Mississippi Power story to highlight Katrina+10 exhibit

 

Hurricane Katrina dealt South Mississippi a devastating blow almost 10 years ago, but it was met with determination and resilience.

The story of Mississippi Power and the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s recovery, rebuilding and renewal will be highlighted in a commemorative exhibit beginning next month at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi. Community leaders and media gathered Friday for a luncheon at the museum to announce and describe the exhibit. Titled “Katrina +10: You’ve Seen the Storm. Now See the Recovery,” the exhibit is set to open March 20 and continue through Labor Day, Sept. 7.

In addition to Mississippi Power, the centerpiece of the exhibition will also include multi-media exhibits from The Sun Herald newspaper and WLOX-TV that tell the Katrina experience and how far the Mississippi Gulf Coast has come in 10 years.

“The experience of Hurricane Katrina was and is a personal milestone for most of us,” said Johnny Atherton, vice president of Corporate Services and Community Relations, as he spoke at the luncheon on Friday. “Even today many of us use her as a demarcation point in conversations – ‘that was pre-Katrina’ or that happened ‘post-Katrina.’

“Whether you were here before the storm or even if you came to this area after to help and decided to stay, Katrina left her mark on our communities…on our lives,” Atherton said. “However, in her unprecedented devastation she also brought out the good in a lot of us, and we hope to highlight those stories that helped lead to our recovery and rebuilding.”

More than 50,000 visitors are expected to come through the museum during that time. “We have a comprehensive schedule of outreach programs that will keep people visiting,” said Vincent Creel, a board member for the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art and organizer of the exhibit. “In fact, we hope to have 100,000 visitors by the end of this exhibit.”

Additionally, two other static displays housed in the metal pods at the museum will represent the volunteer effort coordinated by Hands On Mississippi, as well as the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s rebuilding of Highway 90 and two new bridges across Biloxi Bay and the St. Louis Bay.