Geoff Belcher, owner of the Sea Coast Echo, never imagined he would witness a disaster of biblical proportions when he moved to Bay St. Louis in 1999.

Originally from Eastern Kentucky, Belcher earned a degree in English before briefly working construction and then entering the newspaper world as a political cartoonist. His career evolved from staff writer to news editor at a sister Kentucky paper.

“I determined that I needed to live where there’s a tight schedule on the front page,” he said.

By 1999, Belcher had relocated to Mississippi, drawn by the charm of Hancock County and the Gulf Coast.

“We just loved Bay St. Louis. The first couple years, we were so lucky—tropical storms came and went with barely a breeze.”

But luck ran out in August 2005.

The Storm That Changed Everything

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