I recently completed a bicycle tour from the Georgia coast through southwest Louisiana to west Texas.  For years I have looked forward to cycling through the marshlands of coastal Louisiana, a remote region of unique beauty and Cajun culture.  This is the story of Cameron, Louisiana.

What I saw stunned me.  I had long known of our nation's failure to address the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  The impacts of Hurricane Rita were just as severe and remain largely ignored two and a half years later.

I was and still remain bitterly angry.  We can spend a trillion dollars to fight an unnecessary war in Iraq, but somehow lack the means to restore our own communities after a natural disaster.  What's more, governmental agencies at all levels have actively hindered people who would gladly go to work rebuilding their lives.  Instead, they have been met with institutional roadblocks for years.  They are angry too.

I will keep my comments to a minimum.
The pictures speak for themselves.

Southwest Louisiana is simply beautiful - the land and the people.  The people, many of Cajun origins, have a fierce attachment to the land.  They were evicted from Acadia centuries ago and forced to flee thousands of miles.  Cameron is their home in ways that most Americans could only imagine.

Grand Chenier Marshes

Roseated Spoonbills

The First Sight of Devastation on Pecan Island

Still Living in an RV Two and a Half Years Later

New construction and permitting regulations have made it extremely difficult for many residents to rebuilt.  Perhaps this is a good thing - safer construction for the future.  Yet, one of the real consequences of such a policy is the displacement of the working poor who can no longer afford to live in the area.  Obviously, there are no rental units available.  In addition, the prime construction sites with views of the wetlands become available to outsiders.

Big, New House

Bent Mailbox and American Press

Shopping Center, Creole

The only store in the eastern third of the county is in a tiny 20 x 40 trailer.  The owners want to rebuild, but cannot receive a building permit.  This store in the only source of gasoline and groceries for 25 miles.

FEMA Trailers

School Site

Silo

Steel Frame Building

Upon reaching the county seat of Cameron, you see driveway after driveway leading up to an empty concrete pad.  No house.  No nothing.

Jonquils and a Bathtub

Rusty Lawnmower and Flowerpot

Methodist Church

Gas Station

The only building to survive Hurricane Rita in Cameron was the County Courthouse.  Everyone had evacuated; however, it is rumored that a fisherman found shelter inside and survived.  The bank was a reinforced masonry building with a rebar-reinforced vault.  It was mowed down like grass.

County Courthouse

Courthouse Annex

Bank

The new bank is a modular unit.  The new post office is a modular unit.  The library is a modular unit.  The two cafes are in modular units.  There is still no grocery store in the county - only a convenience store - in a modular unit.  Two and a Half years later.  And the people of Cameron have no indication of rebuilding.  Just modulars.

"New" Bank

"New" Post Office

Devastation is everywhere. No one was allowed to return to Cameron for sixty days after the hurricane.  (Except oil workers who operated the big rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico)  only about half of Cameron's residents returned.  Half of those that did return remain homeless.

NAPA Store

Motel

Given Up Trying to Sell It

Is this what we are in America today?  Do we let people suffer the destruction of a hurricane with little or no help?  What's more, do we actually hinder them from trying to rebuild their lives?

I am horrified and disheartened.