Katrina smashes and grabs on Gulf Coast

Posted on Tue, Aug. 30, 2005 --- www.sunherald.com


Scott Dodd

Knight Ridder Newspapers

BILOXI – The Coast changed forever Monday. Signature landmarks, moneymaking casinos, pricey beach houses, ramshackle apartments and the bridges that link South Mississippi together – Katrina stole or smashed them all.
In their place, a mess of sand and debris coated everything in the wake of surging seawater that topped 30 feet in spots.

So much simply disappeared, leaving nothing but concrete slabs. And with the coastline reshaped by Katrina’s winds and waves, so much may never be recovered.

“It took 15 years to build,” said Hayes Bolton, looking over the concrete slab that was once his well-known Aaron’s Lighthouse Pawn shop on Beach Boulevard in Biloxi, “and now it’s down the toilet.”

Damage assessment teams came back with the same message over and over: It would be easier to list what still stood, rather than everything that had been damaged or destroyed.

Still, a catalogue – even a partial one, as any list of so much damage must be – starts to give a picture of how much the Coast suffered, and the overwhelming task that faces the people of South Mississippi as they struggle to clean up and rebuild.

First, though, an important survivor: the 600-year-old Friendship Oak, symbol of Long Beach, made it through.

It lost only one branch and a bunch of leaves, and now stands as a symbol of the community’s determination to recover from Katrina, as well.

Also standing: The Biloxi Lighthouse, and the signature guitar of the Hard Rock Café Casino, said to be the world’s largest. The new casino itself, scheduled to open in September, was half gutted.

Now, some of what’s gone:

--The Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge and Bay St. Louis Bridge, two of the community’s main connectors. Along much of the spans, only pylons remain.

--The historic Grass Lawn building in Gulfport, a reception hall that dates back to the 1830s. Only its foundation survived.

--Much of downtown Moss Point. Twenty feet of water flooded most of the city. Police and power crews still couldn’t get in late Tuesday to assess the full damage.

--The Coliseum Pier across from the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Pelicans lined its remains.

--The Mississippi State Port at Gulfport. It lost its lifting facilities and cranes, and the waves deposited cargo containers as far as a block north of U.S. 90.

--The Isle of Capri casino barge. There was no sign of it.

--Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis home in Biloxi. The bottom floor of the library and the home itself were gutted. A Confederate flag, though, still draped over the arm of Davis’ statue in the library.

--Fun Time USA in Gulfport. The bumper boats, pool and go-cart track were the only things left.

--The President Casino barge in Biloxi, now sitting on a nearby hotel.

--Pass Christian Harbor and the community’s entire beachfront.

--Grand Casino Pier, also in Biloxi. Its two barges broke in half. One plowed across the yacht club north of U.S. 90. The other landed in the middle of the highway.

--The Treasure Bay Pirate Ship casino barge in Biloxi. It was grounded on the beach, with the bottom half blown out.

--The old Harrison County Courthouse building, which now houses other county offices. The roof was sitting on nearby railroad tracks.

--The Palace Casino barge in Biloxi, sunk in place.

--The Armed Forces Retirement Home water tower. It collapsed as waves surged beneath it.

--Several blocks of stores and restaurants along U.S. 90 in Biloxi between Rodenberg Avenue and Treasure Bay casino.

--Sharkshead Souvenir City, a Biloxi landmark. The pink shell that topped it sat in the yard of a home more than half a mile away.

--U.S. 90 through Long Beach. Chunks remained, like the aftermath of an earthquake.

--The stately homes and apartment complexes that lined the shore of Long Beach. The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast campus was pretty much the only structure still standing.

--The Edgewater Village strip shopping center in Biloxi. Buildings were gutted.

--The popular El Maguey Mexican restaurant in Gulfport, managed by Mercedes Carranza, a local landmark himself.

--Six blocks of Market Street through Pascagoula.

--The Diamondhead yacht club, and the roof of the Diamondhead Country Club, as well as the community’s business district, including the supermarket. More than half of the community’s huge pine trees also snapped in two.

--Alberti’s Italian Restaurant on the Biloxi strip.

--The steeple of historic Hansboro Presbyterian Church.

--Luckie’s Furniture and Appliance store on Pass Road. It was washed out, the walls gone, but the roof was still standing.

--Waters Edge III apartments in Biloxi.

--The restaurants

--The old neon McDonald’s sign on Pass Road.

SUN HERALD AND KNIGHT RIDDER STAFFERS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.