BlueskyStudio--Ocean Springs - Katrina -Introduction

:: POSTCARDS. of a different sort ::

K A T R I N A' S .. . W R A T H

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Introduction

Washington/LaFontaine ... Front Beach/Harbor Rd ... Shearwater/Gen. Pershing/Calhoun

Ocean Ave/Jackson ... 90 Bridge/Front Beach [West of Washington]

Journal <1> <2> <3> ... Art from Katrina ... Contact

HELP Links Where You Can Offer Help, Find Help, and check out "The Katrina House"

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Art - Katrina Mixed Media Collage / Poetry Series - Katrina Speaks

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Nov. 4 - 7, 2005

Our post-Katrina visit to Ocean Springs revealed an array of unbelievable sights

as well as a multitude of simultaneous feelings and emotions.

Here I begin another kind of visual journey – postcards of a different sort.

Who knew that the pictures I had not taken in 2004, and vowed to take upon a return trip,

would not become the reality of the sort that I had in mind...

My reality, as well as the reality of the people of Ocean Springs, has been altered,

but my heart is not daunted...I still want to live in O.S.

As we found out by talking to people while we were there this year,

rebuilding will begin, things will be better, the people will not give up, and most of all, perhaps,

people found out what it means to pull together and help each other.

People found new relationships and new friends.

We did.

Hurricane Katrina - Mississippi Facts

228 confirmed dead
More than 75,000 homes, including apartments, condos, and mobile homes destroyed in six coastal counties
(Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone, and George)
Currently 37,500 people are staying in temporary housing units, including 1,400 individuals housed on a cruise ship
Widespread loss of jobs, livelihoods, and income
500,000 Mississippians have applied for disaster assistance from FEMA
Extensive destruction of poultry and livestock populations
Temporary roofs installed on more than 41,000 homes
30 foot storm surge recorded at Biloxi, MS is the highest ever observed in America. Record storm surges that had not occurred in at least the last 150 years, inundated the entire Mississippi coastline, destroying many historic homes

Hurricane Katrina - General Facts

Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005 as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph with higher gusts, at 6:10 a.m. CDT near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana. Making its way up the eastern Louisiana coastline, most communities in Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parish, and Slidell in St. Tammany Parish, were severely damaged by storm surge and the strong winds of the eye wall, which also grazed eastern New Orleans.

A few hours later, it made landfall for a third time near the Louisiana/Mississippi border with 125 mph Category 3 sustained winds. However, because the storm was so large, extreme damaging eye wall winds and the strong northeastern quadrant of the storm, pushing record storm surges onshore, smashed the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast, including towns in Mississippi such as Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Gautier and Pascagoula, and, in Alabama, Bayou La Batre. As Katrina moved inland diagonally over Mississippi, high winds cut a swath of damage that affected almost the entire state.

.......* Personal Note: As far north as Oxford, MS, winds gusted to near 50 mph. Power was out in areas of the community for 12 hours or more. Trees were downed and streets were littered in branches. Rainfall was near 5 inches. The sound of the wind in the tall trees where I live was very scary and spooky, I cannot imagine the horrors of the sounds of Katrina on the coast with winds multiplied more than twice what I heard.

Category 4 Hurricane
Storm Surge reported at 200 miles wide and 29 feet high
Maximum sustained winds 140 mph at landfall (unconfirmed)
Lowest minimum pressure at landfall was 27.108 inches (918 mbar) (hPa), making it the third strongest hurricane
on record to make landfall on the United States.
Some 1 million people were displaced by the storm along the U.S. Gulf Coast. About half of those
are from New Orleans, where nearly all 450,000 residents were evacuated.
More than 3,800 animals have been rescued in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Humane Society said.
More than 236,000 customers without power.
The American Red Cross was housing more than 207,000 evacuees in 709 shelters across the country. It has served over 5.9 million meals and raised over $578 million for relief.
Early estimates predict that the cost will easily exceed 200 billion dollars and could approach 300 billion dollars
Hundreds of waterfront homes, businesses, community landmarks and condominiums obliterated.
A 10 to 30 foot storm surge came ashore on over 200 continuous miles of coastline, from southeast Louisiana, including Mississippi and Alabama, through to the Florida panhandle.

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MEMBER of COASTAL COMMUNITY WATCH

"If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer.
But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time,
he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen." - Henry David Thoreau

"Never doubt that a few, thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world:
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."- Margaret Mead

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Updated 1-16-07