Cameron Parish Storm Surge

[greg_kfdm_tv]

I did a ground survey with a news crew yesterday in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

The main area we examined was the area around Holly Beach which was ground zero for the eastern eywall of Rita.

Out of about 400 beach cabins and homes, all were completely destroyed. In fact, it looked like a nuclear blast had occurred with virtually all fixtures and furnishings totally unrecognizable. Debris from Holly Beach was displaced for over 10 miles to the northwest and north-northwest into the swamp.

Debris was noted in a couple of electric poles that did not fall. Clumps of grass and other objects were observed on the crossarms of the poles...about 20 feet above the ground. This correlates well with water lines in the courthouse in Cameron about 8 miles to the east. The water lines in the courthouse were at about 20 feet MSL.

Another interesting observation was that the leading edge of the storm surge was observed about 20 miles inland on Highway 27 to the north of Hackberry, Louisiana.

Much like Katrina, a weakening Rita still produced a storm surge typical of a category 4 storm.

Certainly in Southeast Texas, we feel quite fortunate that the eye of Rita made landfall just to our east or our much more populated areas would have received extensive storm surge flooding.

By the way, wind damage in almost all of Southeast Texas is typical of strong category one damage. Almost all of the category two wind damage was in the area of southwest Louisiana from near Vinton to Hackberry.

[LAwxrgal]

I can't say I'm surprised by your storm surge findings. I fully expected them, especially when I knew Rita had been a Cat 5 at sea and when saw that picture of Holly Beach Thankfully everyone left there...

[greg_kfdm_tv]

I talked to the owner of the main store in Holly Beach.

He is a third generation owner...his father built the store in 1951 and it was destroyed in Audrey in 1957.

Rita took it out again with the current owner stating that it would be unlikely that he would be able to rebuild due to being underinsured.

Certainly, anyone who had stayed would have died. Fortunately, all evacuated.