29 Aug Nikki Moon speaks from the heart
NIKKI MOON, PROPRIETOR OF BAY TOWN INN B&B, SPEAKS FROM THE HEART TO RECENT STORM SURVIVORS DURING AN INTERVIEW WITH WEATHER NEWS WEATH (THE WEATHER CHANNEL).
Her strength shines through her story of surviving and rebuilding 15 years ago. Nikki, like millions of people in the face of the aftermath of a major storm lost all resources, lost homes, and lost businesses. Only survivors and devastation remained in the path of Hurricane Katrina.
“My heart goes out to everybody in Louisiana and Texas. I really do know what you are going through. It is horrific, but you will come back! You have to help each other, continue to lean on each other, and be there if somebody needs help. Use a little bottle of Clorox to clean some of the mold off. I mean, we all helped each other. This town has an amazing group of people. They are great because we are town of artists. We don’t have insurance. We relied on a lot of helping each other and of being strong for each other. We were able to come back. Also, what helps to do, a great deal, is going after those grants for money or any other myth of money you can utilize to help get back on your feet. I would say I was able to rebuild my business, Bay Town Inn Bed & Breakfast, after applying for a grant. Those grants are what started most of us to rebuild along the beach” explains, Nikki Moon, proprietor of the rebuilt from ground up, Bay Town Inn B&B located in Bay St Louis, Mississippi.
15 years ago tomorrow, hurricane Katrina was roaring ashore, forever change a number of cities along the Louisiana and Mississippi coast, to take your cleanup for more along the gulf coast, we want to bring in our perspective of hurricane Katrina survivor, to help give hope to those of you who just went through the category four hurricane in the kitchen was a category three but it was so big at surgeon and i-the Mississippi Coast and that’s where Nikki Moon found herself clinging to an oak tree for hours and a town there and I should say that tree is still standing called The Angel Tree want to run making into talk more about how to come back with something like this and mickey actually is really going to talk to you i stayed at her in i think last year before Barry, we saw this tree, we talked about what are your thoughts coming up on the 15 year anniversary now of Katrina.
No I’m sorry I want to ask you about Bay Town Inn today, how has things changed not only pre- storm versus post storm, you have a massive wall actually right in front of the Bay Town Inn now.
Yes we do, we are blessed to have a huge flood wall and a gorgeous marina, so i feel extremely protected today but is is 24 feet above sea level, who would’ve thought my house would’ve been completely blown away, but it was. but yes, through the money from the feds and the state we have an amazing flood wall that won’t protect us for many years to come.
Real quick here how has your experience with that storm it how is it change how you respond to storms now. i know they thought as crazy to stay the first time, and i am asking when i leave now? well i hope i will, i hope i am strong enough to pack my things and, go but you never know. when it gets to a cat three, you have to pack up and go, there is no option there. but really our whole coast of Mississippi is stronger to day for going through what we did and Louisiana and Texas,.
They’re there you go Nikki, very wise words, that is one of the things I hope to see you again soon but I also hope it is for personal reasons and not because we are down there for another storm, thank you for joining us this morning, and, Jim you know we come to the sounds, I just got the chills, because our heart is here with these towns, you can’t help but when you go through and experience like that when we went through, Wednesday into Thursday, with these take, that’s what this town, you can have become attached to people and the community.
No, staff I will be honest as you talked about Katrina, you and our team over to get me, is very hard for me to leave because I went through that with them and I felt like I was abandoning them. So it’s tough to hear that, it’s very, very hard to go through that, even as media out through here, we’re not just here to show the damage, we become involved in it as, well where we are part of the story with you.
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