[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

I can't remember who, but earlier in this thread someone mentioned that people weren't acting like a community after the hurricane. People in N.O. weren't coming together, neighbor helping neighbor.

I found a story about a community in MS that is. It's good to see.

Linky (subscription required)

Neighbors Pitch In to Help Storm-Stricken Mississippi
By EVAN PEREZ and EVELINA SHMUKLER
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 2, 2005 11:56 p.m.

In Pascagoula, Miss., the wall of water from the hurricane, estimated at 18-feet high, wiped out the majestic waterfront homes, including some that stood during the Civil War, and continued as much as a mile inland, pushing mud into homes. For blocks, all that remain of most homes are foundations and piles of rubble. This is the neighborhood where Senator Trent Lott's house stood, and is now destroyed.

Neighbors said several bodies were recovered from the waterfront and bayou-front neighborhoods. In some areas, residents have set up barricades to thwart looters. For miles, in rich neighborhoods and in trailer parks set back from the water, there are signs of the devastation: a refrigerator perched five feet high in a tree; cars with several inches of mud in them; a dresser from someone's home located several streets away in a neighbor's front yard. On every street, residents have piled up their belongings on the front lawn. They've put clothing on hangers and hung them to dry on tree branches, like Christmas ornaments.

In the aftermath of Katrina, with federal aid still slow in arriving, it's the help coming from friends and strangers that is making the most impact. On Friday, neighbors and families that hadn't heard from each other since the storm made their way to check on each other. Others have taken in friends and for a few days until they can find shelter.

Walter Gaultier and other neighbors stayed in their homes in the Brambles subdivision during the storm and swam out at the height of it to secure one resident's boat. Lynn Underwood, Mr. Gaultier's neighbor, said that with water coming up quickly they had fears they may drown and thought they could use the boat to help the residents of several homes escape. On Friday, with power out, gasoline in short supply, the entire neighborhood of tidy brick homes has become something of a cooperative.

Mike Wixson, an administrator with a real estate company, who evacuated with his wife, returned Thursday with a trailer full of generators, steaks, chicken and window air conditioners. He hadn't been able to reach anyone but distributed the supplies to neighbors who needed them. Gloria King, who has a large lot in the area, nearby had set up a table and a grill in her side yard on Thursday night, where on Friday some 30 neighbors ate steaks brought by Mr. Wixson.

Mr Gaultier has a generator powering his refrigerator, so he is storing food for several households. "This storm has brought out the best in people," Ms. King said as she prepared to start cooking her shrimp boil, to be served with corn. A family friend, Michael Henderson, stopped by because he hadn't been able to reach Ms. King since the hurricane made landfall on Monday. Mr. Henderson, whose house a few blocks away was destroyed, said he's had to run off looters every night from the heap of rubble. Mr. Henderson said one looter confronted him on Thursday night, until Mr Henderson showed the looter his handgun. "It may be trash now, but it's my trash," he said.

Lieutenant Davy Davis, of the Pascagoula police department, said the police have been patrolling neighborhoods and have caught numerous looters. He said it's been "hectic" for local police, who have had no radio communication or phone lines. "We've never experienced this extent of complete chaos," he said. Lt. Davis said the police have also been assisting with water and ice distribution and in search-and-rescue efforts. Hundreds of people in Pascagoula, which has a population of about 27,000, were rescued. There have been two confirmed fatalities, he said.

On neighboring Crosby Ave., most houses stood intact, but the contents of many of them were on the curb or spread across the lawns, drying. John and Shirley Battley with the help of family and friends were cleaning out their house, which had been swamped with water on Monday. The Battleys, who live in a neat one-story yellow brick house, during the storm had to break into a neighbor's house to go up to the second story as the waters rose. "You'd open the door and tree limbs would come into your house," she recalled. "The street was like a river."

The Battleys had stayed through the storm because they had done the same during previous storms, even the major hurricane Camille in 1969. Plus, early weather reports had said the main brunt of Katrina would hit New Orleans, they figured. Mr. Battley, a veterinarian, also had 50 cats and dogs to look after in his clinic, pets left by evacuees who were trying to provide the animals with shelter.

Mr. Battley rode his bike a little over a mile to his clinic on Monday afternoon, checking on the animals. Only one dog, an elderly Pekingese, had died, overcome by the heat. Mrs. Battley, a home health nurse, said everyone on their street had been accounted for, but that the company she works for had only been able to find 40% of its patients.

The Battleys say they have been relying on the help of family and friends, who have driven in from all over Mississippi and neighboring states. "We have had more generous people help us than you can believe," said Mr. Batteley. "We haven't really needed the government's help yet. We will. We're helping ourselves now."

Two houses down, Dianna Lane was packing up the surviving belongings of her parents' house of 35 years. Ms. Lane, who lives in Atlanta, who also said she hadn't seen any government deliveries of ice and water, but had heard that such supplies were being given out in other parts of town. But the Lanes had lost their cars during the storm. "We have no way of getting up there to get [the supplies]," she said.

About a mile away, right on the beach, Melanie Bosarge walked around what remained of her condomium. The condo had been part of a development -- five buildings with four condo units each. Only Ms. Bosarge's unit somehow survived. Paradoxically, the first floor of her unit was heavily damaged and unliveable, but the second story, though unreachable, seemed almost untouched. The picture window on that floor wasn't even cracked. Ms. Bosarge walked around trying to salvage residents' belongings that had survived the storm, including dishes, silver, photographs and an entirely unscathed bottle of red wine.

Friends from Gulf Shores, Ala., about three hours away, have been driving in to help every day. Finding a place to stay the night is difficult, she said, but she's decided to remain. "We need to be here helping people."

Ms. Bosarge's condo is in the shadow of the giant Northrup Grumman Ingalls shipyard, which dominates the local economy. The shipyard was badly damaged, which worries many local residents. Also, they say, they have been having trouble reaching the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin applying for federal aid. Ms. Bosarge said she had called FEMA from her cell phone but halfway through the interview lost her signal. She said that on the telephone recording, the agency said people can register online. "It's like, OK, yeah, how?" she said.

Back on Crosby Ave., Ms. Lane said she had seen FEMA representatives going to the house across the street, but that they wouldn't come to look at her parents' house. Neighbor Ms. Battley said that residents who had gotten a visit from FEMA had called the agency before the storm, anticipating they might have damage. The agency apparently wasn't paying visits to neighbors who hadn't called in advance.