Rapid community needs assessment after Hurricane Katrina--Hancock County, Mississippi, September 14-15, 2005

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina moved northeast from Louisiana and made its second landfall over Hancock County, Mississippi, with measured wind speeds as high as 132 mph. Katrina's strong winds and high storm surge (an estimated 27 feet in Hancock County) ravaged the Mississippi coast, making it one of the strongest storms to strike the United States during the past 100 years and likely the nation's costliest natural disaster to date. Hurricane Katrina left thousands of residents without shelter, food, water, utilities, and access to health care. To obtain information about the effects of the hurricane on residents in Hancock County, the Mississippi Department of Health (MDH) asked CDC to conduct a rapid community needs assessment in what was presumed to be the state's most severely affected county. The objectives of the assessment were to 1) identify the public health needs of the community and 2) estimate the effect of the hurricane on households to assist response and recovery activities. This report describes the results of that assessment, which indicated that more than one third of the homes had been destroyed, many in the area lacked critical household services and remained dependent on relief agencies, and some were in need of health services such as medical care and prescription refills.