2010 started in disaster. But did the decade get better for the Coast?

With the ending of the fast-paced decade that was the 2010s, the obvious question is: How did the Mississippi Gulf Coast fare?

Those 10 years are an amazing story of new developments as well as rebuilding from the 2005 catastrophic Hurricane Katrina and recovery from the national recession that lasted from 2007-09.

New businesses. Higher population numbers. Increased educational opportunities. Thriving military bases. New and already-existing casino resorts beating the odds. A come-back of downtown atmospheres. New shopping possibilities. New restaurants galore. Opening of family-oriented attractions. And so much more.

The story, however, is tinged by the decade’s bookends that devastated our coastal living: The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the 2019 record-breaking opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway. Because of closed beaches and the effects on sea life, both disasters endangered tourism, the coastal environment and the seafood industry.

The story of the 2010s is truly mixed.

The good news is that no uber storm wrecked the Coast this decade as it did in the first decade of the 21st century. This allowed the region a faster clip of recovery from both the recession and the Katrina wipeout, although the 2010 oil spill and the 2019 spillway openings lessen what could have been.

The Deepwater Horizon rig disaster that killed 11 on April 20, 2010, sent crude to the vital wetlands and beaches of Mississippi and surrounding Gulf states. Dolphins, seabirds and other marine life vital to a healthy ocean and Mississippi Sound were affected, sometimes killed. Once Mississippi seafood was declared safe to eat again, the state had to combat persistent beliefs that it was toxic to eat.

BP, the oil company that owned the rig that spewed crude for 87 days paid $65 billion in fines, some of it going to affected local businesses, governments and fishermen as well as for environmental cleanup.

The coastal bio-diversity had not totally recovered Feb. 27 this year when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carre Spillway to prevent flooding in New Orleans. That freshwater from the Mississippi River went through Lake Pontchartrain into the Mississippi Sound, devastating the shrimp, crab, turtles, oyster, dolphin and fish populations.

Estimates are that more than 95 percent of the sound’s oyster beds were killed. Declared Mississippi’s governor, “We cannot stand by and let the Mississippi Sound be destroyed.” This year, companion bills were introduced in the U.S. House and Senate to put teeth into the Regional Ocean Partnerships to boost coastal and ocean health.

Impatient for action, mayors, county supervisors, state and industry leaders formed the Mississippi Sound Coalition last month with the goal “to cause national solutions.”

The spillway’s freshwater caused algae blooms that closed Coast beaches as well as favorite commercial and recreational fishing areas. The normally tourist-packed Fourth of July Weekend was hampered by beach closings.

In between the bookend 2010s water disasters, many positives happened to balance the scale. The Coast, historically a disaster soldier that has learned to pull up bootstraps after every challenge, has much reason to celebrate the 2010s decade.

A more diversified economy definitely helps. Of course, all pluses can’t be listed in one column but let’s consider some major highlights.

For example, the population of the three coastal counties increased by at least 45,000 to an estimated 416,375, a definite improvement from the post-Katrina drops. Looking toward the Coast’s rural pineywoods region, Stone County has seen more than a 5 percent increase, near 19,000.

On the casino front, they closed and opened or took on new personifications. Among the new is D’Iberville’s Scarlet Pearl in 2015, Biloxi’s Golden Nugget in 2013 and Island View’s harbor-side 2018 no-smoking addition.

Downtowns are making comebacks in most Coast cities, with the charms of Old Town Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs helping lead the way. Restaurants and nightclubs in Biloxi and Gulfport and just about everywhere else hum, many new this decade.

Interestingly, the beach road between DeBuys and Rodenberg that used to be the nightlife “Biloxi Strip” is now dubbed “Restaurant Row.” “The Strip” has become the casino mecca west of the Biloxi Bay Bridge, and includes a non-gambling family-oriented center called Margaritaville that opened in 2016.

As for historic icons, the 1836 Grasslawn house has been reconstructed and used for Gulfport city functions since 2012, and the 1920s Markham Hotel is undergoing renovation. Biloxi’s late 1800s White House Hotel, now restored, reopened in 2014.

More notables: The famous 500-plus year-old Friendship Oak in Long Beach struggles after trunk damage was revealed a year ago. But the historic campus on which it lives, University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Park campus, showcases attractive restored buildings that reopened in 2013 after a $23 million post-Katrina restoration.

The iconic 32-foot, bright pink Sharkheads souvenir shop has been back in Biloxi since 2012. The 1700s Old Spanish Fort in Pascagoula, thought to be Mississippi’s oldest building, is undergoing restoration as the LaPointe-Krebs House and Museum.

A few more notables: The Pass Christian Harbor once again offers a post-card perfect image with a mixture of private boats and old-style shrimp trawlers. Courthouse Road in Gulfport has a more inviting appearance. The Highway 49 Corridor, also in Gulfport, hums with its continued urban growth.

But the shopping story that cannot be ignored is D’Iberville determination to become the Coast’s “premiere shopping location.” This spring, land was cleared for yet another center there, Gulf Coast Galleria.

The Coast’s most noted art museums devoted to Biloxi art potter George Ohr and Ocean Springs painter Walter Anderson are staying busy, and local art galleries and festivals continue to contribute to the Coast economy, arsty ambiance and cultural identity.

A few more notables: Stennis Space Center in Hancock County is testing engines that will take Americans into space for more than a quick exploration. Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula is getting contracts that keep its workforce busy. The State Port at Gulfport has become one of the Gulf of Mexico’s three largest ports thanks to additions there. Keesler Air Force Base and the Naval Construction Battalion Center have increased vital military roles.

William Carey University opened South Mississippi’s first pharmacy school in 2018, its location at Traditions indicative of planned Coast growth. Developed after Katrina as a master-planned community away from the vulnerable waterfronts of Gulfport and Biloxi, Traditions is more than housing.

One of Tradition’s goals is to create a Coast “medical corridor.” This decade that includes a research center for the National Diabetes & Obesity Research Institute and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s combining of its nursing schools and centers at one site. Veterans Affairs has announced plans to locate a veteran’s bed facility there.

Also this decade, the beachfront Veterans Affairs complex donated to Gulfport is taking on new life as Centennial Plaza, a mixed-use complex that will have hotels, water park and other amenities for locals and tourists. Because of its history, the state chose to celebrate its 200th birthday there in 2017.

This shoe-horn presentation of some of the decade’s highlights, improvements and restorations help put into balance the water disasters that bookend the 2010s. They also prove what a good head-start the 2020s are getting.