Moving West

After a cold and sometimes wet winter in Florida, we are on the move. This winter was certainly not like the past years we spent in Florida and has made us decide that Arizona is our place to be in the winter.

Our first stop was Pass Christian Mississippi. This is the area from Waveland through Biloxi that was ground zero for Katrina. It is now 5 1/2 years since this hurricane and you can still see the devastation. Many buildings are still just piles of rubble probably waiting for insurance companies to decide what to do. Highway 90 runs next to the water. This is the highway so often shown in pictures that was piled with rubble. On one side is The Strand, a man made beach that has the sand back in place and they are trying to regrow the sea oats to keep down the erosion.

The other side of this highway had homes, some large mansions, and businesses. There is the occasional home that has been rebuilt and some in the process of rebuilding. A few businesses have rebuilt, mostly Waffle Houses, McDonalds and a few casinos in Biloxi. However, there are miles and miles of driveways to nothing, streets to nowhere, steps to nowhere and parking lots with no buildings and For Sale signs everywhere. There are RVs parked on some of the vacant lots as if that is where the owners are living. Apparently many insurance claims were denied because the companies claimed that the damage was from water and with no flood insurance they will not pay. There was a 24' wall of water driven by the wind that hit this area.

The home of Jefferson Davis, Beauvoir, was spared but heavily damaged. Of the 7 buildings on the property, only 2 survived and one of those had to be torn down when FEMA declared it was in a flood plain and had to be moved 150' feet west to rebuild. The first picture is 3 days after Katrina and just a few days after this picture, much of the roof collapsed. Then a picture of what it looks like today. They were not able to get any artifacts out before the storm, but were able to find many of them and restore them. Others they have replaced with period pieces.


The RV park we stayed in was probably at least 3 miles inland and it was devastated. The owners at the time just left it. New owners purchased it a year ago, but they have a lot of work to do as it is still a mess. This whole area may never be what it was pre-Katrina.