FROM THE VAULT: Hurricane Katrina devastates the Mississippi Gulf Coast

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - For 36 years, Hurricane Camille had been the worst storm anyone in Mississippi could remember.

That all changed in 2005.

On the morning of August 29, Hurricane Katrina came ashore as a Category-3 storm. Its storm surge inundated homes and businesses all the way up to Interstate 10.

In anticipation of the hurricane, evacuees streamed north from the coast toward Jackson and beyond.

Transportation officials in Mississippi and Louisiana activated their “Contraflow” plan, turning all lanes of Interstate 55 and Interstate 59 northbound only. Traffic was still bumper-to-bumper across all four lanes.

Evacuees filled Jackson-area hotels and shelters until all were nearly full. They could not have known then that some would be here for weeks or longer.

Once the winds subsided enough for WLBT’s Skycotper 3 helicopter to make the trip, the chopper transmitted images that showed the world how bad the damage was.

The city of Waveland was all but wiped-away, with other cities and towns up and down the coast left unrecognizable.

In the Jackson area, some residents went weeks without power. For several days after the storm, people lined up in the heat just to get ice and gas.

The casino industry in Mississippi was only 13 years old, but when Katrina all but destroyed the lucrative boats along the coast -- leaving one on top of the Holiday Inn in Biloxi -- the legislature took action.

In a special session, legislators passed a bill allowing casinos to move off the water and slightly inland to give them better protection against future storms. That’s why the ones on the coast are no longer floating in the sound.

Katrina also ignited an insurance debate.

Was it wind or water that caused the damage? The difference determined who got paid what by their insurance company. The state Department of Insurance got involved to help settle claims, but the storm forever changed the insurance landscape in coastal counties.

President George W. Bush came to Mississippi more than a dozen times after the storm, assuring residents they would get the help they needed to rebuild. Ultimately, Gov. Barbour and the state’s congressional delegation at the time got nearly $25 billion in federal aid.

Two-hundred thirty-eight deaths in Mississippi were attributed to Hurricane Katrina.

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