Reporter’s Blog Part I: The Road To Mississippi

First Impressions: Volunteers say so much has changed. They also say not a lot has changed, along the Gulf Coast, since Hurricane Katrina hit. They see it both ways.

There is one house covered partly by a blue tarp along the road from New Orleans into Gulfport, Mississippi.

It’s buried back behind several rows of houses so you probably won’t see it unless you’re looking for it.

Then it sticks out.

There are thirteen of us making the trip this time; four have made it several times before.

They’re the ones who have turned the rest of us onto “tarp lookout.”

Our “old hands” tell us the hour long ride along Rt. 10 into Gulfport once looked more like a bridge over water, thousands of blue tarps covering everthing on either side of the road.

The look has changed.

Over the last three years they’ve seen less and less blue between the annual fall trip and the annual spring trip.

Today, one blue tarp.

That’s a good sign.

It means some roof tops have finally been repaired.

It’s also a bad sign.

No tarps for houses that have fallen too far into disrepair.

No tarps for houses that are being torn down.

No tarps for homeowners who have given up.

It’s night by the time we reach Gulfport and too dark to survey the damage.

We haven’t seen what it looks like here at the end of the road, but we know there are four houses still hoping, and waiting, for help.

Read the original preview report on Alex’s trip here.

View a gallery of a previous trip to Gulfport, Mississippi by the Ogdensburg First Presbyterian Church :

[Show as slideshow]

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