Pass Christian
Pass Christian is a real Mississippi town of roughly 4500 people right on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, west of Biloxi and Gulfport. Pass Christian was in the path of two of the most intense hurricanes ever to hit the United States - Hurricane Camille on August 17, 1969, and Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. Each hurricane caused the near total destruction of the town. The numbers after Camille are unknown, but of the approximately eight thousand homes in Pass Christian, all but 500 were damaged or destroyed by Katrina.
In the fall of 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, many volunteers arrived to help rebuild the devastated town.
The Wikipedia entry for the town of Pass Christian: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass_Christian,_Mississippi,
The web site for the town of Pass Christian: http://www.ci.pass-christian.ms.us.
In the Spearfish Lake Tales universe the book Cattail is set in 2005 during the initial rebuild after Katrina, and focuses on the experiences of Roger Bishop and Catalina Smith, two volunteers from Wychbold Michigan plus a group of Amish from Shipshewana, Indiana.
The book Winter Layoff focuses on Clark Construction equipment operator Jim Wooten, how his aunt and invalid uncle's home is completely destroyed by Katrina, and how he and some friends get them into a new home.
