Cameron, LA

[hurrican19]

I took a drive to Cameron, LA this past weekend, checking out the devastation caused by Hurricane Rita back in September.. It was the first weekend they've opened up the city to the public. I was shocked by what I found. Nothing but destruction on either side of the road, no matter where you looked. I just can't help but be thankful the storm went in over in that area, versus Galveston/High Island, because my entire town would have looked like that, i'm sure. I know it sounds selfish, but no one wants it on themselves. Don't get me wrong, we had some significant damage here, but the poor folks in Cameron have gotten NOTHING. Just off of LA27, I only saw maybe a dozen homes left standing, but severely damaged. Stores were pretty much destroyed, gas stations, etc. I do feel for those folks over there, there is just nothing left. You won't believe all of the Texas plates driving through the city just looking any everyone in awe. I've been to Cameron several times in my life, and I did not recognize anything there.

I believe that this photo is actually of Johnsons Bayou, which is about 15-20 miles west of Cameron.



I don't know rather or not to say I've seen any progress in Cameron, because I don't know what it looked like before. All I know is that it's still bad, REAL bad..


This is a photo from Holly Beach, nothing's changed, at all, in this picture.. Looks exactly the same.

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/r ... meron.html pretty much tells it all..


Driving down Highway 82 (to Cameron, from Texas) you could tell how high the surge was -- debris hung in fences still, a small barge sitting about 2 feet off of the road..

On Highway 27 leaving Cameron, there were mobile homes on both sides of the road that must have floated and landed there by means of a higher surface. Those mobile homes were destroyed, and I don't think they were brought there by any moving companies.

Anyway, those of you from Southeast Texas/Southwest Louisiana, if you want to go see devastation, take a trip down to Cameron. As I said, we had it bad, but geez.. Nothing like what those poor folks down there have to deal with for the next several years. Please keep the people in Cameron, LA, and those whose towns have been totally destroyed or hit hard by the recent hurricanes, in your prayers.

[CajunMama]

I believe there is still a mandatory evacuation down there. I know there was a few weeks back but i haven't heard anything lately. Lower cameron parish is quite rural and some of those if not many may have been camps which probably won't be rebuilt.

[Margie]

I remember those photos...I think at the time I worked that out to be Holly Beach (the upper photos as well).

Everybody there knew those communities would be gone after Rita hit. Everyone evacuated.

Rebuilding will be difficult because first the county has to work out how and when basic services can be replaced, such as water, sewer, electric, to all those coastal communities that were not incorporated, when there aren't any people or resources nearby to do it. The state of LA has a lot of areas that need attention. The entire coastline...the entire LA coastline...was hit between Rita and Katrina, plus NOLA and Slidell as well.

[hurrican19]

I believe that the Mandatory Evacuation has or will be lifted this week according to something I seen on http://www.cameronrecovery.com. Before this past weekend, they had the National Guard at the TX/LA State Line on HWY 82 in Pleasure Island (Port Arthur) not allowing anyone in, and on HWY 27 at Holly Beach, they made you turn around. The ferry is running now connecting Hwy 27 to Cameron. LA does have a lot of work, as mentioned, for the ENTIRE coastline.