On Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, Patricia Jordan and her son, Teche, watched the waters outside their Ocean Springs home, which was four blocks from the beach, rise until their mailbox was under water. Then they watched their car float down the street like a boat. When water began pouring through the electrical outlets of their one-story home and waves started buckling the walls, Jordan knew it was time to get out.
The water pressure wouldn”t allow the front door to open, so Jordan knocked the screen out of one of her windows. She and Teche swam in 100 mph winds to the two-story house across the street.
After watching the storm in knee-deep water from the second floor of their neighbors home for five hours, the rain stopped. Five hours later, the water receded, revealing Jordan”s carport, which was all that was left of her house.
For days Jordan and her son slept under the carport on two lawn chairs which happened to float by. Eventually she rented a car and drove to Columbus to live with her sister, Cindy Winter.
Five years later, Jordan still lives in Columbus and is working on a book, part of which will chronicle her forced move from the Coast.
“It doesn”t sadden me as much as it did. It used to be I couldn”t write about it when I first got up here,” she said. “Now I”m able to go back and recapture the feelings and so people can see that there are second chances.”
Making a new life
Jordan is one of several individuals and families who settled in Columbus after Katrina forced them from the Gulf Coast.
Tom and Virginia Eselin would love to return to the Pascagoula neighborhood they left behind following Hurricane Katrina.
Tom Eselin was in heaven in his hometown near golf courses, salt-water fishing and walking his dog on the beach. Virginia loved her work at a drop-in senior center. She calls Pascagoula the most beautiful place she”s ever seen.
But going back is just not in the budget.
After the storm, the Eselins” house had to be demolished. They were lucky to sell their lot to the elementary school next to their old home for playground expansion. Many of their friends are stuck paying taxes on an empty lot because nobody will buy them to build homes.
“No one”s talking about a comeback in terms of the Coast anytime soon. It could be years before we see a gradual development,” Tom Eselin predicted.
Evacuating from New Orleans
The house Chris Hannon and Adele Elliott lost in Hurricane Katrina was painted purple, green and gold, a testament to their love for The Big Easy. After Katrina, the couple found another city to love.
Driving into town at 4 a.m. Aug. 30, 2005, after 17 hours in stop-and-go traffic, the first thing Elliott saw was downtown Columbus.
“There was this beautiful downtown and that tiny Statue of Liberty. I said ”Wow. This place is so pretty. If we stay here a few days I”m going to see what”s going on in those little shops.”
Elliott left her home in New Orleans fully expecting to be back the next day. She took no clothes, no valuables, nothing.
Several days and 9 feet of water later, Elliott and Hannon returned to their home to salvage what they could. They were forced to wear special suits to avoid the hazardous materials in home.
“The house had mold like you wouldn”t believe. We had a dining table that was heavy, heavy wood. You touched it and it would crumble,” she said. “(Lake Pontchartrain) is already brackish, but it wasn”t all lake (water in the house). I”m a painter and in my studio I had turpentine, paint thinners, poisons of all sorts, not to mention insecticides and flea meds. All that stuff turned into this toxic soup.”
Medical team relocates
Dr. Richard Vallette, one member of a five-man surgical team in New Orleans, moved to Columbus with his wife, Debbie, to join one of his medical partners, Jan McClanahan, in a new practice. Columbus was looking for surgeons and the two-man team found plenty of business.
They retreated from Slidell, north of New Orleans. The Vallettes” house received minor damage from trees during Katrina. Richard Vallette”s office in New Orleans was intact due to its location on a high floor of an office building. But the low-lying areas around his office were wrecked, as was the local hospital.
“There was probably over 8 feet of water. Everyone in that community had houses completely inundated with water,” said Debbie Vallette.
Columbus was looking for surgeons and the two-man team found plenty of business.
Debbie Vallette says the government in New Orleans has blown the opportunity to help citizens while struggling through red tape.
“They”re unwilling to fund things. It”s a shame,” she said.
Looking back
While many tried to forget Hurricane Katrina, Jordan tried to relive every harrowing detail in her mind as she began her book. She recalled the regular nightmares of rising water. She tells of her lone trip back to Ocean Springs four months after the storm and how she believes the Coast is cursed following the Gulf oil spill.
She rereads her manuscript on a regular basis, reminding herself how she lost everything but her family.
Virginia Eselin who is from Columbus, would like to return to Pascagoula but certainly isn”t sulking. The former art teacher is taking free art classes at Mississippi University for Women available to former teachers beyond a certain age.
“I have a wonderful life. I cannot tell you how much (MUW) has meant to me,” she said hours before heading to photography class.
Elliott mourns New Orleans, but Columbus definitely has its perks. She can sit on the porch of her Southside home without worry of catching a stray bullet or living in fear of a daily murder.
Friendly city
“People go by and they wave at us. In New Orleans, if you see teens walking toward you, you”re frightened. In Columbus they walk by and say ”Good afternoon.” That”s unheard of in New Orleans,” she said.
Despite running a successful talent management company in New Orleans, Elliott said her and her husband were offered no incentive to return to the city. She believes government at every level has failed, both in the immediate aftermath of the storm and five years later.
“I pretty much lost my sanity,” said Elliott of building a life from scratch. “My husband hit the ground running, working like a dog. I just got this job (with the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau) in April and I love this job, but we”ve never recovered financially.”
Debbie Vallette”s transition to the small city of Columbus has been pleasant.
“It”s kind of a slower pace, which is very welcoming,” she said. “It”s a very kind and gentle community. They welcomed us and were happy to have us. I”m quite taken by the way people go out of their way to hold doors open for you.”
Debbie visits Slidell on a regular basis and says the town is “almost completely recovered.”
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.