A Trip to Gulfport Beach After Hurricane Katrina
It's official. I am now a law breaker. Using instructions that my brother gave me, I was able to sneak past the barbed wire and the roadblocks to reach the beach in Gulfport. Right now I feel relief that I was able to visit another of my favorite places and where I had spent a lot of my childhood. Right now I don't feel anything other than that. Maybe I'm becoming immune to scenes of destruction or more likely the tears and nightmares will come later.
As with the pictures from Porter Ave in Biloxi I tried to get the same angles for the after pictures.
Check Point Charlie on Hwy 49(that's what I call it)
Entrance to Gulfport Small Craft Harbor at the edge of Jones Park. The campers are from out of town construction or clean-up crews.
Moses Pier. The before picture was taken the day before Katrina struck. The water was already 4 ft above normal.
Gulfport's Harbor Master
Gulfport Yacht Club. You can see Marine Life in the background.
Urie Pier. I used to just sit on this pier. My Dad did the same before he became too ill. One time I caught a red fish that was 1 inch below legal length. I had to throw it back. Game warden was standing behind me.
The name of the boat in the foreground is All That's Left. Katrina left behind nothing.
I feel that same numbness I had after Hurricane Katrina hit. I just wish people could have seen how truly beautiful my Mississippi Gulf Coast was before that b@tch demolished it. I have more pictures of the destruction around Gulfport Harbor.
I saw herons, pelicans, ducks, even Canadian geese. I did not see any seagulls though, which is strange. The feel of the wind while at the beach soothed me as did the salty air. The breeze was gentle today. The smell of the salty air brought back good memories. I know that we'll rebuild. There were signs of life.
Blue Heron
These ducks seemed peeved because I was paying too much attention to
this handsome fellow. He seemed to pose for me or he knew his name was Duck even though he's a goose(thanks felis).
(Clicking on the images will enlarge them)
posted by SEAWITCH at
4:27:00 PM
11 Comments:
Wow. Mind blowing to say the least.
I have a hard time looking at these posts of yours, Karen. I'm sorry for you and your fellow Biloxians.
"He seemed to pose for me or he knew his name was Duck."
Lucky you got the Gender right lady!!
Well, the wildlife presence must've been re-assuring that things are getting slowly back to normal.
esther,
Mind blowing is the term I would use.
mark,
I am actually from Gulfport. This was the first time since the day before Katrina struck I've been able to get down to the beach at Gulfport.
felis,
I was worried about the ducks. The brown ones used to hang out at the Coast Guard Station, which is gone.
And it is good to see all the wildlife.
It looks like you are currently in survival mode and that the reality might hit after all the work is done. Your strength is inspiring to say the least
rachy,
You maybe correct. But the more I think about it, change was sure to occur no matter what. Of course having it all done in a day's time was bit extreme.
Nothing really stays the same. The Yacht Club will be rebuilt in the same place. Debris will be used to reconstruct the piers as was done after Hurricane Camille.
The only thing that can't be replaced are all the lives that were lost but no one knew that the storm surge would be so bad nor that it would go so far inland.
Seawitch,
"I was worried about the ducks."
Oh but ma'm I am a proud goose!
:-0
You Mississippians.....
felis,
No wonder he was paying attention and the ducks on the other side were so upset! What a goose!
mark,
Californians!
Thanks for these photos!
st c,
You're welcome!! I took alot of others but these were ones I had before pictures to match. It's very bad down there. I'll be posting more of the Gulfport ones later.
I actually stepped on one of the chicken leg quarters that you hear so much about. Gross!! Thank goodness it was desicated!
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