Gulfport, Mississippi, after Katrina

Gulfport is a coastal town located on the Gulf Mexico with the third busiest container port on the U.S Gulf of Mexico and is also the second largest city in the State of Mississippi. The town was incorporated in 1898 and the port opened in 1902. It started out as a lumber and port city and has now become known for its floating casinos. Before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the late summer of 2005, million-dollar homes were set behind ancient oak trees lining the 6.7 miles of man-made white sand beaches along the Gulf. Now most residences, hotels, and businesses lay in ruins as a result of the Category 4 hurricane, which has been called the "worst natural disaster in US history."

Many businesses and homes are unusable throughout the town, but little by little, the residents and business owners are working together to bring the town back to its former self. When I arrived for a week on business at the end of October 2005, I was able to visit a couple of the areas that were hardest hit. Driving down I-90 was heartbreaking, but being welcomed into the local restaurants that have been able to reopen since the storm was uplifting. I visited a local Mexican restaurant called Los Tres Amigos and the local Cracker Barrel, both of which were packed with customers. Communities have a way of banding together when a crisis strikes and showing the strength needed to bring life back.

Quick Tips:

If you visit this area within the next few months, you will be staying at least 45 minutes from the town of Gulfport. While some of the hotels and motels are open and running in the area, there is very limited availability due to the rooms being reserved for the health and clean-up and assistance workers. Try Biloxi or Mobile for places to stay.

Restaurants and fast-food places are working with limited menus. Gas stations are not working in town or only have certain pumps working. This has also turned into pay-before-you-pump, as the stations were getting a lot of pump-and-run situations.

Bring sanitizer and bottled water, as I'm not sure how good the tap water is. In certain areas, the smell in the air from the broken sewer lines is tremendous. If you are looking to enter into the coastal areas, you better know someone who has a pass who can get past the armed guards stationed at each entry road to the beach area to deter looters and keep unnecessary traffic to a minimum.

Bring patience and understanding. American Red Cross can still use your help.

Best Way To Get Around:

Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport
14035 - L Airport Road, Gulfport, MS 39503 228/863-5951
Serviced by five airlines: AirTran, American Eagle, Continental, Delta, and Northwest, with connectors from Atlanta, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Memphis, Orlando, and Tampa

Most roads are clear, car traffic is heavy, and rental cars can be obtained at the airport.

Interstate 90, which was the main coastal highway from Florida to Louisiana, is basically impassable and has been replaced by Route 10 heading east and west.

One of the few places open for lunch or dinner in the area was "Los Tres Amigos" which claimed to be an "Authentic Mexican Restaurant". My coworker recommended it as a good place to go and try Mexican dishes. I had the impression that it was part of a small chain that was popular in the southern states. As we pulled into the parking lot just before noon, I noticed that almost all the parking spots were full. We were lucky enough to grab a spot as someone was leaving. I wondered if this was a result of how good the food was or because there were so few places open to eat.

Walking up to the restaurant you could see that this building, as did many others in the area, had taken a hit from the storm. A huge blue tarp was pulled over the front of the building where glass from the windows had been broken. There was also a temporary fabric sign attached to the unfinished storefront. As we entered, we were greeted by the host who sat us almost immediately. To the left was the smoking area and to the right was the non-smoking area. Directly in front was the entrance into the kitchen where personnel continually poured in and out. The serving staff was almost all of Spanish nationality and you could hear snatches of conversations in the language being spoken all around you. The decor consisted of the Mexican colors of green, red & white. Piñatas hung from the ceiling and the art and posters looked like they had a heavy Mexican influence.

We were shown to a booth along the kitchen-side wall where we could look over the lunch crowd. There was a good mixture of customers in business suits as well as construction workers and families. We were immediately provided with a basket of white corn tortilla chips and a tangy salsa to hold us over until our lunch was delivered. A waitress came over to take our drink and food order. I had the chorizo and egg platter which came with refried beans, rice in a red sauce and soft tortillas wrapped in tin foil. I also had a lime flavored soda that came directly from Mexico. My lunch partner ordered the chicken fajitas which was delivered still sizzling in the pan mixed with red and green peppers and onions. Refried beans, lettuce and tomato were served on the side. Everything was delicious with just enough spice with plenty of leftovers. The entire meal cost us less than $20 with the tip.

Surprisingly, the service was pretty good even with the volume of people. The inside of the restaurant was much larger than it looked from outside. Even if this was not one of the few options available for meals, I think it would normally be just as busy with customers

Katrina, a category 4 hurricane, hit the Gulf Coast in late summer of 2005. While New Orleans was the most publicized of the areas hit, Gulfport, Mississippi, and the Interstate 90 area had some of the most extensive damage. From what I was told, I-90 runs east to west from the Florida panhandle all the way to Louisiana and follows the coast ft the Gulf of Mexico. Throughout Mississippi the route is mostly impassable; in some areas the asphalt has buckled and sand from underneath has spilled across the road.

To get to this area of Gulfport, you have to get past the barbed wire and armed guards placed at each entry road to deter looters and unnecessary traffic. The guards will check to see if you have a homeowners or Utility Company pass authorizing your access. The mother of the woman I was working with in our local office has a home about a block north of the coast. Of all the houses on her block, only four survived, one of which was hers, although it had major damage. The garage in the backyard was severely damaged, the master bedroom roof fell in, and all the carpet had to be removed, all of which was repairable, but the yard was in major disarray and five bodies were found in all the debris once search-and-rescue began. Her family had it luckier than most.

Using her mother's homeowner's pass one day and a utilities company pass from the wife of one of our fellow employees, we were able to venture in closer than most. As we pulled up to the guards station, we were a little nervous we would be asked for identification. Lucky for us, they saw the pass in the car window and waved us through with no questions asked.

The first thing I noticed was the smell. With sewer lines pushed through the asphalt and wide open in certain places, the odor was overwhelming. It reminded me of dirty diapers or decomposing animals, but worse. I got out of the car at one point to take a photo and could not keep from gagging. The air quality could not be the best, especially with all the particles from the demolished buildings floating in the air.

As we avoided potholes and the occasional vehicle coming form the opposite direction on the now one-lane road, I was astounded by what I saw. Where large mansions and plantation homes once overlooked the water, all that remained were piles of debris and sometimes foundations of the original buildings. The force of the water during the storm just swept away entire homes. The ancient, majestic oaks that once lined I-90 now lay uprooted on their sides. Periodically one would be marked "ALIVE" in red paint or tied with a red ribbon to avoid being destroyed when the cleanup crews arrived so the residents could replant the trees. We even passed a sign that said, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," spray-painted by one homeowner.

Farther down we passed hotels, restaurants, and a coastal Wal-Mart that was gutted. Do-gooders would leave piles of clothes in parking lots for local residents to take what they needed. Unfortunately, these items were not in containers and were at the mercy of the elements for days on end. There were similar piles all through the town in store and church parking lots. People tried to help, but did not seem to think it through.

At one point, as we passed overturned cars, fishing vessels, and pile and piles of debris, we came upon a boat that was brought ashore by Hurricane Camille in, I believe, 1993. The residents had left it where it had landed as a reminder of how strong a storm could be. The boat, surprisingly, was in the same place as before Katrina hit. We also saw a tractor trailer upside down in the water with only its wheels sticking in the air. The area was known for its floating casinos, some of which were the size of large office buildings. We passed the Copa Casino, a huge orange barge casino that was picked up and dumped on land. I found it hard to comprehend that something so large had ridden the waves onto land.

By now we had reached the end of the drivable portion of I-90 and had to turn in towards town. As we traveled farther from shore, the damage was not as severe but still devastating. Almost all of the homes still standing had large blue tarps over the roofs, and office buildings and storefronts had their windows blown out, the innards swept away. Buildings had large red crosses on them marking that they had been searched for survivors and bodies. We passed trees that were surrounded by metal, concrete, and appliances and covered with so many plastic bags hanging from them that they resembled Christmas trees.

By the end of the drive, my stomach had tightened and I fought back tears as I realized that this was actually 2 months after the devastating storm had passed through. I could not image what it looked like at the beginning.