Gustav has come to to shore and moved inland as I write this. He came roaring into the Gulf waters, taking advantage of the jittery nerves surrounding the anniversary of his older sister Katrina and, thankfully, turned out to "only" be a Category 2 at best. (Strange world when one can say "Oh - well the winds were *only* between 96 and 110 mph" and have that be POSITIVE news.) He has provided MANY interesting shots for me, 'tho. And while I realize that I already *have* my own "Hurricane Blog" set up (I'll get to that), I wanted to share a few of these images.
What we have here is the ever-appropriately named Bay-Waveland Yacht Club in Bay St. Louis. Waveland used to be a REALLY nice place, or so I've been told. I only know it as a place where the mayor lived in the park for more than a year and held meetings in his tent. Katrina eliminated Waveland. I don't mean "wow - she trashed it and golly it sure was a mess" - I mean she made it go away. There was not ONE upright structure in Waveland after Katrina roared through ... not even a utility pole. Professional broadcasters who were covering damage were at a loss to get the point across that Waveland no longer existed. (A book I have on Katrina starts one paragraph with "But Waveland ... where was Waveland?") The Yacht Club was rebuilt on raised pillars and while this looks like a total loss to most people, it is a screaming success. So chalk one up to the good guys.
This is Highway 90. From "Camp Cockroach" in Gulfport (the nickname for the base camp we used), ya' drive down Pass Road, make a right onto Veteran's Blvd and it dead ends onto 90. Make a left and go about 4 miles until you are "in town" (shortly after Mary Mahoney's on your left). Anyway - This is Highway 90 - or more accurately this is half of Highway 90. Ya' see that barrier there on the right? That's where the other lanes should be, and then after that should be a fairly large strip of beach and THEN water. That patch of grass to the right is the median in the middle of the highway, not a sidewalk. But again - this is a win. I see upright poles in the middle of the road and I see trees still standing and my GOD I see land at the left where housing starts to appear. This is a HUGE win. The score is 2 to nuttin. 
Ok this kinda sucks. This is the view of 90 from St. John Avenue. The GOOD news is that you can see the street slopes downwards towards the highway and that the street itself is not flooded. This means that there's a 33% chance that the town is not dealing with standing water. It's only 33% because Biloxi has three sides of water. In fact, the Back Bay was almost crueler to Biloxi during Katrina from the "backwash" to the Gulf. We can't claim this as a win on our side because 90 is a main access to a LOT of this area and until it is cleared, not much will be happening. Mother Nature scores 1 here. 
The Hard Rock Hotel was 2 weeks away from opening when Katrina hit. They had MAJOR damage, and their icon - this guitar - was a shell. I won't get into what gambling does for this area, but without these businesses, this area NEVER would have made as much progress as it did. In the interest of keeping things in perspective, the vans we were using while I was there easily drove underneath that tiny little parking area to the left. So this is a shitload of water that needs to go away. On the other hand, the structure itself is upright (which wasn't always the case) and the hotel structure itself - from this VERY limited angle - appears to be fairly intact. This means that recovery crews will have places to sleep and clean up. This means that jobs will happen. This means that money will continue and so - only because of ALL that water in front - I'm gonna call this a draw. Otherwise it'd be a point for us - but I'll be generous.Oh wait - I just saw something. So ya' see that beige structure to the right there in the Hard Rock shot? That's the Beau Rivage Casino and Hotel. Casinos in this area used to have to be on barges - no gambling was allowed on land - so hotels were on solid ground, but not the gambling itself. That immediately stopped when the "Casino Magic" Barge came ashore during Katrina and landed on top of the Beau Rivage. Wanna know what THAT looks like?
And THAT is why Katrina is still the mother of all storms. Gustav was just her crabby little brother. I have completed blogging the first week of my experiences in Biloxi at my "other blog", called "Bigger Words Than 'Thank You'". It is embarrassing to say these are from 2006, but I will NOT wait until Hanna to post Week 2. I hope you enjoy Week 1.
