Heather, when I drove into BSL this past December, I said, "how can these people stay here? Are they Crazy". One week later, as I was leaving, I said, "how can they not stay here and rebuild, this place is awesome." What a town, what great people. I miss them all and hope to return soon. God Bless you!!

For the first couple of weeks after the storm I wanted to run for the hills but then I remembered that I lived in Huntsville when one of the worst tornadoes recordered hit there. Actually there were three that came through town just that one night in April and more than 80 people died, houses were ripped from the slabs. I was in a closet with my husband when one of the tornadoes came through but it suddenly lifted above the house and hit the side of Monte Sano Mountain, went over the top and down into the valley on the east side. These huge storms were very wide and stayed on the ground for up to 80 miles at a time. We decided to stay here and rebuild because this is now our home and we want to do what we can to help get things back together.

i also read Joe's comment....man to lose half of your savings?....i don't know ....and don't wanna know....but this is the hard cruel facts....and it ain't really right...but GOOD people need to come back....MISSISSIPPI needs them...thanks Heather

Heather - thanks for your great article! I've lived in the Bay my whole life and it never entered my mind for one second to move anywhere after the storm! I did change my mind a hundred times as to whether to sell "as is", rebuild, etc. My house is salvageable, and as you said, I say it humbly - I'm 4 blocks off beach in Waveland and I am in the middle of a landfill - about 2 homes on 5 blocks of my street are salvageable and only a handful within a couple of square miles - but never did it enter my mind to move away from Bay/Waveland - it is my home! For all the joy that growing up in this wonderful little town has brought me and for the awesome people we have, it is well worth the risk! Nothing worth having in life is ever gotten without some risk and the Bay is definitely worth it. If you are going to spend the rest of your life worrying and waiting for the next "big one", then move! Out of the many many people I know who were born and raised here, there are only a handful that I know who are moving - when I ask them if they're rebuilding, they usually answer, "hell yea, this is my home - I'm not leaving the Bay!" Just as Heather said, I am so excited about being a part of my town's renewal! It really comes down to this: "It's all in the attitude" - there is plenty to find negative about living on the coast, especially right now, but there is so much more positive that is here! You have to look at it as an "opportunity" - when does any town have the chance to totally rebuild from scratch! Don't get me wrong - this is not what I would have chosen - but it happened, it's over and now you either need to rebuild and get on with your life or you need to move - really, only 2 options! What Peggy stated (who I met when she came to help in the Bay and she and her daughter are awesome people - they had brought a small xmas tree from FL to give to someone they would meet and left it on the steps of my trailer one day so I would have a tree for Christmas - the greatest xmas tree I ever had in my life, I will cherish that tree forever!)about coming here and realizing why we stay has been said to me by hundreds of volunteers I have met from all across this country - so believe me, those who are saying we are crazy are the ones who have not come here and who have not met us! what bigger compliment can the people in the Bay/Waveland receive other than volunteers telling us we are awesome, when they are really seeing us at our worst!!! It's not the homes, the buildings, the landscape, the beach, etc. that makes a town - it is the people. I guarantee you, if you were to even mention the idea of not rebuilding the Bay to any of the locals here, you would either be laughed out of town or beaten to a pulp!! How can anyone even think for one moment that a town that has the people with the spirit that we have and a mayor (Eddie Favre) who was born and raised in the Bay and has his heart and soul in this town's renewal would not rebuild? - laughable! My daily inspiration is to ride down Waveland Ave on my way home and see the 2 homes that are not that far from completion already being rebuilt on the 1st block, right off the beach in Waveland - and thanks to the awesome volunteers, these homes are being rebuild with tremendous help from them - may God bless them all!

For those of you who ask why we stay.......
When salt water runs deep in your veins and each sea bird squawks out your name...there is no other way.
When you gaze out upon the horizon and long to see the other side, breathing in both the ocean and the sky so far and deep and wide...there is no other way.
When you long for the sound of the crashing waves, or the soft, gentle whispers of the foam kissing the sand and quietly slipping away...there is no other way.
When the sun beckons you to come out and play, and the moon soothes you at the end of each day...there is no other way.
When it's deep down in your soul~~~you can not let go...THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.

Wow, Susan from Long Beach, this is weird. Did you come to the coast with Martin Marietta Aerospace? I lived in Huntsville too, but when I was younger. We lived in Camelot subdivision at the base of Monte Sano Mountain (Penelope Dr) and I went to Mountain Gap school. The tornadoes there were terrifying. One of the kids in my class had their roof ripped off, and another died that same night. I remember that they called it tornadoe alley. Wow.

Anyway. I have come to believe that we live on a volatile planet, and it is almost miraculous that we exist at all. I am so grateful that Heather has tried to explain why they want to rebuild. I am so far away, and all I can think of somtimes is how much I'd like to be back in the Bay. I haven't lived in the Bay since I married years and years ago, but it feels so much more like home, than where I live now. I understand completely and am praying that this is truly a storm that will not happen again for 500 years or more. If it is not, then I pray that everyone will be given wisdom and grace and will be able to safely leave when the time comes, and that somehow, what to do next will be clear. We can only do the best we can.

I remember those tornadoes Susan they hit us pretty bad in N.E. M.S.....but not nearly as bad as parts of Alabama....goes to show ..make your home where your heart is...cause no one is safe when mother nature comes ta call...no one is safe when that happens....i don't care where ya are it's gonna happen .....Rebuild...and God Bless

Hey T, thanks for the kind words. "BELIEVE"...

I have no doubt that anyone who has ever lived in Bay St. Louis or Waveland understands the deep roots that its citizens feel. And I have little doubt that they are as homesick as I am. Wish we could all just pickup and come home. But where would we live? I am grateful to everyone, including my many family members, who are commited to rebuilding their homes and their towns. I'll be back during Spring break to paint and/or clean yards and plant shrubs and plan to spend the summer doing much of the same. Bay-Waveland will once again be the home to which I will one day return!

CDS - You said it all!! I hope you don't mind, but I have already copied this and will use it often. Just today a friend I work with was asked by someone up north: why would you live here - I can't wait to get this to him.

Well said Heather and T. T knows me well and knows I have lived here all of my 45 years on this planet. When we stayed in Nashville with my mother the first month after the storm, nobody could believe we wanted to come back here (actually my husband would have stayed there, but he knows better than to mention that to me), my statement to all of them was I can move anywhere but it wouldn't be home. Home is definitely where your heart is.

You are right, it is the people that make it a home and community. Though my husband and I have to live in Florida for now, we still want to come back to the coast. We lost everything, we were renting but not insured. But we would love to buy a home in Hancock County. We are just waiting and working and saving money to do just that. God bless you all and God bless the volunteers and the special people of Bay/Waveland!

No one can understand unless you here. People close by who did not loose they home do not understand our feelings. The sadness, the depression, the moments of joy due to progress. I am one who God blessed and made progress.
To everyone out there if you have settled, lived one place for many years you understand what "home" is. This is our home. It is more of no choose, we all need to get our home back together.
I am very proud of all us MS people (which lots are orginally from New Orleans). We are stubborn we know how to get up, pick up, clean up. The rest of the country wonder about us but if you were down and out wouldn't you want us on your team?
We could have never done it without so much help from so many. Thanks to the service guys here to in the very beginning. I will never forget how with tears in my eyes you tried to make me laugh and smile. Ok, you failed, but you tried, when I vented you were speachless but you listened. I will never forget.

I was born and raised in BSL. It was a great city and I will always remember it. I left in 1957 and moved to California. My husband and I thought about moving back either to BSL or Louisiana. We have been retired for 21 yrs. To look at the devastation that Katrina took, makes me want to cry. My heart goes out to BSL and Waveland. I know they are proud people and will rebuild as they did in the past. No people are stronger than them. May God bless and take care of them.
Rosemary Millinery Bonadona, Alameda, California

I was born in Guntersville (Lake Guntersville) AL. and moved to Huntsville (near Covemont on Huntsville Mt.) when I was just a kid. From the time I was old enough to realize what was going on around me I can remember the sky turning so black, the sky would light up and the thunder would shake the ground. Guess that is the reason I had no fear of those same type of thunder storms we get here. On the other hand my Mom was scared to death of them but that night in April that the BIG ones hit she was just as calm as could be, even singing. She later said that she had let God take over for her and he handled the worry and the fear. That is what I keep telling myself that we need to do now, we will find our way out of this. For each home that is rebuilt, for each business that reopens is another victory. I can't sing but I will keep playing my music!

Just saw my sister's CNN documentary on the Bay. Don't know if this is updated enough, but please, try to watch CNN on Sunday evening/night Feb. 19th, if you are not from the area. You will get a sense of what people are facing. If you are from Bay/Waveland, it may be tough to watch. God bless you all. We're praying for you all.

Laurie - just saw your sister's special on CNN - it was awesome!! she did a fantastic job on the piece and please pass on my thanks to her - if you can give me an email adds to write her, please email me with it - I would love to drop her a line and tell her how great it was - I cried through most of it - just seeing how great our people are was so touching. Things are getting better day by day. As you could see from the special, the huge problem is no insurance companies paying off what they owe!!!

sorry Laurie...missed the documentary...cause your comment didn't get on till the 20th...i wish they would update more often....thanks MSNBC for suppling these blogs....but don't forget us

Laurie,
Like Andy I missed the documentary and am very sad about it. Do you think there's a chance they'll run it again sometime? Was it a separate show or part of the news? If it was separate, what was it called?

The CNN documentary lasts about an hour and is going to be shown again next weekend: "CNN Presents: Saving My Town: The Fight for Bay Saint Louis." If anyone out there, far away doesn't "get" what has happened, this should do it. I know friends who were on the phone calling everyone they knew to watch. It is very sad, and not too optomistic. You'll need some kleenex and some quiet. Alot of good stuff about volunteers ended up on the cutting room floor...but it will be back in another documentary. So far comments are pouring in to CNN...the largest response they have ever received to a documentary. It runs several times throughout the weekend. They are also getting requests for copies and will probably sell it. I am hoping she will be able to talk them in to donating a portion of proceeds to the recovery. Anyway. God bless you all. If this moves people to want to help...they can check out baystlouis.us for lots of opportunities.

The CNN documentary by Kathleen Koch, from BSL, was called, Saving My Town. It was on CNN, Anderson Cooper, again last night, Tuesday. Maybe if you got on CNN website, you might find when they will run it again. You also may be able to order a copy of it from CNN.

Heather, people like you and Steve are to be commended. The BSL and Waveland area will undergo a massive rebuilding task, but with citizens like you the effort will be worth it. There are people who have chosen not to go through this again, and I understand and support them for that decision. As a parent of a child who has gone through this heart breaking event, my knee jerk reaction is to bring her and her family home. But, I am proud of the way they want to be a part of such a rebuilding effort, and understand and support their decision as well. Other places have natural disasters as you have stated, and for those areas that don't, they probably don't sell or serve grits anyway(and what kind of life would that be?).
Continue that which brings happiness to your heart but know that there is always a place for you to go.

Dear Katrina Victems,

The mere notion that data regarding the dangers of global warming is being suppressed by the Bush administration is mind bogling. Such coverups go against democratic principals and harken back to a time in 1906 when San Francisco officials deliberately chose to surpress the role of an earthquake in the city's destruction.

As the next Cat 5 hurricane roles ashore with the ferocity of a 8.0 earthquake, I hope we all remember our collective roles in the slow and methodical buildup of greehouse gases.

P.S. As I think victems of Katrina would agree, I feel this story is far more important that port security or who the VP shot while hunting. I hope you do as well!

Sincerely,
Christopher Eldridge
Author of Environmental Practices (a book endorsed by Sen. Ted Kennedy).
Harrisburg PA

For those that missed the CNN special, you can catch the replays...from the Sun-Herald today...

Anyone who missed Koch's documentary, "Saving My Town - The Fight for Bay St. Louis," can catch up during encore telecasts at 5 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday and 5 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sunday. Koch goes beyond sad stories of destruction to angry stories of stalled recovery. She even personally takes on an insurance company. Worth a watch for its sensitive but not sappy look at Katrina-ravaged Bay St. Louis.

I moved to Waveland in 63 and I remember the town before it started to grow. New Years day 64 there was a snowfall of 13 inches! In 65 Betsy took out a few houses and a lot of piers and we got a beach after that! 69 Camille and nothing much till katrina. What a way for a community to become famous! I had hundreds of friends in the two towns and I am sure the old timers an the newcomers will get the place up again. So many thousands of good, gentle and caring people have gone to the area to help hands on, not just talk. I can never visit my hometown again because I am paraplegic and cannot even sit up, much less trazvel! I am leaving in an ambulance for one month of treatment, so I will have no access to this site. Some person called "Brenda Stout contracter" has been sending me nasty email! Who is she? You guys in Waveland and the Bay are the tops and my heart is with you if the body isn't. I remember an Andy from upst&ate in 69 and 70 who used to visit the Bay. Are you the same guy and do you know me, Andy?

For those without CNN access. There are a few clips from the documentary on CNN's web site. Just browse videos under Kathleen Koch. You'll see two clips from the documentary that are not in the pipeline. To get the others from early on, you have to subscribe to the pipeline service.

I just saw the airing of Saving My Town on CNN...I'm at loss of words...anyone who did't catch it today...should tommorrow...guess all I can say...is Bravo CNN and Kathleen...good job

not sure terry malone, we came every spring..for a few days in the early 70's though....if i'm the one ...i hope your memories of me are good...bless you

terry? were your parents in education?.....maybe thats where we met

We lost our home in Moss Point to high rise of water, the foulest, filthiest water you will ever see. The smell after the flood receded was just mind boggling. After a long wait we received a FEMA trailer. It was dry and had A/C. But oh so small. We are seniors and it hard to get around. The house has now been demolished, just a bare lot of dirt (mud now)so were are better off than most. But the demolition crew cut off the water and power, which supplied the house. So we had to evacuate. Getting the Feds to act is gosh awful frustrating. You never saw so many errors and repetitivenes. SBA loans are piles of work and rework on lost documents in Fort Worth. Even then they get it wrong, after several phones you finally get some to fix things. Then it comes back wrong again, and again. The whole thing must be finished in eighteen months and the clock is already ticking. Find an honest, competent contractor is very difficult. We may never actually get the house rebuilt. We are not kids so time is our basic commodity. But some are still in tents or living with someone. So we are not the worst off. I fear that the coast will never recover, certainly not in my life time. Which may be sooner with this event having hit us.

I moved to Bay St. Louis in the early 80's and fell in love with the life style. We were trasferred out of the area because of job relocation but have kept up with the happenings on the Mississippi coast over the years. Friends that are still there are sending me web sites (this one is great) so I can stay in touch. One thing that has really bothered me is what I have heard is happening at the animal shelter in Waveland. I know that when I lived there things were not so good but over the past years because of a group called The Frinds of the Animal Shelter in Hancock county things had gotten much better. There are so many people in the Bay/Waveland area that really love and respect animals and that is why I have been so surprised to hear about the conditions that are now happening. Please check out animalrescuefront.net and you will see what I am talking about. Get in touch with the mayors of these two towns and make sure they know how many people realize what is going on. Several people from my church are headed down that way in a few weeks and we will be stopping by the animal shelter.

I happened by your site so I wish to send my best. You are in our thoughts as you struggle. We cannot begin to appreciate how difficult your lives have become. We are in the far north, but we watch, care, and pray for all of you. May your land and hearts heal, Nancy.

I can empathize with you, Heather, being a coastal dweller. Granted, the last time Maine saw anything like a hurricane was in 1991, and we fortunately missed Wilma when she came up this way, but any time a noreaster blows through, parts of our coastline get eaten away little by little, and more and more homes are lost. Even a lifetime coastal dweller like myself wonders why we continue to rebuild and be stubborn against Mother Nature, and you've summed it up right: its our home, too. I couldn't live any further from the coast than I already do! My thoughts continue to be with your family and neighbors as you work on what frequently feels like an exercise in futility. Soldier on!

I'am from Columbus ms. and have been spending nearly every weekend since the storm down in Bay St. Louis working out of First Baptist Church gutting and cleaning houses in the area. We are now getting ready to start repairing and finishing out houses. I have seen the people here going through many changes. The first couple of months many people seemed to be kinda in a daze I guess still in shock from everything. Now You seem to have direction and are focused on rebuilding. I see a new determination in your eyes. I have meet many new friends down there and would be proud to live in your area. My prayer is that God will give you strength to continue pressing on. the people in the Bay area are truley a special people that I have grown to love. thank you for your spirit.

Heather, I am so glad you and Steve are in the process of rebuilding. I've been reading on some of the later posts and wish you the best. Stay strong.