This says a lot

[dhweather]

From the Bahamas conference:

"I thought I was pretty familiar with the Mississippi Coast and
when we flew along there a couple of days after landfall, I didn't even
recognize, I , I just didn't know where I was"

-- Max Mayfield, Director
National Hurricane Center

[skysummit]

My wife and I passed through on our way to Pensacola this weekend. I'm amazed on how fast the area is recovering. I was there the days after Katrina. Compare that to the way it looks now is very impressive. I can't believe how fast they got US 90 back together. The last time I drove Hwy 90, I had to use 4 wheel drive and it was like I was driving through earthquake ruined streets. It's still total devistation though along the coast. It was the first time my wife saw the destruction with her own eyes. She couldn't believe it. She teared up.

[EDR1222]

From the Bahamas conference:

"I thought I was pretty familiar with the Mississippi Coast and
when we flew along there a couple of days after landfall, I didn't even
recognize, I , I just didn't know where I was"

-- Max Mayfield, Director
National Hurricane Center

It is definately amazing to see all the destruction and the big differences between the before and after aieral photos of the region.

[hurricanetrack]

I was simply in awe when standing there in Gulfport along the waterfront only an hour or so after landfall. Mike Watkins and I stood there looking down 90 towards the Grand Casino. It was like being on the set of War of the Worlds and waiting for Spielberg to yell "cut!" That is a day that I will never forget. The smell of destruction was something that will be etched in my brain too. Hard to believe that it happened again less than a month later in SW Louisiana. Yikes.

[Ixolib]

My wife and I passed through on our way to Pensacola this weekend. I'm amazed on how fast the area is recovering. I was there the days after Katrina. Compare that to the way it looks now is very impressive. I can't believe how fast they got US 90 back together. The last time I drove Hwy 90, I had to use 4 wheel drive and it was like I was driving through earthquake ruined streets. It's still total devistation though along the coast. It was the first time my wife saw the destruction with her own eyes. She couldn't believe it. She teared up.

Yes, "cleanup" and debris removal is in fact taking place. Nearly 7 months later, however, "recovery" is not necessarily a concept that has yet taken hold here on the MS Coast.

And speaking of Hwy 90. It is a very interesting drive after dark. It seems almost as if you're on a back road out in the country somewhere. No street lights, no traffic, no restaurants, no fast food, no souvenir stores, no casinos (except extreme east Biloxi), no gas stations, no pawn shops, no convenience stores, no homes, no apartment complexes, no nightclubs, no nothing...

It is actually now the best route to drive since no one is there. A very surreal feeling when one realizes that the main artery along the coast has NOTHING to draw anyone to it. Ghost town comes to mind...

[hurricanetrack]

I have made that drive before- many times. The Outback there near Biloxi or Gulfport, I can't remember which, is it still there? I doubt it. That whole route was so neat to drive from end to end- now it is empty. Again, this is not because of a terror strike or act or war. This is from a hurricane that we could track every minute of its life. Yet it still did all of that. That is why I am so interested in this force of Nature. Nothing else on earth compares- at least not around our neck of the woods.

[Ixolib]

I have made that drive before- many times. The Outback there near Biloxi or Gulfport, I can't remember which, is it still there? I doubt it. That whole route was so neat to drive from end to end- now it is empty. Again, this is not because of a terror strike or act or war. This is from a hurricane that we could track every minute of its life. Yet it still did all of that. That is why I am so interested in this force of Nature. Nothing else on earth compares- at least not around our neck of the woods.

Outback Steakhouse was on the corner of Tegarden Road and Highway 90 in east Gulfport.

Here's what Katrina did to it:

Scott Carpenter, manager of the Outback Steakhouse restaurant
in Gulfport, Miss., surveys damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

[skysummit]

Yup...that's the Outback. Every single other building along the coast looks exactly like that also....that's if the water didn't carry all the debris away. If it did, it's just an empty slab.

[hurricanetrack]

As Frank Barone would say, "Holy crap!"

That is just a shame. I have eaten there at least once. Wow. Too bad. I can't wait to eat there again some day. I hope they re-open.

There was also a Red Lobster on Hwy 90. Is it too gone? Probably so. Jesse Bass and I ate there in 2003. Man oh man. Things are not the way they used to be....that is for certain. I wonder what we'll be "remembering" this time next year.

[skysummit]

Yup...the Red Lobster is gone also.

[f5]

Gov Hailey Barbour compared it to a nuclear weapon

[ericinmia]

Were well built concrete structures that were anchred into the foundation also decimated like this?

[Ixolib]

Were well built concrete structures that were anchred into the foundation also decimated like this?

In many cases, no.

Several concrete and reinforced steel structures survived - structurally speaking. Many had the first two or three floors washed out, but otherwise, still standing and for the most part still structurally sound. However, if it was wood or CBC, it's gone.

Here's one example:

Grand Gulfport Hotel. Until August 29, this had been my place of employment for 11 years....

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

What I can't get over is how bad it still looks over six months later! It will do doubt take years, probably decades, to clean up all the debris. Unbelievable

[ROCK]

What I can't get over is how bad it still looks over six months later! It will do doubt take years, probably decades, to clean up all the debris. Unbelievable

and thats if it doesn't see a landfall this year....

[Camille_2_Katrina]

My wife and I passed through on our way to Pensacola this weekend. I'm amazed on how fast the area is recovering. I was there the days after Katrina. Compare that to the way it looks now is very impressive. I can't believe how fast they got US 90 back together. The last time I drove Hwy 90, I had to use 4 wheel drive and it was like I was driving through earthquake ruined streets. It's still total devistation though along the coast. It was the first time my wife saw the destruction with her own eyes. She couldn't believe it. She teared up.

yep... we'er pretty proud around here... we have a long history of
just getting it done around here... not really enough time to sit around
and complaine... or try to figure out who's fault it is. WQe just try our
best to find out who needs help with what... and get it done.

[dhweather]

Over 3.8 million yards of debris have now been removed in Hancock County,
and God knows how much more there is to go.

[Ixolib]

and thats if it doesn't see a landfall this year....

That's a disturbing thought - but one that is on the minds of many of my friends and neighbors. That would be pretty much unimaginable...

[MiamiensisWx]

I agree... the Gulf coast can't take another landfall this year.

[ROCK]

BTW- anyone know where all this debris is going?? Landfill / recycle bin?? surely it is being reused for something else....heres hoping...