Recovery of Mississippi’s Coastal Area Slowly Begins

At the Sun Suites Hotel on Wednesday, manager Mike Williams was grateful for small favors.

None of the 128 rooms had electricity, a foul smell wafted from a 6-foot-high mound of trash in the parking lot and there was structural damage, all as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

But on Wednesday morning, the motel got water. It wasn’t fit to drink -- authorities advised boiling it for an hour -- but at least when Williams turned the taps, water flowed.

“The water pressure’s real good -- on the first floor,” he said.

Across the devastated Mississippi coast, residents can see signs of recovery.

Power has been restored to much of the state, although about 150,000 homes and businesses remain dark. Phone service is starting to come back -- the connections are patchy at best.

And running water is returning -- an open laundromat in Gulfport was packed with residents desperate to wash clothes caked with nine days’ worth of grime and sweat.

After surviving on canned goods and handouts since the storm hit, residents can once again buy Domino’s Pizza. At the Cowboy’s Value Center convenience store, the gas pumps outside had been reduced to twisted lumps of metal -- but the power was on, the soda was cold, and shoppers with enough cash on hand were able to stock up on snacks.

National Guard troops have cleared out most of the rotting chickens and shrimp that had washed up from destroyed warehouses at the Port of Gulfport, eliminating a major source of stench.

A few streets have been cleared entirely of rubble, allowing garbage trucks to get through.

The looting that started in the first few days after Katrina struck has largely subsided; authorities have arrested about 100 suspects.

“The state is doing great,” said Pete Smith, a spokesman for Gov. Haley Barbour. “Every single day, progress is being made -- progress in getting utilities online, getting communication online and delivering food and water to victims who have been displaced.”

Amid the optimism, officials caution that the full cost of Hurricane Katrina has yet to be tallied.

The official death toll in Mississippi stood at 196 on Wednesday, but “as we get into the debris that’s waist-high or even head-high, that number is likely to rise,” Smith said. Authorities cannot estimate the number of bodies that may be trapped beneath the rubble.

None of the coastal counties has yet assessed property damage. Farther inland, Katrina destroyed 416 homes and businesses and severely damaged about 3,000 others, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Authorities are warning of health hazards. Radio stations broadcast tips on where to get tetanus shots and antidotes for snakebite venom. Some survivors who spent hours treading water in Katrina’s wake report that they have broken out in rashes.

Rose Rolfe, 36, lost everything in the storm, including the clothes off her back. Kicking off her sneakers -- which she found in the rubble and wears gratefully, though they’re four sizes too big -- she pointed out the raw patches between her toes and the small, pus-filled blisters that dot her feet and hands.

With her trailer house in Bay St. Louis crushed, Rolfe has been sleeping in a motel parking lot on bare ground and scrounging through debris for clothes.

“I can’t even think about going to see a doctor,” she said. “Where would I go?”

Another major uncertainty is where, when and how schools will open. Every school district along the coast reported its buildings damaged; the town of Pass Christian lost four of its five public schools, including the new high school. Other schools are being used as emergency shelters.

Officials said they hoped students would be able to return by mid-October.

The Sun-Herald newspaper in nearby Biloxi printed an announcement Wednesday from the Biloxi High School football coach. He was calling a meeting, he said, “for any team member who wishes to continue the season.”

Times staff writer Stephanie Simon in Denver contributed to this report.