Tel-Chai Nation

The Portland Press Herald in Maine interviews a family whose home and life in Waveland, Mississippi, which is about an hour from New Orleans in Louisiana, was destroyed in the wake of hurricane Katrina. From what's being told here, it appears that the interviewees are the family of the wrecked city's own mayor, Tommy Longo:

Just over a month ago, Longo lived less than an hour outside New Orleans in the small coastal city of Waveland, Miss. Her days, she said, were jam-packed working as a special education teacher and attending functions for her children and her husband, Tommy, the mayor of Waveland.

Then the unimaginable happened when Hurricane Katrina thundered onto the Gulf Coast. A city that had weathered countless storms, even Hurricane Camille in 1969, practically vanished.

At least 40 people in and around the community of 7,000 year-round residents died, and dozens more are missing. City hall was reduced to rubble, as was the courthouse, the post office, virtually all of downtown.

Can you believe that? An entire town suffered what Biloxi may not have: it was almost virtually erased from the map. The family is lucky to have survived the storm.

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