Downtown Biloxi: Post Katrina

As usual, the post over at MissPres this morning got me thinking--this time about downtown Biloxi after Katrina.  I spent a week there working in the Disaster Recovery Centers of the area following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  I stayed at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino, which we promptly re-named the FEMA Hilton, our headquarters for our stay.

 It was near dark when I arrived the first night, so I did not really have an inkling of what it would look like until the next morning.

While dragging my luggage through the parking garage and over to the hotel, I ran into a man in the elevator wearing his MEMA shirt.  He looked down at my luggage and asked, "Checking in or out?"  In.  He replied, "First time or return?"  First.  And you?  


He was in his 7th deployment, and still smiling and pleasant.  I thought it was my first lesson in disaster work.