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Evacuees start over in Pine Belt
Sep 4, 2009
Bouncing back
In the days after Hurricane Katrina cut a devastating path through Mississippi and Louisiana, thousands of evacuees came to the Pine Belt in search of shelter.
Many were unable to return to their homes because of the destruction. Some couldn't stand the stress of another killer like Katrina and made a permanent move inland. These are some of their stories.
Town looked like war zone
Pam Dyhrkopp, 57, lived on the Doubloom Bayou in Slidell, La., and now calls Petal home.
Before the storm and after hurricane preparations were made, Dyhrkopp, her husband, his son, her son-in-law and two grandchildren left to stay with friends in Pensacola, leaving her daughter, a registered nurse, because she was called into work at North Shore Regional Medical Center.
Despite no available communication between her and her daughter, Dyhrkopp did see her on CNN as the TV network filmed nurses transporting patients from one floor to another. Two days after the storm, her daughter was released and her husband and Mr. Dyhrkopp went to pick her up.
"Once they got into Slidell ... they said it looked like a war zone," Dyhrkopp said.
Even though their Slidell home had been built 10 feet off the ground, the storm still filled it with 18 inches of water. They traveled to the Mississippi coast to check on their other properties. Before the storm, their Biloxi home was the 12th house from the beach. After the storm, it was the fourth.
And their Bay St. Louis camp?
A toilet and a tub were all that remained.
"Everyone else was in your same position, so you couldn't find anyone to help. When you eventually did find someone, you couldn't board them because you barely had somewhere to stay yourself," she said.
But help did come. Dyhrkopp reported people from all over the country coming to help as well as church groups and the Red Cross.
"The Red Cross fed us for six weeks. I can't say enough about them," she said.
The Biloxi home was bare, yet habitable after some major cleaning and repairs.
"We were very fortunate," she said.
Her husband, Felix, originally from New Orleans, said he couldn't go through it again.
But finding a home was no easy matter. After the storm, houses on the market here were snatched up quickly.
But the Dyhrkopps got lucky. They found a home in Petal that not only lived up to their standards but also achieved their goal to stay less than a two-hour drive from their daughter, who now lives in Mandeville, La.
Most of their friends and family also lost homes and settled into new lives around the country.
"I miss my family and friends, the festivals and the food. We're so close to Louisiana, but it's so different. Not in a bad way, but you can feel the difference," Dyhrkopp said.
But she still has her own little piece of Louisiana - her Louisiana cell phone number.
Family, friends fled to Florida
A day before Katrina hit, Jerry Mayeux, his family and a few friends fled Chalmette, La., the seat of hard-hit St. Bernard Parish.
The group piled into three vehicles and stuck together as they fled Katrina, heading east to Florida. They ended up in Pensacola and later spent six months in Panama City.
One of Mayeux's friends went back to Chalmette after the storm and salvaged a few personal items such as trophies of Mayeux's track and field days from their home.
To stay close to his daughter, who now lives in Canebrake, Mayeux bought a house near Mississippi 589 where he lives with his wife, son, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
Mayeux, 71, finally traveled to Chalmette earlier this year. His home - and much of Chalmette - no longer existed.
"Everything was bulldozed," he said.
Chalmette is gradually returning to normal with businesses and schools reopened, though the population remains significantly lower than before the storm.
Call for survivors met with silence
Marie Maxwell was living in Pass Christian when Katrina struck. Illness and concern over looters kept her from leaving with the rest of her family.
The day of the storm, she awoke to no electricity and water in her home. After the water topped 3 feet, Maxwell and her dog, Molly, fled to her neighbor's home that was built on pilings. The two camped out on the second-floor porch.
"I was totally absorbed in observing every minute detail of the experience. I gauged the rising water against street posts," Maxwell said.
When the water rose to 18 feet, Maxwell was treading water with one hand on the roof, the eave protecting her head from debris. Molly was swept away, treading water toward a patch of debris.
"As the water level fell, I was able to drop down to the floor of the porch. I saw my house, broken apart and turned about 30 degrees. Contents were carried by the receding water."
When the water had dropped to 3 feet, Maxwell called her daughter, letting her family know she was all right. She slept on the porch that night.
"It was eerily silent. The familiar chirping and croaking of frogs, crickets - even buzzing mosquitoes were gone, washed away," she said.
The next day, she walked down her street, calling for survivors. No one responded.
A few days later, her ex-husband found her staying in her ruined home. She stayed in a FEMA trailer with her ex-in-laws before her job at Southern Miss on the Coast transferred her to Hattiesburg.
Maxwell and her younger daughter will graduate in May - her daughter from Sacred Heart Catholic School and Maxwell from Southern Miss.
And her dog, Molly?
Six weeks after the storm, a friend who had relocated to Jackson spotted Molly at a Jackson shelter where the two were reunited.
ROSE PENDLETON American Staff Writer rnpendleton@hattiesburgamerican.com
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