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Louisiana bayou takes double punch from hurricanes
By Andy Sullivan
HOUMA, Louisiana, Sept 25 (Reuters) - In the heart of Cajun country south of New Orleans, shrimp boats are now parked in backyards and homes once safely raised on stilts look like houseboats.
Already battered by Hurricane Katrina's powerful winds nearly a month ago, residents of the swamplands from Terrebonne to Vermilion parishes were swept under water by Hurricane Rita's storm surge this weekend.
Trailer park resident Janie George said on Sunday that water poured out of the front door of her home when she returned to check it out, and her car roof barely poked out of the floodwaters.
"Katrina gave us a lot of wind damage. Rita gave us a lot of water damage. Everything is floating in the water," George said in the bayou town of Houma.
The French-speaking inhabitants of the Louisiana bayous are used to water. Most have boats and many are shrimpers or fishermen. But the 15-foot (4.6-meter) storm surge that came on the heels of Rita on Saturday was unlike anything they had seen before.
Commercial fisherman Ernest Dion and his wife Sharon were leaving the area in the back of a pickup truck with their 18-year-old son after having waited out the storm in their house. They thought they would be safe from floodwaters because it was raised up on 9 foot (2.7-meter) stilts but still took in 2 feet of water, Dion said.
FIGHTING OFF SNAKES
National Guard troops and police, some on horseback, on Sunday waded through water to find people who still needed rescuing. Shrimp boats could be seen moored in gardens miles inland.
U.S. Coast Guard helicopters plucked dozens of people from rooftops on Saturday and Sunday. Some told tales of having to fight off snakes which were also in search of dry land. Fleets of boats and airboats manned by wildlife wardens, police and volunteers rescued a couple hundred more residents.
"I think we have a majority out," said Vermilion Parish Sheriff Mike Couvillion, who was celebrating his 49th birthday on Sunday. But Couvillion acknowledged he had no way to tell.
The sheriff said there had been no reported casualties. He said he did not know why people had remained behind during the storm. "If I knew that, I'd go to the casino."
Louisiana state trooper Andre Bienvenu Jr stood guard at a checkpoint in Houma, checking IDs and making sure only people with homes in less-flooded areas were allowed through. Those whose homes were under water he turned back.
"We were the first people to know Dulac was flooding but the last people to be able to find out about our stuff," said Tricia Parfait, a 23-year-old grocery store clerk, frustrated at not being allowed home.
"Our house could be up to the roof in water and we wouldn't know."
(Additional reporting by Allen Dowd in Abbeville)
(c) Reuters 2005.