One year since Hurricane Katrina: the rebuilding of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast

No one driving along the Gulf Coast can miss the destruction. More astonishing, however, is the relative lack of rebuilding; in many cases, absolutely nothing has been done. Working in a relief organization provided some insight into why that is the case: the lack of a centralized, publicly funded and organized reconstruction program.

Nearly all the rebuilding has been left to private companies and relief organizations, primarily faith-based. Families and individuals whose lives and livelihoods have been decimated have largely been expected to fend for themselves. The results are huge profits for a small number of casinos, banks and construction firms and misery for almost everyone else.

The damage

Mississippi’s 70-mile stretch of the Gulf Coast was battered by Katrina’s 125-mile-an-hour winds last summer, and, in the words of one account, “inundated by a mountain of water, 25 feet high in places, with waves that reached 10 feet higher. The surge affected areas as much as 15 miles inland. When the water finally retreated and the winds calmed, 11 seaside communities were left in ruins, with more than 160 dead and 65,000 homes destroyed” (St. Petersburg Times). Residents refer to the storm as “our tsunami.”

I traveled along Highway 90, which follows the coast through the small cities and towns of Moss Point, Pascagoula, Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi. Years ago, this stretch of coastline was made into an artificial beach, normally in proximity to the state highway. At certain points, however, restaurants and stores were located right on the beach; these were almost all obliterated by Hurricane Katrina.

Read More With Photos:
http://wsws.org/articles/2006/aug2006/gulf-a26.shtml