Posted on 01/20/2006 12:53:57 PM PST by WestTexasWend
VENICE, La., Jan 20 (Reuters) - At the mouth of the Mississippi River, where Hurricane Katrina flattened nearly everything in sight, residents consider themselves the "forgotten survivors."
With so much public attention paid to New Orleans, locals living on the decimated, southernmost spit of Louisiana fret that little is coming their way to help rebuild their houses and businesses that sat directly in Katrina's path.
The handful who have returned to the wasteland left by the Aug. 29 storm sleep in ramshackle tents or, if they're lucky, in tiny trailers. They gather to smoke, sip beer and swap stories at what's left of a local convenience store.
"Beer, cigarettes, alcohol. I got the necessities," proprietor Morris Hartt, 51, jokes as he serves a thin trickle of mud-splattered customers.
What they call home is a thin finger of delta called lower Plaquemines Parish, which follows the last 60 miles (38 km) or so of the Mississippi River as it pours into the Gulf of Mexico.
Storm victims in Plaquemines voice the same complaints as those in New Orleans -- trouble getting government aid, insurance payments or loans, scarce temporary housing, high material costs and spotty services. Electric power is not expected to be restored in lower Plaquemines for months.
Store customers grumbled good-naturedly that they had little to do other than fill out forms and push debris into piles.
"The only one that helps is me. What's been done, I did it myself," said Ned Malley, a 68-year-old welder. "You can't get no help down here."
Before the storm, the parish had a population of roughly 16,000, many of whom worked in commercial fishing, citrus groves or businesses serving off-shore oil platforms.
But nearly everyone and everything is gone since Katrina blew in 170 mile an hour (272 km/hr) winds and what local officials say was a 10-foot (3.3 metre) storm surge that lasted 12 hours. From the west, Gulf water covered the roofs of houses while from the east, the Mississippi overflowed its levees in seventeen places, they say. No structure was undamaged, and most are beyond repair.
Feeling as devastated as New Orleans 75 miles (47 km) to the north, the few people left in lower Plaquemines say the rest of the world is passing them by.
"This is the end of the world, ain't it, and there's nothing on the news about it," said Roger Tiser, 29, a commercial fisherman. "We're the forgotten survivors."
'GOT THE DOG. HE'S OKAY'
With little left, lower Plaquemines doesn't look much different than New Orleans' hard-hit areas -- but without television cameras and tourists taking photographs.
"How many times has Plaquemines Parish been on TV? Twice?" asked Tammy Gilbert, 44.
Long-gone residents have left messages painted on their ruined homes -- "Bulldoze Me" or "Please Do Not Bulldoze."
Others are more personal. "Got the dog. He's okay," someone wrote on one collapsed house.
Sheer economics should help rebuild Plaquemines. Although most fishing boats are splintered or sunk, the ports in Venice and nearby Empire were two of the nation's busiest in terms of how much seafood was hauled in. And the Gulf oil industry uses local services and workers.
Some experts question why residents stick around after being battered by four huge hurricanes in four decades.
Those who do rebuild live on land more vulnerable now that much of surrounding wetland that was a natural buffer is destroyed, said Bruce Sharky, professor of landscape architecture at Louisiana State University who specializes in designing hurricane-resilient communities.
"They're in more danger," he said. "But the fish are there, the oil is there and they going to rebuild. It probably is worth taking the risk."
"That's all they know," he said. "They're not going to move to Houston and work in a Burger King."
I wonder if these people realize the were FORGOTTEN by the liberals Nagin and their useless governor??? THAT is who forgot them -- forgot to prepare, forgot to follow orders from the Feds, forgot to tell their police force not to desert and loot, forgot where all the levee money went, forgot...forgot....forgot.....
Where is all this FEMA money and the zillion billion tax dollars (Commander-in) Chief Spendsalot promised NOLA?
Not these people. Look up Venice on a map if you can find it. That place was nothing but a road 30 miles into the gulf, topped by a little floating plywood marina. There was no way to prepare that place for anything! A large wake from a sportfishing boat would wipe that place out, and if you find any pictures of it, you'll see the entire town is easily rebuilt with about $38.72 worth of materials.
Been there. Great fishing though!
If you would like on or off the Louisiana Ping list please FReepmail me and your name will be added or taken off of the list.
Here in Houston, we took in a lot of people. These refugees are becoming a vital contributor to the metropolitan crime statistics, including contributing 23 murders by the end of 2005.
Mayor Nagin, we are ready for you to bring your people home.
The fact is that the median income for a family in Venice is approximately $43,000. Maybe not Palm Beach, but not exactly shanty town. Let me know if you ever decide to go back there and I'll tell them you are coming.
Look at the map above, the folks in Venice are not NOLA evacuees.
It doesn't look like much of a toe anymore. On satellite, it looks like a string with a little green puff on the end that is where the delta fans out.
I was wondering if the toe was amputated or not.
The FACT IS Venice is more part of the Gulf than it is/was part of La. My comment was to EagleUSA that unlike New Orleans, there was no way to create any kind of protection for that place, and the marina area, for example, was nothing BUT a shanty town for out-of-towners----like me. But that's exactly what it should've been for where it is and what it does.
Why you gotta get all big-chested and keyboard threatening, Mr. "I'm gonna tell them you're coming?" LOL! It's Friday. Crack a Milwaukee Beast and lighten up, wouldya?
That's how it was in Cameron and Holly Beach however FEMA wants to make folks spend a fortune to rebuild up to their codes. The locals here are not happy. They learned after Audrey that just build for function and put your money in your boat because your house will get wiped out eventually.
Funny you should say that because the guy from Texas on the history channel just said "It's no secret that we have the most active death chamber in the country." (It's a show on execution)
But killing them in 20 years doesn't do much for the people that are being murdered today.
That's the way it oughtta be. Cheap and short-term. And professional fishermen (that are old enough) have a healthy respect for the power of the sea that keeps them from thinking they can build "permanent" structures there.
I'd say the same thing for tornado alleys in the midwest and california quakes.
But a killer tornado hits the midwest every year, but in relatively small swaths. And quakes take out whole areas, but relatively infrequently. Hurricanes are like the worst of both....widespread destruction, and frequent.
Ahhhh!!!!!!!!
Pointe a La Hache = Specks and Reds
Happy Jack = Specks and Reds
Empire = Gulf fishing
Buras = Specks and Reds
Venice = $$$$ (working off-shore), Gulf fishing
Golden Meadow = The golden surf is very near..
Leeville = We can see the water
Grand Isle = A spoon, a line to the shore and paradise
Sigh!
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