Hurricane Season, June 1 to November 30
Hattiesburg is a long drive from the beach, and plenty of families here have treated hurricanes as a coast problem. Katrina ended that idea in August 2005, when the strongest gusts the Weather Service recorded in Jones and Forrest counties came after the storm had already crossed the coast.
What Katrina measured in the Pine Belt, why wind and rain carry this far inland, how to ready a house before the season, and how wind and flood split apart in a claim.
Storm already through?
If the roof is open or water is in the house, call {{PHONE}}. A person answers at any hour, during the storm and after it.
The coast takes the surge. The Pine Belt takes the wind, the rain and the long cleanup, often with less warning in people’s minds because the storm was supposed to weaken on the way north.
This page is about that inland part of a hurricane: what the record shows for Hattiesburg, Laurel and Ellisville, how to get a house ready while the weather is quiet, and why the same storm can produce two claims under two different policies.
The National Weather Service office in Jackson collected these gusts on August 29, 2005. Its note matters: these readings were the highest recorded "before the anemometers failed."
| Place | Peak measured gust | Rain, August 28 to 30 |
|---|---|---|
| Hattiesburg, Forrest County | 100 mph, about 1:00 p.m. | 5.18 inches |
| Laurel, Jones County | 110 mph | not listed |
| Ellisville, Jones County | 114 mph | not listed |
| Bowie Creek, north of Hattiesburg | not listed | 7.35 inches |
Read the table with the Weather Service’s caution in mind. The instruments in Jones and Forrest counties failed, so these are the highest readings they recorded and the true peaks may have been higher. The rain station on what the Weather Service spells Bowie Creek (the stream most local maps call Bouie Creek) caught more than seven inches in a day and a half.
A hurricane is fed by warm water. Once its center is over land it starts to weaken, but a large storm moving fast does not lose its strength all at once. A large storm keeps strong wind well inland, and the gusts in the table show it. Katrina’s surge reached 25 to 28 feet above normal tide along portions of the coast according to the Weather Service in New Orleans; hours later and far inland, Ellisville still measured 114 mph.
Rain behaves the same way. A storm slowing down over land can dump inches across the Leaf River and Bouie Creek basins, so a hurricane can raise the rivers here days after the wind has gone. That is the subject of our page on the Leaf River and flood zones.
Pines and the inland storm
Tall trees in rain soaked ground can fall in strong wind, and a tree on the house is a common way an inland storm becomes a claim. Our page on a tree through the roof covers that case.
Do this in May, before the season opens on June 1. The Mississippi Insurance Department’s claims guide lists most of these as ways to "limit damage during a future tornado, wildfire, hurricane, or high wind."
The same hurricane can do two kinds of damage, and they are paid by two different policies.
Wind that tears off shingles or drops a tree on the roof, and rain that comes in through that opening, is the kind of damage a homeowners policy is written for. Some policies carry a separate deductible for wind or named storms. The Insurance Department’s claims guide says a deductible "can be either a specific dollar amount or a percentage of the total amount of insurance," so read which one yours is before the season.
"Standard homeowners insurance does not provide coverage for damage due to floods," in the Insurance Department’s own words. Water that rises from a creek or runs across the yard and in at the door is flood, and only a flood policy covers it.
Flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program has a gap before it starts. FEMA says there is typically a 30 day waiting period from the date of purchase before the policy goes into effect. A policy bought when a storm enters the Gulf will not cover that storm.
When a house has both kinds of damage, the adjusters will want to know which water came from where. Photographs taken before cleanup, with a water line visible on the walls, settle that faster than anything said afterwards. Our page on how a claim works in Mississippi walks through the sequence, and we document every room for the adjuster on both files.
Yes. Katrina’s measured gusts reached 100 mph at Hattiesburg and 114 mph at Ellisville before the instruments failed, and more than five inches of rain fell at Hattiesburg in a day and a half. Distance changes the storm, it does not remove it.
Not under a standard homeowners policy, which excludes flood. A flood policy through the National Flood Insurance Program, bought at least 30 days before the storm, is what covers rising water.
Too late for a new flood policy to take effect, but not too late to protect the house. Clear the gutters, bring in loose furniture, put plywood and tarps where you can reach them, photograph the house and contents, and charge the phones.
Roof damage, water inside, a long wait for the adjuster: tell us what happened and we will tell you what the first day looks like.