General Steel Building Survives Hurricane Katrina

On Monday, August 29 th, 2005 at 6:10 AM CDT, Hurricane Katrina, soon to be the most devastating storm to ever hit the United States, made landfall near Buras, Louisiana packing winds of over 145 mph. Katrina left in its wake the tragic flooding of New Orleans and the near obliteration of the Gulf Coast town of Gulfport, Mississippi, leaving behind hundreds of dead and tens of thousands of homeless. Scores of buildings were either swept off of foundations or damaged beyond repair. Amidst the chaos there were stories of survival and hope. In the small community of Lumberton, Mississippi life for the returning residents has centered on T&M Video, a General Steel building, and, according to Terry Mosteller, the last undamaged building left standing in a town that had endured the wrath of this ferocious storm.

T&M Video is a family owned business operated by Terry Mosteller, her husband Troy , and her son Mike. The store's sign is a bit misleading, as in addition to movies, they sell tobacco, soft drinks, snacks, batteries and other items. They are a convenience store that sells almost everything but gas. Hurricane Katrina is not the first time that T&M Video has had brushes with adversity. Since being built in the summer 2003 the store has successfully weathered a previous hurricane, and a couple of wayward cars that tried to park inside the store. "Jan from General Steel had four sheets of steel to repair our building shipped to us when the car went through the right side of the building.General Steel didn't even charge us...you can't even tell where it happened ", says Terry Mosteller.

Over three years ago when the Mosteller family was considering what type of building to use for their new store Terry was listening to the radio. "Paul Harvey talked to me one day on his program and said to call General Steel .I called the number and got a great price on a steel building." Not that there weren't detractors. One local resident said she was foolish to invest in a steel building. He was building with wood. "His $180,000 stick built building is now gone" says Terry, "The structure was destroyed by Katrina." Once General Steel had shipped the building to the Mosteller's, Terry had a local contractor who had no previous steel building experience assemble her building. Was it easy to put up? "Magnificently easy" says Terry, "It took two weeks to put up and that's only because we had some bad weather."

T&M Video is always closed on Sunday. But not so on Sunday August 28 th, the day before Katrina. Terry kept the store open for three hours so local residents could get whatever provisions were necessary before leaving town. One of the last things she did was to put her store's goods up on higher shelves in case of flooding. As Terry finally locked and left the building she walked a couple of steps, turned around and had a few words with her building. "I said 'OK old girl.you were designed to withstand this.now do your job.'" Terry says her building was rated being able to withstand 88 mph winds. She was told later that 125 mph sustained winds had hit the Lumberton area. Terry and her family fled the onslaught of Katrina that Sunday and wound up seeking refuge in Natchez , Mississippi , northwest of Lumberton . Terry admitted, "I expected to find nothing left when I returned."

The first glimpse of hope was when the Fire Department in Lumberton reached Terry by phone to let her know her store was still standing. But what about the family home 3 ½ miles out of town? With no word on its condition, Terry and Troy drove back towards Lumberton 48 hours after the storm. Her husband tried to prepare her. "He told me that if the house was gone that we were going to order a General Steel building and use it as our home", Terry stated. Fortunately, for the Mostellers the home is still habitable, but they did have some property damage.

When Terry finally arrived at T&M Video the store was, unbelievably, completely intact. Unscratched, unscathed, and undented. "It was heavenly to see", Terry remembers. It wasn't even flooded.

erry estimates that 95% of the town's buildings are either destroyed or heavily damaged. There are trees through roofs, demolished walls, and everything once in the interior of buildings now on the outside. "No skating rink, no houses, no nothing, just the video store ", Terry sighs. However "T & M Video is open and has become an oasis for the residents who have returned", she states. The store is where the community seems to gather - even to cook some soup that is made up largely of whatever someone has been able to forage. Terry's personality suits her well in her new role as a survivor and administrator of a new ad hoc community center -her store. She is as comfortable to talk to as your best neighbor and her concern for her community is ever present. I'm sure she would be attentive to the next cup of coffee she would pour you, if she had any. Food is still largely government provided MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) and water. "I would love just one glass of instant tea", she chuckles.