Virginia Law Enforcement Deployed for Katrina Relief (11/2-16/2005)
Five agencies from the Virginia law enforcement community (Chesterfield County Police, Henrico County Police, Virginia Beach City Police, Virginia State Game Wardens & Virginia State Police) volunteered to assist with the relief efforts on the Mississippi coast that was impacted by Hurricane Katrina. I was proud to serve with such a fine group of professionals. The officers were assigned to Hancock County to support the county/police departments. The eastern side of the eye wall of Katrina went directly over the Hancock County and the entire government infrastructure was destroyed. The police departments lost everything (patrol vehicles, jail & department headquarters). We were there to support the local enforcement folks with all calls for service. Officers worked every day on either a 6AM-6PM or 6PM-6AM shift. I am the guy in the front row, fourth from the left, in the beige uniform, kneeling behind a gator head (gift from the local game warden).
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One of the first compelling sites we saw entering the area that displayed the magnitude of Katrina was when we exited Interstate 10 into Hancock County. Although not the most dynamic picture, the purpose of this shot is to show how high the water entered the area. The vehicles are traveling on Interstate 10. Below the vehicles you can see a debris line from the storm tidal surge. To give you an idea how high and how far the water went, I 10 is approximately 8 miles from the Gulf coast.
This picture is of an oceanfront neighborhood impacted by Katrina. The entire Gulf shore of Mississippi was in a similar condition. For about a quarter mile inland from the coast all the homes were flattened to concrete slabs.
As you can see from this picture an entire subdivision was leveled by the storm. Ground zero for Katrina was in Hancock County. A 40 foot tidal surge reached 5-8 miles inland and hammered many of the watefront communities like this one with seawater.
This is a moving picture of a leveled home in the Bay St. Louis, MS area
Unfortunately this is what you would see all along the Mississippi coast. Debris in what used to be someone's home with scattered boats and smashed vehicles. This picture was taken in the Bay St. Louis area.
Another typical scene of a flattened home site with a poignant flag on site. This shot was taken in the Lakeshore, MS area.
Many of the impacted folks left messages targeted for the looters on what they had remaining on their property. The comment on the van in this is picture is a mild example compared to some comments left for potential looters.
This photo shows the amount of plastic and debris that remained in the trees after the surge retreated. Few remains of some of the homes are in the foreground. This shot was taken in the Bay St. Louis. MS area.
This shot is of what is left of the Rt. 90 bridge that crossed from Biloxi to Ocean Springs, MS.
This is a photo of what used to be the shore road in Bay St. Louis. As you can see the entire road is in chunks and business store fronts were removed by Katrina.
This is a picture of the only remaining house in this neighborhood in Gulfport. The home is owned by a structural engineer. Every other home within a quarter mile was destroyed. It appeared that the home only suffered some window damage. The owner certainly could educate folks how to rebuild in a hurricane prone area.
CNN was doing live remote one morning while I was on patrol in Bay St. Louis, MS. The reporter told me CNN is also planning on doing a Katrina documentary to be shown in the near future.
This picture was taken in the Purlington, MS area. Unfortunately this scene of homes completely removed from their foundations from the storm surge could be seen throughout the area.
As you traveled farther inland from the coast into Hancock County some of the homes were intact. Most of these homes were searched post storm for survivors. In this picture you can see a blaze "X" on the left side of the house with writing. This is a standard search and rescue procedure. The left side of the "X" indicates the state and what number team searched the house. The top of the "X" indicates the date the house was searched. If there were survivors or bodies that would be indicated on the right side and lower portion of the "X". As you can see this house was searched by Virginia Team 2. There are still 273 people missing.
This is a picture of another house searched by Virgina Team 2. Like the owners of this home, many of the folks show a great deal of patriotism by dispalying the flag on their property. Like many others as well, the owners paint that they are OK on the front of the home for inquiring family & friends.
This picture was taken in the Waveland, MS area. This house is located approximately 5 miles inland. With the Carolina Skiff and debris situated on the roof, it certainly gives you an idea of the height of the storm surge.
As you can see from the pictures, boats where found everywhere due to massive storm surge. This picture of a larger boat that was deposited in a cemetery in Gulfport, MS. Unfortunately many caskets were floated out of the mausoleums and a tempoary storage facility had to be established for identification and eventual return.
These large shrimp boats were lifted by the storm surge and dropped onto the railroad tracks. One shrimp boat not pictured ended up in the middle of a wooded area.
Another picture of shrimp boats in the Gulfport. MS area that were washed ashore.
This is a picture of a sailboat that was lodged within a wooded area. In the upper left of the picture you can see a crane boom attempting to remove it from the trees.
Katrina did not spare anything. Even large RVs were floated and dropped into the woods in the Waveland, MS area.
This is a picture of a temporary hospital in the Waveland, MS area. The hospital was set-up by the National Guard.
This picture was taken in Gulfport, MS area. The buildling was a floating casino that was positioned in the gulf prior to Katrina washing it up on shore. The flattend buildling on the right was a Holiday Inn. During the storm surge when this casino smashed into the motel, several people died.
This is a photo of another floating casino in Gulfport, MS that washed up on the north side of Rt. 90.
This is an additional picture of a floating casino that ended up on the north side of Rt. 90 in the Biloxi. MS area.
This is a picture of two impacted casinos on the shore in the Gulfport, MS area that were gutted.
This floating casino was washed up on the north side of Rt. 90 in the Biloxi, MS area. The casino still had a number of one armed bandits on second floor and some looters were arrested trying to extract money from them one night during our deployment.
The area in the picture was once a kid's park in the Gulfport area. Humpty Dumpty apparently survived.
This picture is of a blown out Wal-Mart in the Gulfport, MS area. Wal-Mart/K-Mart parking lots ended up being staging areas for a number of disaster relief centers in the impact area.
Many of the businesses that suffered damage were beginning to rebuild. This McDonalds in Gulfport faired OK compared to those trampeled around it.
You may have heard about the 8 dolphins that escaped from a New Orleans aquarium into the Gulf during the storm. The dolphins were all rescued. The dolphins are now in a descreet temporary facility at a Navy Base in Gulfport. I was able to go by for feeding time one day.
In addition to the dolphins, viewing alligators was another highlight of the trip. This gator pic was taken at the Stennis NASA Base.
There were 4 bars that were open in Hancock County. One of the responsibilites of the night shift was to close the 3 bars that were in the curfew area. This particular bar named the Broke Spoke was not in the curfew area. It certainly projects the local flavor. Brett Favre, now quarterback for the Green Bay Packers played high school football for Hancock County. We were told when he comes home he may visit the Broke Spoke.