The following is a condensed version of an oral history I contributed to the Storycorps program when they were taking intereviews in their mobile unit in Gulfport, Mississippi, in December, 2005.\r\n\r\nThursday, September 1, 2005\r\n\r\n What a disastrous week!\r\n\r\n It seems so hard to believe that less than a week ago I joined a friend for his class reunion near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. At that time, Hurricane Katrina was predicted to be a category 2 tropical storm, headed west, toward New Orleans, and no one at the party seemed very worried about it. When I got home, there was a message on my answering machine from the pastor of the church in Biloxi where I am organist, informing me that Sunday\'s service was cancelled.\r\n\r\n Early Sunday morning, I awoke to partly cloudy skies and attended the early service at the Episcopal church where I am a parishioner. Following this sparsely attended low mass, I helped store some things in the sacristy, then went home and began packing for evacuation to the home of my friend, Paul Bussolati, where we planned to ride out the storm. I live 3 blocks north of the beach; Paul lives about a mile northeast, north of the railroad tracks. My immediate neighbors planned to stay home. So, between their presence and my charged up cell phone, I felt confident.\r\n\r\n Several hours after I\'d gotten settled in at Paul\'s, my cell phone began ringing. Among the callers were 3 anxious friends who urged me to evacuate. By that time, the hurricane was upgraded to a category 4, headed just west of Gulfport. Being on the eastern fringe of it, we rightfully suspected that we\'d get severe winds. Indeed, about 9 PM the electricity went off, and the winds increased. As we later slept, little did we realize that the strong winds had only just begun.\r\n\r\n Monday, the winds continued to wreak havoc, and it was not until late afternoon that we began to hear onsite reports of some of the damage. Friends from across the street had bundled up in raincoats and walked to downtown Gulfport. When one of them said, \"The Gulfport library is gone!\", we knew this was no ordinary storm. They went on to describe some of the other damage: The Copa Casino washed up onto Highway 90; newspaper rolls (echoes of Hurricane Camille in 1969) were all over the place. So, Paul and his nephew, Stan Helveston, and I walked down to 9th Street, just south of where I live on 38th Avenue. EVERYTHING south of 9th Street was in total shambles. Dole fruit containers had ended up in yards (mine among them), and a long barge had landed south of 38th Avenue. We finally walked far enough down to see my house from a distance, i.e., what remained of my house--all the south and east windows had been blown out, and about half the roof blown away. In addition to the Dole container and paper rolls in the yard, the entire corner and yard which surrounds the house was covered in debris. The front porch was almost gone, and my neighbors who bravely rode out the thing INSIDE their house had almost equally extensive damages on both sides, and lost both their cars which were smashed by the debris which flew like missles.\r\n\r\n Tuesday morning, Paul, Stan, and I got up the courage to drive down to my house. We were not able to drive any further south down 38th Avenue that the railroad tracks. So, after parking on Railroad Street, we plowed through the rubble and crawled through the stinking, at times, precarious piles of debris, the ONLY way to get inside my house.\r\n\r\n Once inside, the site was onerous. Every piece of furniture had been thrown about, some from one room to another, by the winds and rain. The upright piano in my hall had turned over and blocked the door, so we had to crawl through the ruined chimney to get to the guest room. So much was ruined, much covered in mud and stinking water. Peering into the master bedroom, the sight of my row of neatly hung clothing belied the destruction. Then, going into the hall, another eerie series of things was discovered: every picture and portrait hanging on the walls remained in their places! The kitchen drawers were flooded and the refrigerator, overturned, but the new television stood unscathed in its northwest corner. Most everything in the upper cabinets remained undamaged.\r\n\r\n Shrewdly, shortly before leaving on Sunday, I\'d hidden the most precious of my belongings inside a file cabinet in the laundry room. When I opened the drawers, I was much relieved to find those items intact. Those were the first things we dried and wrapped in pillow cases for transport to Paul\'s.\r\n\r\n Paul, Stan and I spent about 6 hours performing the hot and dirty task of packing up heirlooms for transport to Paul\'s for safekeeping.\r\n\r\n In the absence of any electricity or running water, we were quite grateful to have some rainfall on Wednesday, whereupon the three of us stripped down and took outdoor showers, retiring Wednesday evening confident that we no longer smelled like skunks.\r\n\r\n By Thursday morning, we were ready to stock up on more ice and water. We\'d heard on the battery powered radio about nearby distribution centers, and joined the many others throughout the community who were very grateful for these places. Meanwhile, some of Paul\'s neighbors shared leftover food. Later, I decided to drive downtown and survey some of the damage. The worst was true: hardly ANY structure in Gulfport and environs had not been heavily damaged or destroyed by the storm, and Highway 90 was so devastated that most of it remained blocked off.\r\n\r\nFriday, September 2\r\n\r\n The bottom floor of the Gulfport Library is gutted, a total loss, while most of the upstairs remains intact, a sign of hope that we still have a library system.\r\n\r\n Behind the library, at St. Peter\'s, only the shell of the church stands.\r\n\r\n I then proceeded eastward on the dangerous remains of Highway 90. I had to satisfy my curiosity about west Biloxi (as far as I could safely drive), and was most happy to discover Bethel Lutheran Church (where I am organist) still standing, intact.\r\n\r\n We continued to get water, ice, and MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) from Milner Stadium and the former location of Phoenix College.\r\n\r\n Thousands of out of area National Guard troops, police forces, and other emergency response teams FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD are here.\r\n\r\n On Friday, September 2, I spent the afternoon getting insurance claim forms from a booth on Pass Road, then several hours taking inventory at my destroyed house.\r\n\r\n The time consuming, treacherous part of hauling this was getting in and out of the house through all the wet, rotten debris full of nails. But two trips to my car parked on the north corner did it, and I even managed to visit with several neighbors. On the way back to Paul\'s, I got more ice which I offerred to share with Paul\'s neighbors who have been so nice. Later, on Paul\'s porch, I cooled off with cocktails, and am very happy to report that he has trickling water and we can take shallow baths in the back porch bathroom where my Boston Terrier, Miss Mugs, stays when she\'s not on the leash here on the front porch. The radio is on, and we pray for electricity. Meanwhile--well, what MORE can I say about this disaster, especially in New Orleans, where the ENTIRE CITY has been evacuated and/or are in the process of being evacuated.\r\n\r\nSunday, September 4\r\n\r\n Last night Tony and his friend, Cindy, came over and we sat on Paul\'s front porch and generally \"cussed and discussed\" this horrid and tragic situation that happened one week ago today and tomorrow. Shortly before midnight, I went to bed, and awoke, as usual, a couple of hours before sunrise. Today, however, I had a good REASON to get up early: the advertised 8 AM outdoor service at St. Peter\'s.\r\n\r\n When I got there (about 7:45AM), no one was in sight, save for a man walking around with a camera. He soon revealed that he was from a Florida media outlet, and asked if he could interview me, which I consented to. Slowly but surely, a few people started arriving, along with reporters from CNN, among other news outlets. Our rector never showed up. Just as we all about to leave, a coastal crisis chaplain by the name of Rob Dewey pulled up in his jeep, and said he was on the way to St. Mark\'s for their 9:30 AM service. In short order, we had very emotional service in front of the now demolished altar of St. Peter\'s.\r\n\r\n Following the service, I tried to get a Sun Herald newspaper at their Debuys Road office, to no avail--\"the truck hasn\'t gotten here yet,\" quoth an ERM team member. Later, shortly after noon, I got one.\r\n\r\n Later that afternoon, back on 38th Avenue, I saw a man and woman carrying bags of dogfood down the street. She explained that she was the sister of one of my neighbors who, with his wife and college age son, tried to ride the storm out IN their house, only to have to SWIM to safety, and were rescued somewhere near 11th Street! They were taken to Memorial Hospital. The couple found 1 of the dogs and fed him.\r\n\r\n Monday, Septemer 5\r\n\r\n Had the total frustration today of not being allowed south of the railroad tracks due to debris cleanup. I am considering my options for the future here.\r\n\r\n Tuesday, September 6\r\n\r\n Drove out to where (I thought) FEMA was on Highway 49 at 7:30 AM. Waited in line about 2 and a half hours before finding Allstate booths, whereupon I parked the car and spent ANOTHER HOUR dealing with an Allstate agent. By the time I left, I had a hardship check and the 800 number of my adjuster. Then, I drove further north to the crossroads branch of Hancock Bank and waited in line for about another hour to deposit the insurance check and get some cask. From that, I paid Stan for his help, and I now have enough to last until payday from the Harrison County Library System.\r\n\r\n Helicopters, National Guard trucks, and security troops FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY continue to pour in, and their help is MUCH welcomed. Stan just walked up with a new shipment of ice. We are happy.\r\n\r\n I am VERY grateful to the National Guard for patrolling the neighborhood.\r\n\r\n On the way back to Paul\'s, I found a couple of small stores open, and a store that was GOUGHING customers last week is now open for gasoline, but the line was too long to wait. When Paul returns, we\'re going to make a liquor run on Pass Road. Cheers--whatever!\r\n\r\nWednesday, September 7\r\n\r\n As we enter day 9 of recovery, I\'m sitting on Paul\'s front porch having early morning tea and listening to the city crank up again. Since the curfew is lifted at 6 AM, one doesn\'t need an alarm clock to wake up, as the noise of TRAFFIC will take care of that. Paul has to return to work today. We now have a battery powered tv borrowed from a neighbor, and last night I saw some of the WLOX footage which was of interest, but I was ready for bed LONG before that!\r\n\r\n I need find where FEMA has set up here.\r\n\r\n As we were recently sitting on the front porch, Paul and I came up with a Hurricane Katrina alphabet, as follows:\r\n\r\nAggravating\r\nBitching\r\ncatastrophic crowds\r\nDerelicts\r\nEnough!\r\nFrightening\r\nGarbage\r\nHurricane\r\nIndescribable\r\nJunky!\r\nKooky\r\nLightning\r\nMadness\r\nN (we forgot this letter, but I now add, Nasty)\r\nOh!\r\nPowerful\r\nQueer\r\nRank\r\nSweltering\r\nTerrifying\r\nUnbelievable\r\nVolunteers\r\nWinds!\r\nX(All we could come up for this was to draw an X in a box, among symbols described on buildings here after the search and rescue operations)\r\nY(We never could put this to a word)\r\nZapped!\r\n\r\n I also jotted down some cities I thought to be most severely impacted by Katrina: Ocean Springs; Biloxi; D\'Iberville; Gulfport; Long Beach; Pass Christian; Bay St. Louis; Waveland. And, of course, Slidell and New Orleans!\r\n\r\n Then, Paul came up with HIS Katrina alphabet:\r\n\r\nK-Katastrophic (misspelled, but perfectly acceptable when I compare it to some of what I\'ve seen spray painted on signs here and there!)\r\nA-Annihilating\r\nT-Terrrifying\r\nR-Ravaging\r\nI-Indescribable\r\nN-Nightmarish\r\nA-Atomic\r\n\r\nSaturday, September 9\r\n\r\n With power restored at two houses we know of, I can get laundry done today. I recently found a Sav-A-Center opened on Pass Road and started stocking up on groceries and we had steak for dinner!\r\n\r\n Yesterday was spent ENTIRELY at the FEMA location in Ocean Springs. AWFUL delays occurred all day, what with computers up and down. Shortly before I left, I managed to get a connection on my cell phone, only to have the battery go dead.\r\n\r\nMonday, September 12. MUCH emotion filled BOTH the St. Peter\'s service (held at Switzer Pavillion) and Bethel Lutheran yesterday. At Bethel, one of the LARGEST relief centers here is going full speed, and there were more Episcopal-Lutheran team workers in the congregation than their own members.\r\n\r\n This concludes excerpts read directly to Storycorps from my post Hurricane Katrina journal. The following narrative will now summarize what transpired between September 14 and the day of the interview in early December.\r\n\r\nWednesday, September 14\r\n\r\n Staff members of the Harrison County Library System reconvened in an emotional, highly charged session at the Popps Ferry Library at 10 AM. The system director, Bob Lipscomb, summarized damages to the library system buildings. Fortunately, no staff lives were lost, but several reported having \"lost everything\" in their homes. Several librarians have salvaged what they could from the destroyed Gulfport library and the heavily damaged Biloxi downtown library, and several thousand books have been shipped to a demolding/restoration facility in the Chicago area. The library system headquarters has been temporarily relocated from Gulfport to the branch on Popps Ferry Road.\r\n\r\nThursday, September 15\r\n\r\n Had a very pleasant telephone converstaion with Dr. Mary Ellis, of Port Gibson, who asurred me she is holding a copy of the bicentennial history of Port Gibson she\'d compiled a few years ago; I\'d helped her gather source material, and my copy was lost in the storm. She is also trying to get replacement copies of some of my Chamberlain-Hunt Academy yearbooks (1967-1972).\r\n\r\nFriday, September 23\r\n\r\n This was the 1st day of heavy rain since August, and was it EVER a pain! Those of us without tarped roofs yet have leaks, and those of us who still have valuables in our inaccessible homes wonder what is being further damaged today. As Hurricane Rita heads its ugly way toward Galveston, Texas, FEMA efforts will be spread further thin.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In conclusion (during this second week of December), I look back on theses last 3 months with both encouragement and sadness. The generous outpouring of volunteer relief groups never ceases to amaze and delight. After a long wait, I finally received what I consider to be (for now) adequate funds from FEMA, and my trailer application is in the works. St. Peter\'s has been temporarily relocated to Handsboro Presbyterian Church on Pass Road, Gulfport, and the Episcopal Relief Center (also known as Camp Coast Care), in Long Beach, has also been a Godsend to thousands of people. I am thankful for both my library and church jobs, and also grateful to the Red Cross for many a meal from their traveling vans, and to the state of Mississippi for issuing a disaster food stamp card to those of us who needed them. And, of course, where would have been without Paul? God only knows where I\'d have ended up staying had it not been for him.\r\n\r\n In the heartsad department, in addition to still mourning the deaths of several acquaintances lost in the storm and the ensuing New Orleans flood, my only loose end now when it comes to making a decision about rebuilding or restoring my house hinges on what insurance settlement will be offered. I join the MANY people who, at this time, consider the insurance industry in general to be public enemy number 1. Hopefully, future political bills will fill in the gaps for those whom the insurance industry failed.\r\n\r\n I knew from the time I moved to Gulfport in August, 1977, that Mississippi Gulf Coast people are tough. Now, I have NO regrets about being one of them for the past 28 years, and I\'m tough, too. Nothing will stop me from rebuilding my home WHERE IT WAS, and the sooner we can start on that, the better.\r\n\r\n \r\nMarch 29, 2006\r\n\r\n Today, 7 months to the day after the storm, I am happy to say that restoration of my home is well underway. It did not have to be torn down. Much of my furniture is being restored, and semi reasonable (though not final) insurance settlements and grants have come through. \r\n\r\nStanley Hastings\r\nGulfport, Mississippi