LAUREL — Despite a history of dealing with disasters including tornadoes and hurricanes, local directors of the American Red Cross and Salvation Army said Hurricane Katrina was a completely different story.

Peggy Owens-Mansfield, office manager for the Pine Belt Office of the American Red Cross, had lived through Hurricane Camille in August 1969. But, she didn’t expect the devastation that came from Hurricane Katrina.

“The notching stick was always Camille,” she said. “That’s the one that was. You spend most of your life preparing for the storm of your career. I’m certainly hoping this was it.”

Owens-Mansfield said Red Cross officials had spent the week leading up to Katrina getting everything ready for the storm. Still, it was just 48 hours before the hurricane made landfall when local emergency officials realized it would be trouble.

“It looked like it was going to hit Florida, and then started making a turn,” she said. “It was Saturday when we knew it was coming at us, and could potentially be as bad or worse than Camille. Our last hope (with Katrina) was where it went. We were in the northeast quadrant of the storm, which is where you don’t want to be.”

Owens-Mansfield said what many don’t understand is the money needed to prepare for storms such as Hurricane Katrina.

“They’ll give it to you when it happens,” she said. “But, you also need money to prepare. That’s something you literally have to beg for sometimes.”

Owens-Mansfield said the goal on the day before the hurricane was to stock the shelters with everything they would need for 48 hours.

“We bought all of the meat at Walmart,” she said. “Every piece of ham and turkey and makings to keep people from starving.”

Owens-Mansfield said she and other Red Cross officials took cover on the bottom floor of the Chisholm Center as the storm blew through downtown Laurel.

“We watched the stop lights blow down through the cracks (in the boarded up windows),” she said. “The plate glass blew out of the furniture store, and tops were coming off of things.”

Once the storm had subsided, Owens-Mansfield said Laurel-Jones County residents were “cut off from the world.”

“Cell and regular phones went out,” she said. “We had a battery-powered TV that worked for awhile.”

Owens-Mansfield praised the efforts of Mississippi Public Broadcasting, which kept the public informed following Hurricane Katrina.

After gaining a better perspective of what was needed, Owens-Mansfield said it was the relationships she has formed over her 25 years at the Red Cross that helped get the job done.

“So many things that were needed came to us,” she said. “Ministers walked down from their churches.  All of the vendors such as Sanderson Farms, Coke and Dairy Fresh came to us.”

Owens-Mansfield said local industries including Sanderson Farms, Howard Industries and Masonite Corp. were strong supporters of the efforts of the Red Cross as was newly minted Laurel Mayor Melvin Mack.

“One of the best things that ever happened was Lynn Lyon, who was food coordinator for the Jones County Schools,” she said. “He said if we could find somebody to come get their food that we could have it because it would spoil.”

Owens-Mansfield said the Laurel School District soon followed, and the organization used Sanderson Farms refrigerated trucks to acquire the food.

“In the worst situation, we saw some of the best in people,” she said. “The response felt like everybody’s job, and not just the Red Cross’ job. It also helps to know that the organization is behind you.”

Owens-Mansfield said she knew the local chapter had total human and financial resources support from the national American Red Cross.

“I knew they were standing behind us, and we didn’t have to worry about money or help,” she said. “About 1,000 Red Cross registered volunteers came from other parts of the country. We also had about 1,300 volunteers from our four county area.”

Owens-Mansfield said nearly 20 trucks also came from throughout the country, loaded with food and other supplies.

“It was heartwarming to see the response,” she said. “People weren’t worrying about their turf, and just getting the job done. There were heroes all over, and many of those people will never get credit.”

Owens-Mansfield noted that volunteers from the Arkansas Baptist Association provided 50,000 meals per deal and various Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) delivered them in the community.

Owens-Mansfield said over $30 million in individual checks were distributed in the Red Cross’ four county area.

“One thing that a lot of folks learned was the lesson of being prepared,” she said. “You need to take care of yourself and your family. If you’ve only got three pills and a storm’s coming, you need to go get your prescription filled.”

Owens-Mansfield said the recent consolidation of the American Red Cross will be a positive should another hurricane affect the residents of the Pine Belt.

“With one Red Cross in Mississippi, we’re all working towards the same goal which is taking care of people in crisis,” she said. “Not a lot has changed for us. We’ll do what we’ve always done. If anything, there will be continuity.

“There was no contact with Hattiesburg or the Coast immediately following Katrina,” Owens-Mansfield added. “We were always doing what we thought we were supposed to be doing.”

Another change for the local Pine Belt Office is a generator which will run the entire Chisholm Center, which also houses the United Way of the Pine Belt Region and other agencies.

“Howard Industries donated the generator for this building, which means we’ll never be without power again,” Owens-Mansfield said. “It was a huge gift. Our partners and friends are our real strengths. During our darkest hour, they brought light to the whole situation.

“Katrina brought out the most remarkable amount of community spirit I’ve ever seen,” she added. “They couldn’t care less as long as it got done.”

Owens-Mansfield said community support was the driving force for the American Red Cross during the days following Hurricane Katrina and will be into the future.

“Our organization is as strong as the community that stands behind it,” she said. “Without community support — both human and financial — we cannot do our job.”

Bonita Flynn, social services director for the Salvation Army, said she has seen a number of disasters during her nearly 20 years with the organization.

“There’s nothing to compare to (Hurricane Katrina),” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of tornadoes, but this topped them all.”

Flynn said she worked quickly to prepare the Salvation Army shelter, which at the time was housing 23 people.

“By Saturday, they were telling us it was going to be pretty bad,” she said. “I told our employees to go home because I didn’t want them out on the streets when the storm came. I was here by myself.”

Flynn said about a dozen patients on oxygen and nearly 40 others sought shelter at the Salvation Army following the storm.

“I never left,” she said. “I had nowhere to go. We had a gas stove so we were able to cook every daylight hour that we could. We served meals out in the parking lot.”

Flynn said canteens came from Tupelo and Greenville to help distribute meals in the community.

“We ‘served and served’ probably thousands of meals,” she said. “It always comes together. We had a national divisional disaster coordinator in Jackson.”

Flynn said Johnny Howell, a retired Air Force officer and Salvation Army volunteer, came to assist since his wife was in Jackson and he couldn’t reach her.

“He took everyone to the church building (which is brick) because he thought people would be safer,” she said. “It wasn’t long before he was coming back.”

Howell said he arrived at the Salvation Army at around 11 a.m. that Monday morning.

“It was starting to pick up pretty good,” he said. “The eye was coming over us.”

Howell noted that he attempted to take those in the shelter to safety in the church. However, the ceiling started buckling and shingles were flying off.

“We had 40 people in the hallway, and I decided to take them back to the metal building,” he said.

Howell said he decided to come to the Salvation Army because he couldn’t return home in the storm.

“I live 30 miles out east past Taylorsville,” he said. “I went down 28 and they turned me around. I tried to go up 29 and there were trees across the road.

“I’ve been in hurricanes before, and they haven’t upset me,” Howell said, noting that Hurricane Katrina was a different story.

Flynn said that despite the Salvation Army offices being in a metal building, the organization was “so fortunate” during the storm.

“I didn’t hear a thing,” she said. “This building stayed together, but I heard a lot of horror stories.”

Flynn said she could see a few trees falling in the distance, but it wasn’t until she reached the road that she knew how severe the storm had been.

Flynn noted that among the changes she would make in the future would be to have enough water on hand for incidentals — such as flushing the toilet and brushing teeth.

“We have eight apartments and eight bathtubs,” she said. “I’m going to fill up every one of them with water.”

Flynn said she had collected enough food and drinking water to sustain the shelter for two weeks.

Other changes include a new canteen, which offers a mobile kitchen including two ovens, a toaster oven and coffee maker.

“We can do anything we need to in it,” she said. “We had meetings after Katrina where someone said that if all of the churches checked on their church families, that everybody would have been taken care of.”