Hurricane Katrina 8 years later

Gulfport, Mississippi---Planning this trip meant being open to any unplanned turn of events. One was finding out a friend was going to be working in Mississippi exactly when I was going to pass through. So here I am in a nice Marriott Hotel facing the Gulf!

I would never imagine that this very hotel barely weathered Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. But on the room's TV was an in-house video with a loop showing five guys who stayed behind and filmed the storm and the storm surge (UltimateChase.com).  I now understand why and how storm surge does the most damage. One hour of footage had been edited down to show the stages of the storm.



Current

It was remarkable to see the lobby that I had just walked through with a floating car being pushed through the front doors.  Furniture floating, surge rising, and wind howling.  It showed the beginning where water began to pour through the front doors to all four entry doors completely missing! It continued to record water that rose past the first floor and lapped up the stairwells towards the second floor.  As it turns out, this property formerly the Holiday Inn, reached 28 feet 10 inches of storm surge and a line in the lobby marked it off.

Current/water line above TV

I continued to notice the empty lots that line the Gulf front and large foundations.  I was told Mansions lined Highway 90 along the water.  I counted 31 driveways to nowhere in just the 2 miles prior to the Hotel. Watching the news never seems to capture the magnitude of it and this is 8 years later!

 



NOTE Foundation from past home still sits 13 years later.