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'Can-Do': Katrina Response Similar, but Not the Same As With Camille

Posted on: Saturday, 11 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Michael Newsom, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Feb. 11--GULFPORT -- Although the federal response wasn't as robust for Hurricane Camille, and the storm was smaller with feistier winds than Katrina, Seabees past and present said their response to both storms carried the same "can-do" swagger.

In a meeting with the Sun Herald at the base Friday, those involved with both storm-recovery periods recalled the days of destruction and the work that followed, drawing parallels and also noting differences.

"There was damned little help, if any," said Ret. Capt. Robert Engram, base commander from 1966-1968. "We were dependent upon doing it ourselves. When we rebuilt the port, we would come up and say, 'well, we need another million."

Engram was around when the base was rebuilt, but was deployed to Vietnam when Camille struck.

Current Base Commander Capt. George Eichert said the federal response to Katrina was massive and also said the Seabee base functioned as a hub for many relief agencies.

Seabees did search-and-rescue in the days following Hurricane Camille, which wasn't the case this time. Retired Chief Ron Harvey said the Seabees following Camille did arm-to-arm sweeps from the railroad tracks to the beach, looking for bodies.

"I probably saw about six or seven bodies myself," Harvey said.

Harvey, who lost his home to Katrina, was living in an apartment on Dedeaux Road when Camille struck. He said he went to work operating heavy equipment immediately following the storm.

Current Seabee officers said travel was severely impaired after Katrina. After both storms, Civil Defense rules made it difficult for Seabees anxious to get to work, officers said.

"The police had been given orders to keep everyone away," Eichert said. "That included the military; we got anecdotes of our people being turned away."

A call to Harrison County Civil Defense Director Col. Joe Spraggins cleared Seabees to come though the roadblocks after Katrina, Eichert said. He said he felt the policy was necessary, but should have been more specific from the start.

Those who came to the Coast's aid after Camille came in decidedly smaller numbers than they did in Katrina's wake.

"The only ones that I can remember were the Corps of Engineers," Harvey said. "As the Corps of Engineers came in, they would let these contracts and they would move the Seabees to do something else."

Harvey also said the American Red Cross was here in full force after Camille.

The days were harrowing for those at the Seabee base when Camille roared through, three years after the mothballs were cleaned out and the base was reopened following a 25-year closure.

One wooden warehouse collapsed and the Seabees inside were evacuated by Marine Reservists in Amtracks, which are still on located on base.

Camille killed two Seabees -- one during a hurricane party at an apartment complex, the other on the seawall awaiting the Camille surge's arrival -- and one Seabee wife, when she slipped from her husband's hand.

Current Seabee commanding officers said they saw a tremendous federal response after their great storm.

Out-of-state Seabees poured into the area during the Katrina recovery, said Capt. Eric Odderstol, commander of the 22nd Naval Construction Regiment.

Base leadership in both recovery periods had to shuffle staff and organize around deployments. At the time Katrina struck, some Seabees were deployed supporting the Global War on Terrorism. Camille hit while the nation was embroiled in the Vietnam War; three of seven Seabee battalions were deployed at that time.

When Katrina came, the base was down to about 200 Seabees after most sought safe haven, and when the wind died down the Seabees went to work in the community, doing virtually the same work with the same equipment used in Camille.

Seabees cleared debris on roads and at schools, and distributed water and ice during both storms.

The supplies were bought up quickly by mobilized units after both storms, with both past and present commanders claiming ownership of every chainsaw for sale in the state.

Seabees claimed supplies from the warehouses. They used their resourcefulness to barter with an oil refinery in Mobile for parts needed to fix the sewer treatment plant in Ocean Springs following Katrina.

Odderstol said his group was given the go-ahead to fix anything.

"We told our guys don't get in trouble for doing too little, get in trouble for doing too much," he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)

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