A Mississippi Family Decides to Return Home

by Melissa Block, NPR

Signs of recovery dot the Mississippi Gulf Coast: FEMA trailers are everywhere, debris has been removed, signs for slab and stump removal abound, and some businesses are open.

Yet residents are in a holding pattern, waiting for word of money authorized by Congress in December 2005 to be funneled through the states, for federal loans and to find out about new elevation requirements.

Karen and Buddy Clarke, and their 15-year-old son Harry, are an example of a family with mixed emotions over the slow rebuilding process.

Their house was 10 feet from the bayou in Pass Christian, Miss. After Katrina, the Clarkes returned to an uninhabitable residence, filled with dead shrimp and fish in the mud inside.

The Clarkes are living in neighboring Long Beach now, and have decided to go back to Pass Christian.

It wasn't a decision that came easily, though.

Buddy, a land surveyor, and Harry wanted to return, but Karen, a registered nurse, was not so sure.

The family has lived in Pass Christian for 20 years, and Karen says the process of packing up and leaving every time a hurricane approaches had grown "too traumatic."

But a plastic statue of St. Joseph helped change her mind.

Karen, Buddy and Harry discuss how each dealt with the devastation of Hurricane Katrina -- and reached the decision to return to Pass Christian.

Broadcast Dates

• All Things Considered, August 28, 2006