MERIDIAN —     Make no mistake about it: no one in his or her right mind wants to ever see another Hurricane Katrina.

    Still, many Mississippians would, hesitantly, admit they are a little stronger for going through and then surviving the most costly natural disaster in American history.

    They would say, despite dealing with the destruction — the long lines of waiting for water, food and gas, and the displacement from their homes — they persevered through the toughest storm Mother Nature could create.

    Only timber industry workers knew what the term "root ball" meant before Katrina. Now, every Mississippian is well acquainted with the phrase that describes the root system of a fallen tree. Neither did they know the sound of so many generators humming in the still, humid night as the farseeing residents were able to at least have some power after the winds died down.

    In contrast, the daylight hours were filled with the growl of chain saws as they cut through tangled trees. Who knew that Katrina would turn one of Mississippi's greatest natural resources against her and her residents?

    What is also remarkable is how people remember maybe the biggest event in their lives — barring the birth of their children of the loss of a parent.

    Some people remember the funny moments while others remember the sheer terror they felt. There were instances of near misses when loved ones cheated death by only inches. There were also acts of compassion and bravery.

    The emotions Katrina brought out of residents in Mississippi ran the gamut of the human condition. How can you admonish someone who braves the dangerous elements to make sure their livestock is not hurt by the storm? Or how can you not laugh at the person who uses the chance of a driving rainstorm to take a bath?

    Readers shared stories of those — and others — with The Meridian Star this week.

    "We watched the trees fall on the fences and then we ran out each time to cut away the trees or branches and mend the fence so the horses wouldn't get out," Leslie Joyner of Meridian said.



    A plethora of lessons have been learned in the five years since. Billions of dollars have been spent to try to help Mississippi regain her footing undercut by surging storm waters and rain. Emergency officials can now say they are better prepared. There have been millions of dollars released to the state through various programs aimed at bolstering even the smallest volunteer fire department so that even they can better fight the elements the next time an event of this magnitude hits.



    What has been done?



    Ouida Tomlinson, who lives in Hancock County on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, said this week there are plenty of people down there who are still trying to rebuild homes and businesses.

    "My vet, for example, has been seeing her patients in a trailer since Katrina," Tomlinson said. "There was nothing left but a slab. Her vet hospital will soon be rebuilt — it takes a long time."

    Federal officials, such as those with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), have long touted their efforts to pour money on the mountains of demolished homes and lives. Officials there said this week they and officials with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) have worked with local governments and communities statewide to ensure that Mississippi rebuilds stronger and safer. To date, FEMA and MEMA officials said they have assisted in paying out large sums of funds such as $3 billion spent to help individuals and families meet their basic needs and to begin the recovery process. This includes $1.5 billion to provide temporary housing units for families displaced by Katrina. As a measure of the success this program has had, officials said only 175 families are still living in temporary FEMA housing. At its height after the storm, FEMA officials said about 45,000 individuals and families were staying in used trailers and mobile homes.

    Gov. Haley Barbour said “only 0.4 percent” of those people originally staying in temporary housing are having to do so now. 

    “Over the past five years, we have been committed to ensuring there is an adequate, affordable supply of housing for residents affected by Hurricane Katrina,” Barbour said this week. “Through innovative programs we have been able to expand the number of public housing units and build

back neighborhoods stronger than before.”

    According to Barbour's office, the number of remaining FEMA temporary housing units by county are: Hancock - 22; Harrison - 56; Jackson - 15; Pearl River - 31; Stone - 6; George - 3; Others - 43.

    Mississippi's infrastructure was devastated by the storm. FEMA officials said this was a priority in rebuilding the state better than before. They said $3 billion in FEMA Public Assistance funds have been released in the years since the storm to rebuild public utilities, restore public buildings, replace damaged roads and bridges and medical facilities.

    A recent tour of the Mississippi Gulf Coast did reveal brand new bridges bigger and better than before. There were obvious signs of homes being rebuilt along with businesses. But there were also vast stretches of coastal properties that still sit vacant. Weeds have overtaken the once bare slabs. Scattered trees still show the scars of the wind and rain. Given the amount of funding showered down on the Coast and other parts of Mississippi it is clear more needs to be done in order to bring the Coast back to its once shining self.



    What will be done?



    Given that revelation, FEMA and MEMA officials said they are preparing for the future.

    FEMA officials said the agency has obligated more than $180 million for 287 Hazard Mitigation Grant Program projects statewide. This is part of the $294 million available to Mississippi for projects to reduce the impact of disasters on people and property.

    The program provides grants to states and local governments for long-term hazard mitigation measures to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters and to enable mitigation measures to be implemented during the immediate recovery from a disaster. The program is managed by MEMA who identifies and manages projects from beginning to closeout.

    Even five years later, Mississippi lawmakers are still working to secure funds to boost the recovery.

    U.S. Senator Thad Cochran recently announced final approval for eight federal grants worth more than $18.1 million to support Mississippi Gulf Coast recovery projects associated with Hurricane Katrina. The work had stalled because a federal disaster relief fund ran low on money.

    "These grants are being issued because Congress finally acted to approve the emergency funding needed by FEMA to meet immediate disaster needs around the country and to allow Katrina-related recovery projects to move forward," Cochran said. "Almost five years after Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi continues its work to recover from the wreckage caused by the 2005 hurricane season. The obligation of these FEMA monies represents our intent to carry on with recovery work on the Gulf Coast."

    Cochran said the funding will help in the support site work of roads, parking and utilities in Biloxi and for sewer line projects in 14 areas of the city. Funding will also go to Harrison County for roads and utilities as well as the relocation of the county's library facility. The Jackson County School District will receive funding to relocate the St. Martin Upper Elementary and Middle School to a new site in Ocean Springs.



    Is Lauderdale County ready?



    If you ask Lauderdale County Emergency Management Agency Director David Sharp if Lauderdale County is as ready as it can be to meet the next Hurricane Katrina head on he will emphatically say, "No!"

    He will say the county is better prepared and armed with better and more equipment, more extensive training and five years of rectifying many of the errors that shone through the day after the storm battered and bruised the area.

    "We are better able to deal with an event of this kind," Sharp said. "Our understanding of what it takes to get through such a disaster is light years ahead now than it was five years ago."

    The massive flow of funding released by FEMA through MEMA has trickled down to the local level. Sharp pointed to such new equipment acquisitions as huge, portable generators that can power almost a city block as one vital procurement. He said communications, rendered virtually useless by the storm, are improved and will continue to see upgrades as the years go by. He also said the fact all agencies, both county and city, are joining forces because they realized after Katrina everyone was in the same boat.

    "We have accomplished a great deal in the last five years in terms of building a system just for us," Sharp said referring to the residents of Lauderdale County and Meridian. "We discovered we can't rely on the state or federal government for everything. We have to do what is best for us."

    Another development has been the moving of the Emergency Operations Center, the heart of all emergency services during a massive event such as a hurricane, to a building Sharp said is not only hurricane proof but earthquake resistant as well. He said programs have even been implemented to bring in HAM operators into the communication loop.

    "These home operated radios can be valuable assets in determining the condition of our outlying communities and the people who live there," Sharp said. "We would be remiss to exclude them in this overall plan."

    In many respects, the first chain saws heard late in the day as soon as the winds died down sufficiently were coming from volunteer firefighters trying to reach their neighbors in outlying areas.

    Allan Dover, who is now the coordinator for the Lauderdale County Fire Service, echoed many of Sharp's comments and has openly credited Sharp with making sure everyone has the tools in which to dig out of another catastrophe.

    "David has seen fit to get this equipment that will benefit everyone," said Dover. "But we have also increased our training and fine tuned our plans in terms of, for example, ice and food distribution, that we didn't have before Katrina."

    Dover said years of discussion with officials of the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department, Metro Ambulance, the Lauderdale County barn system of workers and LEMA has resulted in more players looking at the same playbook. He said that will pay huge dividends in the event another Katrina heads toward eastern Mississippi.

    "Manpower is better now in all volunteer fire departments," said Dover. "We could use more but we are better off than before."





    Katrina is burned into the mind



    John Baxter, who is the Severe Weather Coordinator for the National Weather Service in East Mississippi and West Alabama sheepishly admitted as meteorologists, Katrina was the textbook storm.

    "It was the perfect storm," Baxter said. "We couldn't help but feel bad because we knew this was going to be bad but at the same time, as weather scientists, we were in awe of watching something of this magnitude form basically right before our eyes. It was remarkable."

    About 1,800 people lost their lives during Katrina. There are still many more unaccounted for. Allison Jernigan Newell and her then nine-month-old son could easily have been two of that number.

    "I had just laid Jake down on the changing table and taken off his diaper when a tree fell from our back yard into the nursery," said Newell of Meridian. "The home was severely damaged but we didn't get a scratch!"

    Belinda Arlene Hoffman Strickland almost lost her stepdaughter as a result of the terrible wind that came through her Butler, Ala. home.

    "She was sitting in a chair and decided to get something to drink," recalled Strickland. "She had not walked three feet from the chair when the wind caught a window shutter and sent it right through the chair. If she'd been sitting there the shutter would have killed her."

    Others, like Jeremy Warren of Meridian, seemed to take the storm in stride. He also got something else he probably didn't count on out of the storm.

    "Living in Northwood Apartments, everyone came out of their apartments when the power went off," Warren said. "People had drinks and food in their freezers so we had a big grilling party watching the storm."

    Warren admits now that may not have been a great idea but a week later he and his future wife began dating. They now have two children.

    Lisa Smith Blackwell of Meridian remembered feeling the pain of those on the Gulf Coast. But at the same time she was able to see a silver lining.

    "I saw a lot of good come out the storm," she said. "Because after it was all over friends and neighbors came together to help one another."

    Christopher Michael Carpenter of Tupelo remembered having to drive from north Mississippi to Meridian to bring relatives a generator and a 75-gallon barrel of unleaded gasoline. He said they had lock in the four-wheel drive to get through the busted timber and terrain upon hitting Lauderdale County on Highway 45 all of the way to College Park.

    "That was an interesting day," said Carpenter. "It was then that I realized the whole broad impact of the storm."

    Interesting may have been an understatement for Deanna Smith Landrum who said her family pulled mattresses onto the back porch to try to stay cool during the night. She said all in all it was like a hot, not very fun camping trip.

    "Oh, and I can't forget my friend taking a bar of soap outside and "showering" in the rain in our front yard," she said.

    

     The Damage



Hurricane Katrina Damage Assessment Data: Lauderdale County Emergency

Management Agency



Meridian:

Homes destroyed: 27

Homes with major damage: 277

Homes with minor damage: 712

Mobile homes destroyed: 6

Mobile homes with major damage: 1

Mobile homes with minor damage: 12

Multi-family homes destroyed: 4

Multi-family homes with major damage: 11

Multi-family homes with minor damage: 40

Businesses with major damage: 33

Businesses with minor damage: 62



Lauderdale County:

Homes, mobile homes, businesses destroyed: 40

Homes, mobile homes, businesses with major damage: 177

Homes, mobile homes, businesses with moderate damage: 293

Homes, mobile homes, businesses with minor damage: 546