Page 4

Holly Hills Area
Katrina, Page 5

Rebuilding, Recovery and Renewal

An Essay on the first signs of life a few days after Katrina hit
Read about Katrina - "Hope Springs Eternal"

2007 Update
How things have progressed in two years.

This page created September 4, 2005.
Updates after that are in maroon or teal print.
Last update on 7/28/07