The Isle d'Orleans

The early French explorers referred to New Orleans as the "Isle d'Orleans," because the area is indeed essentially an Island. There's Lake Pontchartrain in the north, Lake Borgne in the East, The Mississippi River in the south, and swamp and Lake Maurepas in the west. When you read reporting on the storm, it's usually focused exclusively on the city proper. That's not a bad thing, mind you, because as the city goes, so go the burbs. But three parishes now make up the Isle d'Orleans, and the two on either side of the city were damaged by the storm as well. Today, let's talk about the parish downriver from New Orleans, St. Bernard.

St. Bernard Parish begins where the Lower Ninth Ward of the city ends. Separating the two is Jackson Barracks, the military facility that is the headquarters for the Louisiana National Guard. Below Jackson Barracks (we New Orleanians use the terms "above" and "below" rather than a compass direction to indicate positions relative to the river) is the neighborhood of Arabi, one of the earliest suburbs. After Arabi comes Chalmette (site of the Battle of New Orleans in 1815), then Mereaux, then Violet. Intermingled with these small communities along the river are oil refineries, factories, shipping facilities, and other industrial sites.

To the north of these riverside communities and facilities is swamp and wetlands, leading up to the southern banks of Lake Borgne.
And in the middle of that swamp/wetland area is the most controversial waterways in South Louisiana, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, known as MRGO, "Mister Go" to locals.

The idea behind MRGO is simple--the river has a number of natural twists and turns on the way to the Gulf of Mexico. MRGO is a navigation canal that eliminates a lot of those turns, making it easier for ocean-going ships to access the Port of New Orleans. The effectiveness of MRGO is widely in dispute, and locals in Da Parish (as we affectionally refer to St. Bernard) have called on the US Army Corps of Engineers (remember them?) to stop dredging MRGO, allowing silt from the wetlands to fill it back over time. The Corps, backed by the shipping industry, have steadfastly refused to allow MRGO to close, so dredging continues.

When the storm hit, the eye came in over the eastern part of St. Bernard, turning into the state of MS from there. The worst winds of any hurricane come just after the eye passes over you. These winds generated a 25-foot "storm surge" in MRGO. The levees on either side of the canal weren't built to block such a surge. The water topped the MRGO levees and flowed into Chalmette, Mereaux, and Violet. Arabi got a double-whammy, as flood waters from the Industrial Canal flowed down past the Ninth Ward, and water from MRGO pushed up from the other side.

St. Bernard Parish had to contend with flooding that made what happened in Da Ninth or Lakeview look like child's play.

Then it got worse.

One of the industrial facilities in St. Bernard is a refinery owned by Murphy Oil Company. A storage tank at that facility ruptured, spilling over a million gallons of crude oil into the flood waters. Between the flooding and the potential toxic hazard created by the spill, Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez declared the parish totally uninhabitable.

One of the activities in which I've been privileged to participate as a Freemason is the Louisiana Relief Lodge #1. The purpose of a "relief lodge" is to perform the Masonic funeral service when a brother's home Lodge is unable to do so. In December/January 2005/2006, I went down to Chalmette half a dozen times to perform this duty at the cemetery in Chalmette. I'd drive in via I-10E to I-510. When the 510 merges back with Paris Road, heading south towards the river, it felt like I had stepped into a scene from a "Mad Max" movie. I kept remembering the descriptions of Louisiana from an old role-playing game, "Twilight:2000." Some would say it was a vision of hell.

In spite of this massive disaster in St. Bernard, the parish is fighting to come back. St. Bernard has a number of things working in its favor. Most of the residents of the parish were homeowners, with a vested interest in re-building. Many residents also have family living in the area, upriver in Jefferson Parish or St. Tammany, north of the lake. This allowed them to stay in the area, as opposed to having to bail out for Houston. Many of the refineries and manufacturing facilities re-opened, so jobs were still there. The parish has also has one of the most passionate political advocates in Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-Napoleonville). In a time when Louisiana is rapidly turning redder and redder, the Cajuns and Yats of LA-03 know a good deal when they see one and re-elected Melancon in 2006. It's an interesting incongruity that St. Bernard is a hotbed of support for Republican candidates statewide (the parish overwhelmingly voted for David Duke when he ran for governor), yet they have a Democratic Congresscritter.

It hasn't been easy for residents of Da Parish, but they're trying to come back. Chalmette High School is re-opened and playing a full football schedule this season. NPR did an absolutely fantastic job of chronicling the efforts of the Bordelon family as they re-build their home over the last two years.

St. Bernard residents, from the Parish President Rodriguez down to the typical homeowner, blame the Corps of Engineers for their plight. Given the violence and force of the winds from the storm, it's hard to place all the blame on MRGO. A 25' storm surge from the canal means that waters from Lake Borgne would have blown down into the communities of the parish as well. Still, these people wouldn't have suffered the utter devastation they did.

They trusted the Corps of Engineers.

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