Hurricane Katrina Photos and Videos. Aftermath of Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. A look at some of Katrina's catastrophic effects on the coastal towns of South Mississippi including Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Gautier and Pascagoula.
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Hurricane Katrina overview

*Hurricane Katrina was the eleventh-named tropical storm and the first Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane just north of Miami, Florida on August 25, 2005. In the Gulf of Mexico it strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane with maximum winds of 175mph and minimum central pressure of 902mbar. It weakened somewhat as it was approaching land, making a second landfall on the morning of August 29 along the Central Gulf Coast near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana, then a third and final landfall just east of the Mississippi-Louisiana border near Pearlington, Waveland and Bay St. Louis Mississippi.

The massive physical size of Katrina caused devastation far from the eye of the hurricane. On August 29, its storm surge breached the levee system that protected New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. Most of New Orleans was subsequently flooded mainly by water from the lake, resulting in chaos, death and destruction. St. Bernard Parish, Slidell and in neighboring southeastern Louisiana areas saw very heavy damage from Katrina's strong winds and storm surge. Heavy damage could also be seen in areas much further to the east in Mobile and some other coastal southwestern Alabama towns.

Enormous damage was inflicted onto the Mississippi Gulf Coast where the storms strongest winds and storm surge where located. The Mississippi Gulf Coast bore the brunt of Katrina, from her northeaster eyewall, the most powerful portion of a hurricane. The highest ever recorded (US) storm surge of 30 feet was reported in Bay St. Louis and in neighboring Mississippi towns. Unlike its surrounding states, every town along the Mississippi Gulf Coast was catastrophically effected. In historic towns such as Waveland, Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian nearly every single business and residence was effected, the majority of which were completely destroyed. Hundreds were killed, more than a hundred thousand were left homeless and more than one million were affected by the storm in Mississippi.

The storm moved slowly northward through the state of Mississippi spawning tornados and knocking out power to the majority of the state. It continued on a slow northeastern path causing flooding and tornados in several other states.

In a December 14, 2005 editorial, The Biloxi/Gulfport Sun Herald newspaper said that the memory of the disaster in Mississippi appears to be fading from many Americans' minds, especially when compared with the plight of families from New Orleans.

"The depth of the suffering and the height of the courage of South Mississippians is an incredible story that the American people must know," the editorial states. "But, in the shadows of the New Orleans story, the Mississippi Coast has become invisible and forgotten to most Americans."

*Hurricane Katrina Educational Information Summary