Buras/Grand Isle

[Jim Cantore]

does anyone have any other pictures of the damage from the Grand Isle/Buras area?

[Margie]

There are a great many photos at the Plaquemines Parish web site.

[vbhoutex]

There are a great many photos at the Plaquemines Parish web site.

Link?

[CajunMama]

Katrina
http://photos.plaqueminesparish.com/thu ... p?album=16

Rita...
http://photos.plaqueminesparish.com/thu ... p?album=24

[vbhoutex]

Is the area going to be rebuilt or have any decisions been made concerning that? I know there was a huge fishing industry working out of that area.

[f5]

Is the area going to be rebuilt or have any decisions been made concerning that? I know there was a huge fishing industry working out of that area.

If Katrina would of came in as a 5 that area would of been wiped off the map

[vbhoutex]

Is the area going to be rebuilt or have any decisions been made concerning that? I know there was a huge fishing industry working out of that area.

If Katrina would of came in as a 5 that area would of been wiped off the map

It is pretty darn close to that now!!!

[sunny]

Is the area going to be rebuilt or have any decisions been made concerning that? I know there was a huge fishing industry working out of that area.

If Katrina would of came in as a 5 that area would of been wiped off the map

It is pretty darn close to that now!!!

Yes David, it is. Those poor people got hit so hard. I haven't been down that way myself, but know someone who has. BAD.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Is the area going to be rebuilt or have any decisions been made concerning that? I know there was a huge fishing industry working out of that area.

If Katrina would of came in as a 5 that area would of been wiped off the map

It is pretty darn close to that now!!!

Yes David, it is. Those poor people got hit so hard. I haven't been down that way myself, but know someone who has. BAD.

Agreed: I've been down there... you couldn't even access many areas for the destruction and waters for MONTHS after the storm... it WAS for all intents and purposes, pretty much wiped out!

A2K

[TSmith274]

Yeah, I had a place in Buras that I had just built last year that I used for fishing. Of course, it's completely gone now. But I just went back there on Saturday to see the progress... and there has been none. It looks just about as bad as it did on my first trip down there. Total devastation, but I'm going to rebuild. Only problem is, if you rebuild, you gotta wait on water, power, etc... And not to mention, there are no grocery stores or gas stations. Kind of a bad situation to say the least.

[Jim Cantore]

They got it worse then Biloxi

[beachbum_al]

My husband's friend had a house boat in Venice LA...all I can say that the house boat is gone and they miss fishing and duck hunting down there.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Undoubtedly as winds go they got it worse than anyone as it was the point of first landfall.

A2K

[Margie]

Lower Plaquemines Parish was completely wiped out.

The ring levees were inundated with salt water. In order to get the water out, they had to either cut the levee or pump it out, and there are some areas that would have been left with standing water in either case. This did not start to occur for weeks. Meanwhile the salt water destroyed everything, all the citrus groves, the trees that had not been blown over, buildings that were not ripped to shreads by the surge. Almost all the fishing boats were lost. It is very similar to St Bernard in that cleanup has to be done and it will be starting from ground zero. Plaquemines officials have done a terrific job faced with this situation, by continuing to try to move forward and offer hope to former residents, and not becoming overwhelmed by what is a terrible situation. Just like the MS coast, they have been almost completely ignored in favor of NOLA. At least the MS coast has the MS gov and legislature to help them...St Bernard, Plaquemines, St Tammany, and as someone pointed out recently Lake Catherine area of Orleans Parish, can't seem to count much on their own state govt for help.

I wouldn't say it is so different from the first 1/2 mile of the entire MS coastline that was destroyed by surge. However there is nothing on either side of the ring levees except the river and bayous, so there is no other nearby land without having to go almost all the way into NOLA.

In the aerial images it is notable that the lumber from all the buildings that were destroyed by surge, looking like piles of matchsticks from that height, were mostly trapped inside of the ring levees, along with the water, when the surge started to go down, along with all the other debris, so that what remains really does look like a toxic soup, instead of a pile of debris as was seen along the MS coast.

Actually when things were at their worst in NOLA, some people from Plaquemines, who had walked the entire way, were thrilled as could be to get to NOLA. That shows you how bad it was in Plaquemines.

[Margie]

Here is part of a list of aerial images I compiled the week after Katrina. Prepare to be shocked at what you see...the ring levees are completely filled with debris and salt water after the surge has subsided. Observe the extensive blowdown of the cypress trees (clearly from the NE eyewall)...indicating sustained winds or gusts of 80mph.

First, here is the main link to all of the high-resolution aerial images of the destroyed areas. NOAA does this for all hurricane landfalls.



http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/KATRINA0000.HTM



To most effectively view these images, open a "mapquest" window in your internet browser, and familiarize yourself with the location. You can use this to follow along to find out where you are on the map, when you look at the image.



Then when you bring up the image in a second internet window, hold your cursor over the image, and a box with arrows will appear in the lower RH corner. Click on it to view the image full-size, where you can move the scroll bars to see various parts of the image.



Plaquemine Parish:

These start at the bottom and work their way north. It is not until you take the time to look at every one of these images, zoomed in, and take in just how large the path of destruction is, from the mouth of the MS up to Belle Plain, that you can understand how the number of square miles that was completely destroyed in Placquemines compares with the flooding in NOLA.

Orchard

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24730161.jpg



Venice

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24730156.jpg



Dubic

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24727112.jpg

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24727088.jpg



Boothville

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24727074.jpg

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24726646.jpg



Fort Jackson

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24727046.jpg



Triumph

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24729669.jpg



Gulftown

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24729674.jpg



Buras

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24729683.jpg

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24729709.jpg



Sunrise

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24729722.jpg



Empire

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24729757.jpg

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24729766.jpg



Tropical Blend

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24729775.jpg



Hesperides

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24730577.jpg



Bremond

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24737412.jpg



Port Sulfur

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24737445.jpg



Happy Jack

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24737483.jpg



Point A La Heche

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24727834.jpg



Lake Catherine area:

Pike Fort

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24715253.jpg

Greens Ditch

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24738260.jpg

When I was a child and we lived in NOLA we would go out that way, Lake Catherine area, Hwy 90 and I think there were several shell shops. One was named Margaret's, I remembered that.

[MGC]

I was just in the Lake Catherine area of far eastern NO this past Tuesday. I tried to get to NO East via hwy 90 but the bridge across Chef Pass is still out. There is not much standing along hwy 90 in this area. Only a couple of camp are still there and they are damaged pretty bad and they are down by Fort Pike. Near total destruction......MGC