Nevada officers coming home from Gulf Coast

BILOXI, Miss. - Nevada law enforcement officers who drove 36 hours last week to help in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi are expected to head back to the Silver State on Sunday.

Carson City Undersheriff Steve Albertsen said he and Carson deputies Cody Dellabitta, Dan Oschenslager, Jose Gomez and Don Gibson will be among more than 100 Nevada officers driving back after spending two weeks in the hurricane-ravaged area of Harrison County, Miss.

"We just got word today from Nevada Department of Emergency Management that we are leaving here Sunday and they are not going to send another wave of officers," he said Monday.

Among their duties, Albertsen said, officers were tasked with patrolling businesses and homes to prevent looting.

Since they've arrived, roads that were once littered with vehicles and the wreckage of homes have been cleared by bulldozers, making passage easier, he said, but the damage is inescapable.

"You can see the pictures on television, but it doesn't do it justice. You're driving down the street and there's just a pile of rubbish where the houses have been destroyed. It looks like a war zone. Until you are here you can't imagine the destruction," Albertsen said. "It will takes years for them to recover completely."

Volunteers from the Nevada Highway Patrol and police agencies in Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Reno and Nye County also took part in the relief effort.

n Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or

881-1213.