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Hurricane Katrina

Outside New Orleans, parish still in crisis

By wire services
Published October 2, 2005

PORT SULPHUR, La. - The commander of the military's hurricane-relief effort saw firsthand Saturday the double punishment dealt by Katrina and then Rita to the land running southeast of New Orleans down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico.

"To these people, the crisis is still going on," said Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, touring Plaquemines Parish by truck and helicopter. "They haven't gotten to the recovery part yet."

Parish President Benny Rousselle said about 16,000 of 28,000 residents remained displaced. The parish, a major seafood producer and home for oil refineries, took a direct hit Aug. 29 from Katrina, then suffered more flooding a week ago from Rita. About 30 to 40 percent remains flooded.

"This is critical terrain," Honore said. "It's critical to the nation."

Army and Coast Guard helicopters dropped sandbags as large as 3 tons to patch eight levee breaks in the southern half of the 80-mile-long parish. Honore said another six heavy-lift helicopters were on the way from Texas, after completing Rita-related missions there. Barges and airboats are also being used in the effort.

The Corps of Engineers has said it hopes to have the floodwaters out next week.

Col. Duane Gapinski of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said most floodwater had been pumped out before Rita, but now, "We're playing catchup."

Three residents are confirmed dead, two more deaths have been reported and two residents have been missing for more than a month, Rousselle said.

Honore shook his head as he saw miles of communities with houses and businesses crumpled or torn from foundations, overturned boats, ruined citrus trees and flooded cattle pastures. A Shell Oil pipeline was ruptured by Katrina, adding to the mess.

But resident Dutch Asevedo, 78, said the parish is resilient. The parish rebounded from heavy blows from Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and Camille in 1969.

"We brought it back," he said. "They're going to build back, no problem."

HOUSTON - Three lawsuits have been filed in the past week stemming from a bus fire that killed 23 residents of an assisted living center and nursing home as they fled the approach of Hurricane Rita.

Named in the suits was Global Limo Inc., which operated the 1998 Motor Coach Industries bus that was involved in the incident, said a clerk with the Hidalgo County District Court, where the lawsuits were filed.

A call to Global's lawyer, Mark Cooper of San Antonio, was not returned. A spokeswoman for the Bus Bank, the Chicago charter-bus broker the nursing home contacted for service, said the company's chief executive, William R. Maulsby, was unavailable for comment.

The bus was transporting residents and employees of Brighton Gardens in Bellaire. It was rocked by explosions on Sept. 23 on a highway south of Dallas. Investigators say they are unsure what caused the bus fire, but said it is has been confirmed that oxygen canisters in the passenger compartment and in cargo holds exploded, engulfing the bus in flames.

Texas officials said last week that the bus had an expired registration but was allowed back on the road under a waiver signed by Gov. Rick Perry. The waiver was signed to provide as many vehicles as possible for the evacuation and relief effort.

[Last modified October 2, 2005, 04:53:11]