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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Deadly disease is spreading on the Gulf Coast:

Despite mounting health concerns and various government agencies insisting that little is left along the coast, many residents have expressed frustration that they haven’t had to access their homes yet. The National Guard has stopped some people as they tried to return to look for any remaining personal possessions. But at least one entry point in Gulfport was open Wednesday, and residents and business owners who showed proof that they owned property in the area were allowed to enter.

Spraggins said officials are working to ensure that homeowners will be able to get to their destroyed property. Unfortunately, the access is not uniform from one city to the next along the coast.

Previous Comments

I know a lot is being said about how well this state is responding, in contrast supposedly to Louisiana, but I will tell you that I was on the Coast yesterday in some awful areas and was never once asked for my ID or credentials. I went everywhere I wanted to go without question. The National Guard didn’t seem to care who was where. This worked out OK for a reporter, but what does it mean for security and health safety concerns for the area? I’m not sure.


Today, we tried to go to my brother-in-laws apartment in the Long Beach. I’m not really familiar with the area, but it was the Menge Road exit off I-10. Going south, we got about a block beyond the school in Pineville, and were turned away by an armed military person. The reason that he gave was that they had set up a command center near the apartments. So frigging what? We weren’t going in to spy on them, my bro-in-law just wanted a change of underwear- he has been wearing the same clothes for a week! Oddly enough, his step-daughter had actually driven to the apartment two days after the storm with no problem, but was too shaken up by all the destruction to bring back anything.

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.