Pascagoula, Miss., was flooded by waves more than 30 feet high.
When the people of Pascagoula, Miss., woke on Aug. 30, many had just experienced the most terrifying event of their lives: Hurricane Katrina. Most of what they owned had been torn to pieces in the previous day’s maelstrom or was being slowly eaten away by the corrosive mixture of salt water and sewage that had flooded their home as they helplessly waited, wondering whether anything would be salvageable.
“We’ve been through this, but never to these lengths,” said Rebecca Davis, Main Street events manager for the Gulf Coast city of 26,200. “We’ve never seen destruction like this before.”
In an effort to help, Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman last week proposed the City Council adopt Pascagoula and help in its recovery.
“We’re concerned about our fellow citizens,” Hindman said. “I got many, many calls about how we could help. Now we have a chance to help in a way we could see exactly who we’re helping and where it’s going.”
Columbia and Pascagoula were paired by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is initiating similar partnerships with cities throughout the country. Several cities already have or will soon adopt Pascagoula.
The assistance is critical, especially so long after the disaster struck, Pascagoula officials said.
“Now you do not see Red Cross. You do not see Salvation Army. FEMA has pretty much pulled out,” Davis said. “It’s people like you all that’s going to help us make it through the next years.”
A four-page list of Pascagoula’s needs provided to the Columbia City Council includes everything from police cruisers and other vehicles to children’s football equipment and office supplies, such as pens and notebooks.
Pascagoula Councilman Michael Mangum said the scope of the recovery and reconstruction is simply beyond the city’s means.
“Of course all of that expense is not covered by FEMA or insurance,” he said. “A city of our size can’t afford to do all this.”
Pascagoula Mayor Matthew Avara said about 90 percent of the city sustained some water damage, including 60 to 65 percent of its businesses. “Most everything from the beach-front to downtown had six, seven, eight feet of water,” Davis said.
Columbia council members unanimously agreed to adopt the city but will wait for a city staff report before pledging specific support. The decision to help came despite some concerns about Columbia addressing its own problems.
“I certainly understand they have a great need,” Sixth Ward Councilman Brian Ash said. “But we have needs here.” He said the city would be smart to “under-promise and over-deliver.”
The extent of the damage in Pascagoula is difficult to fully describe. Bill Jones Jr., Pascagoula’s councilman at large, said flooding wasn’t the only source of damage.
“All the houses on the beach front were destroyed,” Jones said, “and about two blocks back, (houses) were completely destroyed, as opposed to being just flooded.”
Heavy winds tore roofs apart, uprooted trees and sent them crashing down on buildings. Salt water damaged beyond repair even those cars and trucks that weren’t completely submerged.
“Engines won’t start. Unless you had comprehensive insurance on them, there’s no coverage,” Jones said.
Almost three months after Katrina, many residents of Pascagoula remain homeless, jobless and without transportation.
“There’s still people out there living in their trailers and tents,” Davis said. “It’s the hardships like that, the day to day, that gets to you.”
City Manager Kay Kell said a major problem emerging now is the mental health of Pascagoula’s people. “People are so discouraged and despondent,” she said. “It’s the stress of the situation.”
Insurance companies aren’t helping much. Many are calling the devastation the result of flooding rather than hurricane damage because the major loss was from water rising from beneath. Because most of the town is outside the flood plain, residents weren’t advised to buy the extra coverage.
“I’ve never seen an area so devastated just because nobody has insurance,” said Kell. “We have between 9,000 and 9,500 homes. About 90 percent have water in them, and only 1,500 have flood insurance.”
Davis, the Main Street events manager, took issue with the insurance companies’ stance.
“We had 31 1/2-foot tidal surges. We have never seen anything like this,” Davis said. “They can say whatever they want to say; It wasn’t a flood — it was a tsunami. When you see a wave of water coming at you, it’s not a flood.”
Now the Pascagoula City Council faces a tough decision: either comply with FEMA regulations and require residents to elevate their homes, a task many cannot afford, or allow them to rebuild at ground level and forfeit FEMA funding and resources.
Even the Pascagoula residents who survived Hurricane Camille in 1969 weren’t prepared for the chaos Katrina wrought. Kell recalled swimming “out in the middle of Hurricane Camille” with her children, who were infants then and are now in their 30s. She promised her daughter that she’d “never put her in that position again.”
When Katrina hit, however, her daughter and grandchildren were right alongside her. They sought shelter at city hall, where they put the children up on the city council dais, hoping the water would stop rising. The building flooded but not enough to cause them immediate harm.
Davis lives about 20 miles from Pascagoula, not nearly far enough to avoid the catastrophe.
“Friday afternoon we did all the precautionary measures at the city like we always do,” she said. “You go through the normal things like boarding up.”
But the preparations weren’t enough. “The windows would suck in and out. It was like the house was breathing.”
Every time they would suck in, water would pour through.
“All the other hurricanes we’ve been through here — the reason we didn’t leave is I knew I needed to be back at work in the city the next day,” Davis said. “If this happens again, I will tuck my tail between my little legs and run. I saw things in the storm I never want to see again.”