the eugene bean

The Mississippi Gulfcoast
Clermont Harbor, Waveland, Bay St. Louis:
I have never seen anything so horrible as what we saw at ground zero for Hurricane Katrina. I was stunned.

We drove over the battered Twin Span into Slidell. Damage was evident everywhere we looked. We got off on our exit and drove until we couldn't drive anymore. The road had ended, the bridge was gone. Standing at the edge looking over the bay was very sad.

This was Beach Road. The streets leading up to it just ended. I can't count the times I've walked on that road. Ty and I recently had coffee in one of those shops. When we stood below that house with the pink room, you could see all the wicker furniture. Lamps and stuff all intact. Weird how the water ripped the whole front off yet left the bed, made, just where it had been.

We drove for about 1o miles along what looked like the world's largest trash dump. Hotels, Bed and Breakfasts, Million Dollar Homes... all picked up and smashed up and dropped all over the damn place. It truly took my breath away.

Even more shocking was how little debris was actually left. Evidence of these buildings has been either picked up and carried inland by a 30 ft wall of water or sucked back into the bay.

We couldn't see a single structure left standing on this street. It used to be completely full of cute little shops and homes.

These are the steps of the Waveland Courhouse. They are all that's left of the Waveland Courhouse.

Big Daddios. Every weekend that we stayed in Waveland Paw Tyrell would leave in the morning and pick up a dozen doughnuts and a Times Picayune from Big Daddios.

This is all that's left of my friend's home in Bay St. Louis. Our families are the best of friends and I've spent countless weekends enjoying the company of family and friends at the Trouard's beach house.

Chillin' at the Trouard's for the last time.

This used to be someone's home or vacation house. Just sucks.

The floor fell out the bottom of this raised vacation home, The Summer Wind.

There used to be a couple pretty homes here. Now there's debris and a FEMA trailer.

Yuck. Sad and depressing and powerful.



One of the most disturbing things I saw was the clothing and other material stuck in the trees.

This is the Manieri home. You can see in this photo that it moved about 6 feet off the blocks that were holding it up.

This was our kitchen. The photo is a little blurry but you can get the idea. This is after it's been picked over and 'straightened' by Ty's parents.