Text Box: There is a lot of this type damage. The house above did sit in the area circled, but it was floated off its foundation and deposited elsewhere. Visibly, the exterior damage isn't so great. Text Box: This house belongs to Gale and Henry, friends of mine. They rode out the storm in this house, retreating to the attic with dogs and cats when the flood waters rose. They took an axe with them and chopped a hole in the roof to escape, but the water came within a foot of the attic and receded. Text Box: I'm told that during Hurricane Camille in 1969, water did not reach Second Street in this area at all. During Katrina, my house, which sits seven feet off the ground, received a foot of flood water inside. Text Box: This is my neighborhood, largely intact because of the ridge mentioned at left. The shining roof in the lower, right corner is my property. All of these houses, including my own, were flooded. Text Box: This house belongs to my friends the McKellars. Judging by the roof, it is intact, but in reality it is a total loss, the superstructure being splintered and twisted by water. The buildings under many of the roofs you see here will be total losses. Text Box: You can see here where debris fetched up along some of the highest ground in the area. It's hard to tell, even walking, but this is a low ridge between Scenic Drive and Second Street, Text Box: This area was a small bluff and considered "high ground" along the shore of Mississippi Sound. You can see in this area where more of the mostly large homes used to be. Text Box: This is the beginning of "Scenic Drive." From here east, the houses and yards tend to be grander. Most were old and architecturally arresting, many built in the 19th Century by wealthy New Orleanians as vacation homes. The roughly two miles of fine homes that had overlooked dozens of hurricanes were largely wiped out. Text Box: Here stood half a dozen or so homes, facing the gulf between War Memorial Park and downtown. There is absolutely nothing left of them in the photograph. Text Box: This is "Davis Street," downtown Pass Christian. Where now there're splinters, there were shops, a hardware store, a cafe, a garage and more. Text Box: Much of Pass Christian actually is on a peninsula, formed by Mississippi Sound, St. Louis Bay and Bayou Portage, although one doesn't necessarily realize this when in the area. The waters rose all around and inundated the entire town. From my observations, I'd say the waters rose first from the bayou and were joined by a tsunami-like wave from the gulf. Text Box: Neighborhoods such as this will account for much of the death toll along the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast. Low-lying residential areas similar to this were swept away with terrible result in nearby Waveland, to the west. Text Box: Huge, ugly, empty mud flats such as this one are areas of unimaginable horrors. Many lower-income families in Pass Christian, most of them black, lived in these low and vulnerable areas. Some of the houses were raised and substantial, and some were not. All were subject to devastating floodwaters rising from Bayou Portage, a large body of water to the north (to the right). Text Box: The empty lot directly below was an antebellum mansion where, according to a historical marker, the owner played host to officers of the occupying Union army during the Civil War. Supposedly, she played the Confederate standard "The Bonnie Blue Flag" for their amusement and at their request. Text Box: This is the CSX railroad track. Like railroad tracks in many towns, it is something of an unofficial dividing line between the upper middle class and the lower middle class and poor. This is a gross oversimplification, of course. Text Box: This area is the St. Paul's Catholic Church and school. The coast is the only area in Mississippi where Catholics greatly outnumber Baptists. Text Box: This jumbled mess is typical of much of the Mississippi Gulf Coast today. It's a tangle of flotsam left after the waves scoured inland several blocks. Picturesque, little homes stood close together on this particular street. Text Box: This debris field is "Market Street," an old commercial street in "The Pass." It held a grocery market, a heating and air contractor, restaurants and an antique mall. Text Box: On this corner were several offices, including the new bookstore, Pass Christian Books Text Box: This corner of rubble was home to Domino's Pizza and the Harbor View Cafe, a local favorite which took no credit cards and stayed busy serving three meals  day. Text Box: This slab was the BP station, a bustling center of commerce, supplying gas, ice, snacks and the best fried chicken in town to an endless stream of vacationers, fishermen and sundry locals. Text Box: This slab was the Pass Christian Yacht Club, undoubtedly one of the first structures in the city to go. It was built on a point, on piers about 12 feet above the ground.