Louisiana residents return home to devastation

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Bill Horan

PLAQUEMINES PARISH, LA – Late yesterday I went on a tour with the fire chief and a district representative to the east bank of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish. They both confirmed that they have “many residents” who were badly hurt by the BP oil spill, and a large percentage of them are still out of work because of it. The effects of the spill are far from over. “The oysters and shrimp have not come back,” they told me, and many fishing families have suffered fiscal meltdown as a result.

Then came Isaac. The new levees in St. Bernard stopped flooding into that parish, but the new high walls “funneled all that water into Plaquemines and ruined everything.” Please help families now

Every single building has been flooded—either ruined or severely damaged. There are boats and burial vaults strewn helter-skelter all over the road and sloped alongside the levy. There is a sweet rotten smell that covers the soggy land and seems to seep into your pores.

More than 800 families are now returning to this section of Plaquemines Parish to find their homes devastated and their belongings destroyed by floodwater. Our team went with Urban Treuil, who has served as a fire chief in East Plaquemines Parish for more than 30 years, to visit his home and see the devastation firsthand. After surviving Katrina, none of these hard-working families were prepared for what Isaac brought. “No one assumed that we would see water here,” Chief Treuil told us.

Not only are the results of this hurricane devastating, but it is also very expensive. It is very important for us to give help, if at all possible to the people who were affected so greatly by this horrible incident.