Katrina's Aftermath, Mississippi's Resolve

KATRINA’S AFTERMATH, MISSISSIPPI’S RESOLVE by Mac Gordon, GAZETTE Contributing Editor

On the morning after Hurricane Katrina slammed the Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, State House Speaker Billy McCoy trained his sights on storm victims and those who represented them in Jackson.

McCoy gathered his legislative lieutenants and several House of Representatives staffers, including me, his PR guy, and took off toward the region where at least 240 Mississippians had lost their lives and upwards of $14 billion in property damages had been recorded.

McCoy, who served 32 years in the Legislature, including eight years as House speaker, spoke to each Coast legislator about damage caused by the storm, asking how the state could help in the relief effort. I don’t recall McCoy missing a single lawmaker, from House Speaker Pro-Tempore J.P. Compretta of Bay St. Louis to Reps. Jim Simpson Jr. of Gulfport, Diane Peranich of Pass Christian and Frances Fredericks of Gulfport on the Coast’s western end to Billy Broomfield of Moss Point, Danny Guice of Ocean Springs, Carmel Wells-Smith of Pascagoula and John Read of Gautier on the eastern side, among others along the Mid-Coast. “

The McCoy entourage toured the immediate Coast area from end to end, visiting stunned residents where their houses and businesses once stood. He cried with them. It was the most disconsolate scene any of us had ever seen. Some had not only lost structures; they had lost loved ones.” I wrote that a decade ago in a remembrance about the tragic event.

I added, “As we were traversing U.S. 90, I noticed a familiar face standing near the road talking to a resident who had lost his home. It was then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, there to see what his state could do for Mississippi. “McCoy and gang visited homes, schools, churches and government buildings that had been destroyed by Katrina’s winds and water. He then began his search for the Coast members of the state House of Representatives. He found a dozen or more House members working to help their hard-hit constituents.”

Natural disasters are usually recalled in 10-year intervals. Some storm victims each day remember the catastrophes delivered by Mother Nature.

Michael Callahan is one with such a recollection. Now CEO of the Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi, Callahan at the time Katrina hit was an elected member of the State Public Service Commission, representing South Mississippi.

In the current edition of the cooperative’s magazine, Today In Mississippi, Callahan GORDON wrote: “I recall standing in the middle of Biloxi and Gulfport and not being able to identify where I was. There were no buildings, no signs, no landmarks, just piles of rubble and debris. I have heard a picture is worth a thousand words, but nothing compares to smells, and I know of nothing that smells like the aftermath of a hurricane.”

In looking back at Mississippi’s response to the Katrina disaster, Callahan invoked a forceful quote from then-Gov. Haley Barbour: “We hitched up our britches and went to work.” Barbour’s book, “America’s Great Storm: Leading Through Hurricane Katrina,” detailed his crisis management moves following Katrina, the second strongest storm of its type to ever hit America. Mississippians compared it to mighty Camille, which landed near Bay St. Louis on August 17,1969, killing 256 people and forcing the Mississippi River to flow backwards for about 125 miles. In Callahan’s view, the state’s response to Katrina may have been one of Mississippi’s finest moments.

He wrote: “We helped each other cut trees, repair homes, get food and water, and anything else that needed to be done …. As I watched chaos unfold in (Louisiana) … I was proud of Mississippians’ response and how, collectively, we handled this disaster.”

---Mac Gordon is a native of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.