Editing Hancock County, Mississippi (section)

==History==
This area of Mississippi was inhabited by indigenous peoples at the time of European colonization; the French were the first settlers and traders in the area. They imported African slaves as laborers, and in time a Creole class of [[free people of color]] developed.

After the United States conducted [[Indian Removal]] in the 1830s, more Protestant Americans migrated into this area, but it retained French and African Catholic influences. Located on the Gulf Coast, the county was regularly hit by hurricanes but its residents learned to handle these incidents.

In 2005, the county was the scene of the final landfall of the eye of [[Hurricane Katrina]], and its communities and infrastructure suffered some of the most intense damage inflicted by that storm. Over the entire {{convert|7|mi|km|adj=on}} beach front, not one building or home was left intact. Nearly the entire first block off the beach was destroyed for the entire {{convert|7|mi|km|adj=on}} stretch. <!-- Fatalities? How many people evacuated? -->

Homes as far inland as {{convert|10|mi|km}} were flooded by the historic storm surge, which occurred during a full moon high tide. All rivers and waterways were inundated by the surge. Highway 603 south from [[Interstate 10 in Mississippi|Interstate 10]] was completely submerged, and the [[U.S. Highway 90#Mississippi|Highway 90]] - Bay St. Louis Bridge was left looking like a stack of dominoes.

Houses were floated off their foundations. In Waveland and Bay St. Louis, some homes were stranded atop the railroad tracks and others in the middle of streets. Towns like Pearlington, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, [[Diamondhead, Mississippi|Diamondhead]], and [[Kiln, Mississippi|Kiln]] suffered catastrophic damage.