My home town
By: Brittany Mapes
On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the southern states Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. The areas from New Orleans, LA to Biloxi, MS got the worst of the storm. It was one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit the United States. It was a category 5 hurricane, which is the highest class. There were more than 2,000 lives lost and some people are still "missing". There are parts of the coast that are still being rebuilt and cleaned up. Thousands of people are still being affected by this disaster. I’m one of those people and I don’t think I’ll ever really get over it. This is probably one of the hardest things for me to talk about, let alone write about. I grew up on Biloxi Beach. I miss it more than anything.
A few weeks before the hurricane struck the coast, we moved to Bailey. My mom said she had a bad feeling about staying in Biloxi for much longer. When we moved to Bailey I found out about a hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. The weather reporters said it was going to go to Florida so I wasn’t too worried about it. Before it knew it, it went from a tropical depression to a category 2 hurricane overnight. It also shifted its track. It aimed right for New Orleans. When I found that out, I literally became numb. On August 28th, I was a nervous wreck. I knew that Katrina was going to make landfall sooner or later that night and everything that was there then, wouldn’t be there tomorrow. The next day after having the hardest night, I watched the news. The damage to Biloxi was so bad that I couldn’t even recognize it. The aftermath of Katrina, left many of my friends homeless. I felt like I couldn’t help at all because I was in Colorado. Also, a part of me felt guilty because I had a home and a shelter whereas people that were a huge part of my life were left with out. The videos and pictures were overwhelming and I could hardly look at them. New Orleans, which was also another place I basically lived, was under water. The entire experience has taught me a huge lesson in life. Appreciate the people around you, and where you live because it can all be taken away from you within a blink of an eye.
Biloxi, Mississippi used to be one of the most beautiful places; it had so much to it. Now, I feel lucky to have the memory of Biloxi before any of it happened. That’s a luxury most people don’t have anymore.
