Above:A 360-degree photo shows a rusted boat and other wreckage at Bayou Caddy, a port west of Waveland. (John Brecher / MSNBC.com)
About this project
In the coming months, MSNBC.com will focus its coverage of the Hurricane Katrina recovery on two cities on the hard-hit Mississippi coast.
Though Bay St. Louis and Waveland are far from the media spotlight on New Orleans, the intertwined fates of the people, businesses and institutions in these towns tell the story of an entire region's struggle to recover from the most destructive storm in U.S. history.
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss.—Yes, there was Katrina, but the goblins and ghouls have managed to creep out of the crevices anyway. In downtown Bay St. Louis, where there are a few functioning shops, adults stand by to hand out the sugary Halloween essentials, as they do every year. There are far fewer kids than usual -- many are still living where their families evacuated -- and may not have homes here anymore.
But gradually, they come out: Spiderman, Snow White, a fireman, a swashbuckling pirate, Blues Clues, Mulan, the Incredible Hulk, a skeleton baby in a stroller, and many, many princesses.
Hosting the event are ghouls in traditional gear—a witch, a mummy, a skeleton. But they are attended by the nightmare characters of the day— FEMA man, Katrina debris, and the biggest black fly in Bay St. Louis.
KILN, Miss. -- If you follow the flow of dump trucks out of Waveland, chances are good that you’ll end up at Hemphill-Eutaw Temporary Waste Site, one of four sites grappling with the seemingly endless piles of wreckage from Bay St. Louis and Waveland.
Refrigerators, it turns out, are more plentiful and more problematic than most types of waste, which is why there are 20 workers at this site alone dedicated to nothing but dealing with the dead ones left behind by Katrina. This group is from Onyx Environmental Emergency Response, a subcontractor to Ashbritt Environmental, which is overseeing waste removal for FEMA in this area.
WAVELAND, Miss.—When the Morrell Foundation came to Katrina’s ground zero they hoped to provide temporary housing for those displaced by the storm. That didn’t work out—politics prevented it—but the good news is that they had a Plan B.
That’s the way it often works in the world of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and otherwise seat-of-the-pants aid groups. They arrive, they find a niche, they do a lot of horse-trading, and they make a difference. Ask anyone.
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- News flash: There’s food beyond the Sonic Drive-In! The Three Brothers Mexican restaurant has opened on the main drag, Highway 90 through Waveland and Bay St. Louis. They’re serving seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., but sometimes need to close for awhile mid-day. (Note: The food is good, but keep your service expectations low. Waitress Honey Spoon tells us that she is the only food server who was here prior to Katrina.)
Chop Sticks Chinese Buffet has reopened seven days a week, now that they have gas, as has Sicily’s, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. Hiding behind a professional office on Highway 90 is Southern Delights, now open Monday through Friday for lunch, plus 5 till late on Thursday and Friday nights.
Nightcaps? Note that Benigno’s is not the only option in the area. Nowadays, there’s also Third Base, a beer and pool hall along Highway 90. It’s a beginning.
WAVELAND, Miss.—On a dusty side road just off the main strip, there is a flurry of activity. In a neighborhood where most homes stand silent, this one has about 20 men and women working on the roof. They’re fast, but also festive, moving supplies up ladders and nailing down shingles.
It doesn’t have the feel of a typical roofing crew, and it’s not. It’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses, here to help one of their own.
For homeowner Alice Maness, this is the third crew to come through. The first came and cleaned out the muck, the second gutted the house. And now, the roofers are here.
WAVELAND, Miss. – Several times a day as we travel about this disaster zone, we are stopped in our tracks by impromptu little works of art. At the edges of destroyed properties, are still-life arrangements built from the detritus of the storm.
In some, there are American flags, and garden fairies or religious icons. Others include spray painted messages, proclaiming faith in God or screaming angrily at Katrina, “you bitch!” as one sign put it.
There is a bittersweet humor, and even Halloween decorations on otherwise devastated properties. We don’t pretend to understand what all these creations mean to their creators, but we share some of them here.
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