Nearly 20 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast region, the Mississippi Department of Transportation released a documentary film that chronicles the agency’s infrastructure recovery and restoration efforts that followed that terrible storm.
[Above image by Mississippi DOT]
Now on YouTube, “MDOT Remembers Hurricane Katrina: 20 Years Later,” tells the story of Hurricane Katrina from first-hand accounts of department engineers and state leaders who were at the forefront of storm preparation efforts, as well as various response and rebuilding initiatives.
In the nearly 30-minute video produced by Mississippi DOT’s Public Affairs Division, the narrative that emerges is not simply a retelling of how bridges were rebuilt. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the major infrastructure recovery that took place and the men and women behind the contracts, cranes and bulldozers.
Former Governor Haley Barbour, Southern Transportation District Commissioner Charles Busby, current Mississippi DOT Executive Director Brad White, former Mississippi DOT Executive Director Melinda McGrath, and a host of other former agency engineers are featured in the documentary.
“The vast destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina demanded an extraordinary response, and as usual, the people of Mississippi were up to the task,” explained Mississippi DOT’s White in a statement.
“I’m very proud of the men and women of Mississippi DOT who were at the tip of the spear to literally clear a path to recovery as well as all of the engineers, consultants, and contractors who worked tirelessly to rebuild infrastructure following the storm. This documentary is a testament to the dedication of all those who helped the Mississippi Gulf Coast truly recover and the incredible resilience of south Mississippi residents.”
The agency noted that this video also serves as a “time capsule” for anyone curious about how transportation connectivity was restored along the Mississippi Gulf Coast following a hurricane of epic proportions.
[Editor’s note: Mississippi DOT also posted a new episode of its ‘Extra Mile’ podcast to coincide with the release of its Hurricane Katrina documentary; a podcast episode focused on storm tracking with special guest Matt Laubhan, chief meteorologist at Mississippi Live Weather.]
“Katrina was one of those storms that reset the watch for everyone,” noted Commissioner Busby in the film. “Reset the calendar, became one of those events that you referred back to over time as ‘before Katrina’ or ‘after Katrina.’”
“I’m from the Gulf Coast, but when we got down here to look at the damage, we were going down Highway 90 trying to find our way through,” said Steve Twedt, one of the former agency engineers interviewed for the documentary. “There were no street signs. There were no landmarks. There was nothing. So even though I grew up here, I was lost.”
“All the traffic signals were down, all the controllers, they were gone. And it wasn’t just the coast. I mean, it was like six counties deep,” emphasized McGrath. “You know, we lost everything.”
Yet White stressed that the Katrina documentary reveals “when weather is at its worst, Mississippi DOT is at its best. I have a lot of confidence that our maintenance forces and our folks are ready for any type of natural disaster that comes our way, whether it be on the coast or anywhere else in Mississippi, for that matter.”
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