Debris on mississippi's barrier islands

[f5]

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/12819355.htm

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Posted on Tue, Oct. 04, 2005



R E L A T E D C O N T E N T

(Tim Isbell/ Sun Herald)
Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove looks over a map that shows the location of casualties found after Hurricane Katrina Tuesday afternoo in Gulfport.






Rumors of death toll
not true, coroner says

By ROBIN FITZGERALD

rfitzgerald@sunherald.com


GULFPORT - South Mississippi's death toll from Hurricane Katrina isn't likely to climb much higher, according to the coroner who's coordinating recovery of bodies and identification of the dead.

Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove on Tuesday dispelled rumors that hundreds, if not thousands, of area residents died in the hurricane. He also denied rumors that hundreds of unidentified bodies are stored in refrigerated trucks, unreported to the public.

Of 167 confirmed hurricane-related deaths in South Mississippi, the highest death count comes from Harrison County, where 88 bodies have been recovered. Most, according to Hargrove, have been identified and released to their families.

Katrina's death count across five states exceeds 1,000.

Hargrove said he isn't sure where the false numbers are coming from regarding deaths in South Mississippi.

"I didn't think immediately after Katrina that we would have hundreds of deaths and I don't have any information now to indicate otherwise," he said.

"The reality is we may find some more buried under debris. Some, but not hundreds more. Did some people get washed out to sea? They may have. We may never know."

"I've never been dishonest with the people I represent and I'm not going to start now," said Hargrove, a retired district fire chief whose 31-year public safety career includes 10 years as coroner.

A survivor of Hurricane Camille, Hargrove said he never expected a hurricane of Katrina's magnitude in his lifetime.

After Katrina's landfall, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency asked Hargrove to supervise the victims' recovery. Two days and dozens of bodies later, Hargrove called for help from FEMA's portable mortuary service and its Urban Search and Rescue, or USAR, a multiagency task force.

Hargrove described the result of a 35- to 45-foot storm surge as this: The surge inland piled debris 5 to 15 feet high, then swept south, littering the barrier islands, 12 miles south, with items ranging from refrigerators and car bumpers to horses and cows.

Hargrove said USAR teams with cadaver dogs and other teams from Birmingham, DeKalb County, Ga., and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation searched extensively in 16-hour shifts.

"I've tried to prepare the community for every step," Hargrove said of public briefings to reflect the move from search-and-rescue to search-and-recovery, and now to searches during debris removal.

[Radar]

I have heard that they are finding alot of personal affects out on the barrier Islands... It just goes to show you the power and the force this storm surge had when it struck... Absolutely unbelieavable. Things will be washing up for years from this storm!

[f5]

i also heard there might be personal belongings at the floor of the GOM.Katrina was one angry witch that no one could ever imagine

[Dick Pache]

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