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Death, debris in Mississippi

Biloxi and Gulfport are hardest hit among cities as rescue worker estimates put state’s death toll above 100

BY CYNTHIA DANIELS AND TINA SUSMAN. | STAFF WRITERS; Daniels reported from Mississippi, Susman from New York; This story was supplemented with wire service reports.

August 31, 2005

More than 100 people were feared dead in Mississippi alone yesterday after Hurricane Katrina left a sodden swath of destruction along the Gulf Coast, and rescue workers picking through the remnants of shattered neighborhoods warned that the toll was sure to rise.

In Biloxi, Miss., National Guardsmen and police were too overwhelmed with rescue efforts to patrol streets as looters hit some stores. The Coast Guard said it had rescued at least 1,200 people, many of them hoisted by helicopters from rooftops after they had frantically broken through their ceilings as waters rose around them. Some clutched children and pets.

As the day wore on and people were able to get out and survey the scene, the jaw-dropping degree of damage from the hurricane came into focus.

The neighboring cities of Biloxi and Gulfport, which hug the coast and are home to Mississippi's casinos, were devastated. Several massive gambling houses, which by state law must sit on barges offshore, were either destroyed or ripped from their moorings and dumped hundreds of feet away onto beachfront property.

Some landed on homes, and at least one crushed a hotel. Slot machines were scattered along the beach. Sand covered Highway 90, which runs parallel to the sea. Street lights were bent over by the wind. Buildings were smashed to bits and from the air resembled broken eggshells scattered across the land.

"This is our tsunami," said Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway.

In east Biloxi, at least six bodies were carried out of the rubble. Joe Spraggins, the civil defense director for Harrison County, which includes Biloxi and Gulfport, said 100 people had died in the county.

"We expect the death toll to be higher than anything we've ever seen before," said Jim Pollard, county civil defense spokesman.

Several people were believed to have died in the Quiet Water apartment complex in Biloxi, which yesterday was little more than a pile of bricks. Despite evacuation orders, many of those living in the building on the beach stayed home, only to find the walls disintegrating as Katrina raged.

"We grabbed a lady and pulled her out the window and then we swam with the current," said resident Joy Schovest. "It was terrifying. You should have seen the cars floating around us. We had to push them away when we were trying to swim."

Across the street, the St. Charles condominium was missing its front, and a pink recliner dangled from a window.

"We're going to see if we can find anyone who possibly might be alive on the higher floor," said Mark Dronet, Biloxi's deputy fire chief. He said the city experienced "massive destruction, with nothing left standing."

Shavan Smith stood staring in disbelief at the St. Charles, where she had lived until recently. Smith said she had lost everything in the hurricane. "I guess it's like a dream," she said. "I ain't woke up from it yet."

In Gulfport, a line formed early at one of the few businesses open, a CVS pharmacy. Jessica and Randall Jones approached the window to place their order: a carton of Newports, some beef jerky, four cans of Spaghetti-Os, and bottled water. Two trees had crashed into their home.

"It's all destroyed," said Jessica. "I know everybody has heard about Camille, but this is worse than Camille," she added, referring to the storm that killed more than 250 people in 1969.

Nearly 2 million people were without electricity in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, phone lines were down, water supplies were feared contaminated, and officials said it could be weeks before many people could return home.

For the second day in a row, oil prices approached $70 a barrel because of damage to oil platforms and refineries off the Gulf Coast. Some rigs were ripped from their moorings, and one was found nine miles away from its original location. A drilling platform washed up on Alabama's Dauphin Island, near Mobile, which suffered flooding.

President George W. Bush cut short his Texas vacation by two days and planned to return to Washington today to deal with relief efforts.

Though Katrina was expected to be one of the costliest hurricanes to strike the country in terms of damages, it was far less damaging than it could have been had it remained at Category 5 and plowed directly into New Orleans. Its last-minute turn to the east, and a drop in wind speeds, diminished it to a Category 3 storm at landfall.

But its extraordinary size - hurricane-force winds extended about 125 miles from its center - and its slow speed made it more damaging than stronger hurricanes such as last year's Charley, which hit Florida.

Those elements helped make Katrina "nearly a worst-case scenario," said meteorologist Stanley Goldberg of the U.S. Hurricane Research Division.