Effects of Hurricane Katrina on Gulfport Mississippi and Surrounding Areas by Art Gib

Gulfport, Mississippi is located in Harrison County. It was hit particularly hard by hurricane Katrina and the storm surge from the hurricane. Harrison County has two large coastal cities, which are Biloxi and Gulfport. Both of these cities suffered severe damages and a fair number of casualties. There were one hundred twenty six people confirmed dead by the first of September that year.

Harrison County's smaller coastal towns also suffered severe damage. Both Long Beach and Pass Christian were leveled by hurricane Katrina. A camp that was owned and operated by the Mississippi Baptist Convention near Gulfport was permanently closed after this terrible storm. This camp has been planned to be built elsewhere sometime in the future.

Biloxi is mostly a tourist town and lost several of the main attractions around the city to the hurricane. Several high-rise casinos and hotels lost the lower three levels of their facilities. These facilities had to be completely gutted after the hurricane hit and dissipated. The Imperial Palace and the Beau Rivage are two of the facilities that were completely damaged in this way.

In Gulfport, the Grand Casino suffered the same fate as those building in Biloxi. Of course, there were more buildings damaged than just the Grand Casino. The casino barges were mostly destroyed along with all of the restaurants in both of these cities. The casino barges that were not destroyed were washed up on land. The residents of these towns that had been through hurricane Camille made the statement that Katrina was far worse.

The Keesler Air Force Base that is located in Biloxi, reported that they had extensive damage to their facilities. In Gulfport, more than ten feet of water was covering the downtown streets. All of Harrison County was greatly affected by hurricane Katrina.

Harrison County has gone about the rebuilding of their county at varied paces in different towns. The casino industry gave the city of Biloxi an extra helping hand with their reconstruction. The smaller towns, however, unfortunately did not have the economic base to begin rebuilding quickly.

Gulfport has begun to rebuild as quickly as possible. They are faring better than the smaller towns, as they had a better economic base than the smaller towns. Gulfport did not have the same density of casinos and hotels as Biloxi, but they are still rebuilding quickly. In 2007, there were still some delayed projects between Biloxi and Gulfport.

Remax of Mississippi (http://www.remax-mississippi.com) helping you with Gulfport MS real estate. Art Gib is a freelance writer.

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