Returning to Bay St. Louis nearly 20 years after Katrina cleanup
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These are the images I remember most post-Katrina: missing houses. Photos taken in 2006 by Episcopal Church of the Epiphany/Courtesy of Derek Lacey
In 2006, on the first anniversary of Katrina, I went with my church youth group to help the Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, community continue its cleanup efforts.
Why it matters: Even a year after the storm, it seemed like it had just come through, with boats washed far inland, forests and infrastructure heavily damaged, and what I remember most: empty slabs where houses used to be.
Zoom in: We mainly spent the trip helping to clean out houses that were still standing, clean up debris and pile it by the street.
- We found family photos and military medals inside houses set to be torn down.
Driving the news: By chance, I returned to Bay St. Louis earlier this month for my brother-in-law's engagement party, and didn't recognize the place.
- There were no empty slabs, but a ton of new homes, constructed high off the ground on pilings, and a thriving downtown waterfront.
Zoom out: My wife's family, including my in-laws who live in New Orleans, have their Katrina stories, too.
- When Katrina hit, my wife Ashlyn Yuratich was a high schooler in Gulf Shores, where she moved from South Louisiana as a young child.
- Her family lived "down the road" in Buras, Louisiana, when she was born, and her extended family managed satsuma groves, until Katrina hit and devastated the citrus orchards.
- After the storm, the whole family moved up to the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas.
After we started dating in 2010, I made my first trip to New Orleans to meet the folks. I could still see the scars, but fell in love with the city anyway.
- I ate too much food, applied to internships, saw Kermit Ruffins at the Blue Nile, went to my first Mardis Gras, ate even more food, and never missed an episode of "Treme." (Which featured the best Auburn shout-out.)
The bottom line: Katrina is one of those seminal "before and after" moments for the South, especially New Orleans and Louisiana.