Little warning time, incredibly ineffective government response, maddeningly dysfunctional recovery efforts, and insurance company shell games marked the Katrina experience. But return now to a time when no warnings were given; when no rescuers searched; when recovery was "on your own;" and insurance was unknown.
The coming of the French to the littoral that would later bear the appellation "Mississippi Gulf Coast," made possible written descriptions of visits of the Indian storm god "Huranken."
Ship's carpenter Andre Penicaut penned the first such account of a 1717 tempest that split Dauphin Island and drowned the settlers' livestock. From Andre Penicaut's Storm through Katrina, hurricane-force winds have struck the 80-mile shoreline of the Mississippi Gulf Coast thirty times, and near hurricane-force winds have swept the area at least ten times more.
Between catastrophes, developers have built more structures along the shore, and, as one meteorologist put it laconically, "A built-up coastline gives hurricanes a helluva lot more to work on." It is not "if" but "when" and "how often" the witches and warlocks of the Gulf will come. They may come three times in one summer one month apart as in 1860, or they may skip three decades and more as they did after 1860 and after 1916—but they will come.
As somebody said, "The only thing new is the history we haven't read." Those wishing to peer into the meterological future should read "Hurricanes of the Mississippi Gulf Coast: Three Centuries of Destruction."
Only 400 spiral-bound signed copies of the book are to be printed. They will be available exclusively through the MGCCC Foundation. Each book will cost $40, which includes shipping and handling. All proceeds will go to the Foundation to benefit the Archives as Sullivan and his staff preserve, catalog, caption and scan the 46,000 photographs of the C.C. "Tex" Hamill "Down South" Magazine Collection and the Dixie Press Collection. Both collections are housed in the Archives, located in Heidelberg Hall at the Perkinston Campus. Some of these never before published photographs were used in the book.
Other books written by Sullivan available through the Foundation include "Down South with the Dixie Press" ($12) and "Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College: A History 1911-2000" ($30). The first book is a journey across the Coast, from Pearlington to Pascagoula, in pre-Katrina photographs selected from the college's photograph collection. The second book is a hardbound, comprehensive history of the college and a fitting purchase or gift as Gulf Coast kicks off its centennial celebration in 2010.
Prices for all books include shipping and handling. You can pay by credit card or by check. Make your check payable to MGCCC Foundation, and mail it to MGCCC Foundation Office, PO Box 99, Perkinston, MS 39573. For more information, call at 601-928-6344, or e-mail dena.hatten@mgccc.edu.
Valor Remembered is a publication detailing the account of Mississippi's war dead throughout the 20th century. The book was completed by Charlie Sullivan, MGCCC archivist and historian, along with his students and was made public in 1996.
These publications are available freely in Adobe PDF format.
