By MICHAEL NEWSOM
Biloxi Sun Herald
Hurricane Katrina grounded more rides than upset parents on Friday nights.
About 400 municipal vehicles were reportedly totaled by the storm, and still more could be declared useless, after the rising waters made boats of 80,000-pound firetrucks, flipped police cruisers, ruined engines and shattered windshields across South Mississippi.
Local governments now await word from their insurance companies and possible aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to replace their fleets.
The damage is predictably less severe in the easternmost sections of Mississippi, but moving westward along U.S. 90, the number of totaled vehicles grows dramatically. Waveland lost all its vehicles; Biloxi reports the largest number of cars destroyed.
“We’ve lost it all,” said Waveland Mayor Tommy Longo, referring to 91 municipal vehicles ruined in the storm. His total includes 25 police cars, several track hoes and all fire vehicles.
In the initial hours after the storm, Waveland police and firefighters peddled about the remnants of town on bicycles donated by Wal-Mart.
“For the first couple or three days, we walked, we bummed rides,” Longo said.
Longo said one of the things he remembers about the storm’s power was the light work it made of the city’s pumper trucks.
“We had four big trucks, 78,000 pounds, they floated away. I didn’t think those things would float,” Longo said. Waveland also lost eight smaller firetrucks.
Waveland’s public works department lost 20 trucks, Longo said. He also counts backhoes, track hoes, tractors and other vehicles from public works in the total count of 91. He said the city also lost some all-terrain vehicles.
Long Beach Mayor Billy Skellie said the damage was significant to the motor pool in his city, but employees have been making do.
“They have been driving stuff with the windows knocked out,” Skellie said.
Katrina ripped away the roof of the Long Beach Police Department and it landed on patrol cars parked in the back. Skellie said three cars were totaled and about 30 were severely damaged.
Long Beach Public Works Director Darrell Wilson said his department lost a track hoe after the storm because they gave it a task it wasn’t capable of - crawling over the gargantuan debris piles. He said that machine suffered substantial damage to its tracks.
Pass Christian also suffered severe damage. Ward 2 Alderman Joe Piernas said his city lost 16 of 24 police cars, the Board of Aldermen lost 17 vehicles, the harbor lost four city vehicles, the fire department lost two search and rescue units. Piernas said Pass Christian firefighters lost all of their personal vehicles.
The numbers for vehicles damaged could grow because some cities are just now doing assessments.
Biloxi’s damage assessment has already determined 112 vehicles were destroyed. In that number, 17 police cars, valued at about $360,000 including the equipment in them, are destroyed, said Vincent Creel, public affairs manager for the city.
The 17 vehicles make up roughly one third of the Biloxi Police Department’s fleet. In its public works department, Biloxi had 51 pickups, four dump trucks and three vans that were destroyed.
Biloxi, like most municipalities, carries a large property insurance policy. The city has about $30 million worth of property insurance, but Creel said Biloxi will also seek assistance from FEMA.
Although its assessment is not complete, Gulfport reported it lost 30 vehicles, 20 of which were police cars; the other 10 vehicles were distributed between different departments, said Mike Necaise, city comptroller. He said the city has nine donated vehicles.
The damage estimate could also inflate in Moss Point. Mayor Xavier Bishop said city vehicles that went through high water may break down later. He said the relief work also took a toll on two large pumper trucks. The trucks were filled with salt water and were not properly flushed after the salt water was used and there was some damage, he said.
Bishop said it is tough to figure out which vehicles can be saved because before Katrina hit, Moss Point was trying to hire a city mechanic.
“I have gotten mixed answers and mixed responses,” Bishop said. “Some have said they can be made operable. We have an open position for a mechanic. We have been at the mercy for visitors that have come in and also used the mechanic for the county.”
Ocean Springs finds itself in a similar predicament with 24 vehicles that had severe water damage. Five vehicles have been totaled, and the other 24 of the city’s 29-vehicle fleet could be useless after the salt water works its way through them.
Jill McDonnell, risk manager for Ocean Springs, said her water-logged vehicle would not start on Monday morning. She said the city took steps to protect the vehicles, but to no avail.
“We did move all of our vehicles to a high ground and safe place,” McDonnell said. “We moved them out of public works and put them on a hill so they would be nice and safe, but they weren’t. Something blew the windows out of all of them. All the radios were damaged and everything was just totally wet.”
Ocean Springs city workers have been driving their water-damaged vehicles, with salt water in the transmissions and in the engine and wiring, because she said the employees have to work, and the funding for new vehicles has not been collected yet.
The damage
Bay Saint Louis: 30 vehicles destroyed; Biloxi: 112; D’Iberville: 17; Gautier: 4; Gulfport: 30; Long Beach: 5; Moss Point: 6; Ocean Springs: 5; Pascagoula: 43; Pass Christian: 39; Waveland: all 91. A total of 392 vehicles were destroyed by Katrina.