Before After
Katrina Aug 29, 2005
Before After
The Camp
The Neighbor across the street.
Backyard at Camp
Boathouse
Sunday, the day before the hurricane, water was already rising in the area as I was leaving.
A couple of weeks later, and a few feet further down the road, this is what it looked like after the hurricane and water went away.
About a block or less from the beach, this is what's left of Main Street in Waveland.
This was taken Sunday, just before I left.
Here's what's left of the boathouse. Someone generously left their porch swing on the roof of the deck When I get the time, I'll take it down and install it under the roof of the deck.
This is the Hwy 603 at the entrance to the street to the camp. A lot of locals leave their vehicles along side of the hwy when a hurricane comes in. Usually that's safe enough, but not the case here. The water was about 15 feet above the hwy during Katrina. See the next photo for the high water line.
While waiting for the boat insurance guy at the I-10 exit #13, at Hwy 603 and in a motel parking lot about 1-1/2 miles north of the camp, I took this photo showing the high water mark. You can see a line of debris along the grass just below the bottom of the overpass. It's right at the bottom of the red Wrong Way sign next to the yellow backhoe. The overpass clearance over Hwy 603 is the standard 13 1/2 feet.
While I was still waiting for the insurance guy there, behind me is a motel. The owner marked the high water level at this spot.
Here's a photo someone sent me taken from the water of part of the Grand Casino at Gulfport. Casinos in Mississippi are required by law to be on water. So they build these casinos on barges at the water's edge, but they usually set on the bottom so they don't move with the tidal currents. Casinos in the state contribute about $500,000 a day to the economy. The Grand was lifted out of the water and shifted west a few hundred feet and set on the beach. You an clearly see the bottom of the barge and it's back end and where it's normal waterline is at the brown/black mark. There's a couple of vehicles at the end of the barge so you get a feeling for it's overall size.
When
I planned my trip down to the camp after the storm, I didn't have a place to
stay. I wanted to stay at a place with electricity and stuff, so I took one of
my friends' offer to stay at his place in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, about 80 or
so miles north of my camp. My hosts, Wally Weakley is a Judge in Hattiesburg and
his wife, Susan also works at a local bank in town. They have a lovely place in
a wooded subdivision called Bent Place which is in the country southwest of
town. Residents there felt the brunt of Katrina also. Many trees were down all
over the place and electricity was off for a couple of weeks. They got their
power back just a few days before I arrived late afternoon on the 14th of Sept.
After I arrived, Wally said he did not have any cases scheduled for the next day
and so would like to go down to the camp with me. They used to have a camp there
not too far from mine, but had sold it earlier this year. Lucky for them,
because it was totally destroyed also. As it turned out, I'm thankful Wally went
with me because it was emotional to me to see the devastation and I'm glad he
was there to take some of the focus of it off me. The insurance guy did not show
up and I had to schedule him for the next day. Wally had some cases the next day
and could not accompany me again, and so I met the insurance guy took a few more
photos and the left.
I could not resist taking this photo of Susan in her BMW Z4 convertible. It's so cool. So here she is on her way to work going in style.
