How chilling....I'm sitting here with goosebumps on my arms and tears in my eyes. May you rebuild bigger and stronger than ever.

I knew that the damage was bad but I guess I never knew how bad and these photos show just how bad it was. May God bless you and help you through these tough times in life!

I was in Gulfport two days after the storm hit thinking I could handle the sights having gone through Camille in '69. I was wrong. This is so much worse. A week from Monday I am taking my wife who grew up in Long Beach to the coast for the first time since the storm... I had her take a look at these pictures just to help prepare her for what she is about to see. The pictures do have an impact but until you see it first hand it's hard to put into words what it is really like. We've lost so much.

I agree with Susan from Jacksonville, FL. Too many stories are done in N.O. It's sad what happened there, but they are not the only ones who weathered Katrina.

God bless the people of Mississippi, Alabama, and the little outskirt towns of LA. God bless the strength and courage they have. May God be with you as you continue to rebuild your towns, homes, businesses, and lives. Many prayers are with you.

To the people of MS, AL, and the outskirt little towns of LA, it's your turn to ask for help! Enough has been handed to N.O.

My house had burned recently and we are living in a rental house that thankfully survived. We had been looking at houses in the Bay/Waveland area and really had fallen in love with this place and it's people. I had lived the Bay St. Louis when I first moved her in the 80's so I already knew it was just perfect for us. I still want to return to my first home here but we are just delayed for awhile. Please, if you have any websites about what has happened to our area, esp. this one - pass them along to all your e-mail contacts.

Susan in Jacksonville, Florida, you are so right. It makes me cry just to look at the devistation and it makes me sick to know that I watched on TV the disgusting sight of the black community begging for help and acting like it was all on purpose. My husband and I could not believe the behavior of certain people. When you just go through life acting like a victim you remain a victim. It is sad to know that some of the black people in this country believe that I as a 48 year old owe them anything when we all have to struggle to have anything in this country or anywhere else. You have to get up and take care of yourself. No one else is going to do it for you. May God's blessings go to the one's who really need it and deserve it.

This picture is so sad!! My heart goes out to everyone that was effected! I'm glad there are those strong people out there that can show those who dont really know how bad this hurricane really was and the places the media arent showing that also lost just as much as those in New Orleans. I know some what how you feel because Hurrican Charley hit Punta Gorda just after I had moved and it effected so many of my friends.

After visiting and viewing my daughter and son-in-law's remains of only a chimney of a beautiful house and rubble for the entire neighborhood, their friends devestations, I feel they are so blessed they could get a grip on the future to carry on and are trying to rebuild their lives. These people are truly remarkable in spirit of Bay st. Louis and Waveland , Mi. May God Bless them all.

My daughter-in-law spent time in Waveland with one of the teams. She was deeply moved by the care and concern of so many people - there and throughout the states.

I wish you had not printed several comments that were disrespectful of the people in New Orleans. Their comments were hurtful and not worthy of being printed. They all suffered.

I thought we were forgotten. Thanks for shining a little light on our small towns and the struggles we have endured. Bay-Waveland is destroyed but we are resilient and by the grace of God we will come back better than ever.

Looking at these very moving photos reminded me of the cover of a book written by a Bay St. Louis native, Dale St.Amant. The cover art for “A Place Apart” is from a painting based on a real house which was on Beach Blvd. once owned by Charles Gray of the Hancock County Historical Society. I am on the other side of the planet now, but have been told the house no longer exists.... sigh.... so sad.

To see the cover art you can go to Dale’s website http://www.dstamant.homestead.com/ You can also read an excerpt from the book there.

For those of you who did not have the extreme pleasure of visiting Bay St.Louis before Hurricane Katrina and know little or nothing of its charm and history, you might enjoy getting to know it from this lovely little book. Dale is a true romantic and adores her birthplace.... The story is a love story, a suspense story, has local color, and there’s a touch of the Supernatural to boot.

Dale is one more of the artists of Bay St. Louis so affected by the hurricane, but she is back at work at the Historical Society whose extensive library was saved. I am encouraging her to write a sequel... The “After the Hurricane” part of the story of this Southern family and the house they loved for generations... However, she like many of the residents of Hancock County, is just not able to get past seeing her beloved town torn apart at this time. I know that the pain she and others are feeling now will generate many works of art and creativity... Bay St. Louis is just that kind of place and the people there will not let it die.

"dear gawd" doesn't convey my reaction to these photos. Since I cannot travel to Ol' Miss to see the destruction, I am ever grateful for this pictorial. Being so far north, it is easy to "forget" the destruction there. I have not forgotten you, Bay St. Louis & Waveland!

My heart is breaking. My home was right across the street from this church on the opposite corner. I had the wonderful pleasure of seeing it's beauty every single second of the day. Katrina took so much from us. Nobody can grasp how beautiful this church was and these neighborhoods. Then along comes Katrina and she crushed us. I pray that I had the power to turn back the hands of time and be out in my yard once again and be able to look up and see the church. I miss my home, I miss my neighborhood, I miss my life. I miss Bay St. Louis. Why did this happen? Why did this city turn their back on our family? Why are we having to live our lives with uncertainty about what tomorrow will bring? I have given 25 years of my life here, raised my child here and for what? I pray to God each night that he will keep us all safe and keep us all here on the coast in his protective arms. Please America, don't forget us.

Thank you all for your prayers. We who love this city and mourn deeply for it's loss appreciate the thoughts of others who have only visited here and felt how special it was, or only feel this through looking at the pictures and hearing the stories. I know The Bay will come back stronger than before, becuase of our spirit. Due to illness, I can't be there to help, but rest assured if I could, I would be there working alongside my friends who are my family. God Bless and thank you for this site.

To John, who took these heartbreaking pictures...PLEASE get these on TV, send them to Congress, send them to the President, send them to FEMA, just send them to as many people as you know. Attention MUST be drawn to the situation on the Gulf Coast. I understand MSNBC is doing a documentary about these towns, when will it be on TV.? People need to know that there was more to Katrina then NO. The press certainly did an injustice to this area of devastation. God Bless you all.

Hi John- Thanks for the photos...they are some of the only "before" pictures I've been able to find. If you are interested in seeing some photos taken by SAR volunteers who assisted us in searching Bay St. Louis after Katrina, you can copy and paste the two links below (I hope!). One album ("Katrina's Ground Zero") is aerial photos of BSL and Pass Christian, the other is SAR

Well hello to All. We are getting ready to depart for the First Baptist Church of Bay Saint Louis for a week. I will be driving from Sacramento CA. I am bringing all of our supplies to get dirty and work. I went by our local Home Depot today to give them pictures from our first trip. They are going to post them in the store to show everyone what is really going on there and they are going to donate some tools to our church to bring there. YOU GO HOME DEPOT!! Just remember people do care about the gulf coast -- we are not fogetting about you at all and we are organizing other churches in Sacramento to send teams to help as well. If you can, everyone should go. It is a life changing experince. It has forever changed me and we connected to this town especially Miss Florence, a resident there. We have taken her under our wing and we vowed to rebuild her house with our friends from Colorado Crossroads church, so off to pack and pack and pack for Restoration Life church. I will post updates when we are there as to the progress. We depart Dec 31. Merry Christmas to all. You are in our thougths and prayers each and every day Bay Saint Louis and Waveland. May God Bless you all!

People do need to know that NO was not the only city affected. Slidell, LA is a mess and we're sandwiched in between NOLA and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We need help and awareness also.

We've lived in Hancock County for four years now; we'd bought our house in the Bay near the beach ten months before Katrina. Thankfully we have a structure (our home had withstood Camille with minimal damage), but my dad and step-mom's house, as well as every other house on their Waveland street, was reduced to splinters. Living in a FEMA trailer in our front yard with our 3 dogs is a "one day at a time" process. Thanks to God that our family and good friends are alive and well, and thanks to everyone who has come down to help us, especially to Calvary Church of California!

My husband and I were at the Casino Magic Hotel in Bay St Louis the weekend before Katrina. My Uncle Joseph's house was next to St.Joseph's church,Dunbar Ave. We drove by it before we headed back to Metairie,La. on August 21st. My Grandma (Marie),Dad (Leo)and Aunt's(Adele) house was in Waveland.
We send our prayers to all.May God Bless and Keep You.

I live one block away from St. Joseph's chapel. It is about 6:30 at night and all is quiet. The silence is eerie. The power company has finally put in a street lamp so it is not quite so scary here. I look out my FEMA trailer window and still see things hanging in dead trees. Things like clothes and pieces of houses caught in branches by wires. My bathtub is still across the street in a ditch, the lift attached to our house is next to the road. It rained a couple of days ago and all is muck, sticky stuff, you can't even call it mud. Even though all the material stuff we had is gone, we are truly rich in blessings. People from all over the states are praying and helping our 2 cities. Some cannot face the devastation (it is hard) and cannot rebuild, but there are plenty of us that will. I remember BK (before katrina) and Bay-Waveland will rebuild. When you come to our area down here and if any of you have the time, stop and talk with us. We are friendly, we want to talk, it helps us in recovering. Some days down here in Cedar Point (the area by St. Josephs Chapel) we sort of feel like we live in a fish bowl. People drive by, they look, but they don't stop to talk. Only five more days until Christmas and we are so looking forward to it because we have an awful lot to be thankful for. We have You People.

Bay St. Louis was and still is my home! I love this town so much! I wanna cry every time I go down that street where that church is because I live right next to it and my house got destroyed! My mom and dad are planning on rebuilding though. But a lot of people do think that New Orleans got hit worse but I have been seen both N.O. and BSL. Bay St. Louis seriously did get hit worse!!! And I'm from N.O. but I live in B.S.L.

I have lived in Waveland all my life. It is my home town and I will rebuild. I would personally like to Thank all of you who came to help us at this time of need. I would also like to Thank the people of Northport and Tuscaloosa Alabama. They treated us so good when we were there. Thank you for every thing.

I was a resident of Bay St. Louis for about 9 years.Move away in 1993 and have been really trying not to see how bad the place I'd called called home for those years had been hit.I kept hearing words like leveled,destroyed,devastated,and more that I can only pronounce sometimes but can't spell. I'm not much with words or spelling of words,but in time since I lived away from there I've learned to PRAY and after seeing this web page.I will put what I have leared toward the little town that I called home and that people I know and did'nt know still do. I will praying for all.

I have a friend who lives in Metarie and at the time of the Hurricane she came to my house....when the storm was over I offered to have two male friends drive her back to Louisiana to check on her damage, she declined the offer....Now every post she makes she tells how she was a Hurricane Katrina victim...she had minimal damage to the house...had she gone home sooner she would have had less...the mold got them, because she waited a month to go home.

I get tired of hearing about how Louisiana had so much damage....heck some MS residents are still looking for their front door.