Cameron Parish: Recovering And Ready

By Nancy Correro
The Times of SWLA




After Cameron Parish rebuilt from Hurricane Rita, Hurricanes’ Gustav and Ike hit in 2008 and destroyed most of the recovery work. Recovery has been steady and you can see the progress that has been made when you travel through Cameron.

With hurricanes spinning off the coast of Africa now, our attention is naturally drawn to our weather channels to be sure those storms don’t make it into the Gulf of Mexico.

How would Cameron fair if they were hit by another hurricane? “Cameron Parish residents are proficient at hurricane preparedness and hurricane evacuations. We are well practiced in that arena,” said Stephanie Rodrigue, Superintendent of the Cameron Parish School Board.

Ryan Bourriaque
Ryan Bourriaque, Assistant Planner for Cameron Planning and Development, works with all of the recovery projects from Rita and Ike and with some of the Coastal Restoration Projects. “I would say yes because it’s happened before. The previous generation went through Audrey and there were over 500 lives lost.

So keeping things in perspective, Rita, although it caused a lot of physical and emotional and financial damage it didn’t cause the long term pain and anguish that residents down here had already gone through. Sadly, people down here are becoming conditioned to it,” said Bourriaque.

There is still some work to be done, but everything is moving along at a steady pace now.
“Unfortunately, those that lost homes or experienced severe damages for the second time, knew the system. Becoming proficient because of repeat performances is not an area of expertise that we really desire to master, but we are pretty good at it.

Overall, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security (GOHSEP) and Emergency Preparedness, as well as Louisiana Public Assistance and FEMA, have made great strides in four years and that has been evident since Ike,” Rodrigue said.

One area that is still in a flux would be the FIRM maps. “FIRM maps are the official map of a community on which FEMA has delineated both the special hazard areas and the risk premium zones applicable to the community,” according to the FEMA website.

“Our firm maps are still in appeal. So if any funding source goes according to the FIRMS then we are in a bind because 86% of the Parish is in a v-zone,” said Bourriaque.

V zones are “areas along coasts subject to inundation by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event with additional hazards associated with storm-induced waves,” according to the FEMA website.

“Basically what they measure is storm surge, velocity data, and they tell you where you shouldn’t live basically. And the whole Parish is a v zone except for one little area in the tip top North of Sweet Lake and a little bit of Hackberry—everything else is a v-zone even though we have ridges down here and we have higher elevation—my grandparents have a higher elevation than people on the lake in Lake Charles,” Bourriaque said.

The v zone affects the money that the parish can receive. This is also on an individual basis as well.

“A v zone affects federal funding. Like our recovery money, if they stick with the v-zone issues—not one of our recovery dollars can be spent in the v-zone—and that is including individual assistance. There are certain exceptions,” Bourriaque said.

Overall, FEMA has had some obstacles to overcome in the recovery process, but recently there has been improvement.

“For the first couple of years after Rita, there was a constant turnover of staff and we were constantly starting over from scratch. That has since all changed. Our federal and state leaders have worked diligently to make that happen. LRA Director Paul Rainwater and his staff are doing an awesome job in transitioning so many projects into fast-forward,” according to Rodrigue.

As for insurance after the storms, there are still some issues and some red tape to go through. The Cameron Parish Schools have had a difficult time dealing with Rita’s damage. “Cameron Parish School Board had horrendous issues after Rita that were finally legally settled this calendar year, after two court-ordered mediation attempts. We are in the process of assessing damages versus insurance paid from Ike, at this time. So, the jury is out on that topic, so to speak,” Rodrigue said.

There are still some people ironing out the details with insurance. “I know rates have gone up on insurance, but they’ve gone up for a lot of folks. I would say that the majority are doing okay as far as insurance goes. Flood insurance is fairly reasonable, but wind and hail goes up astronomically almost—they are directly correlated but on the negative side,” Bourriaque said.

A recent trip I made to Cameron’s Saltwater Fishing Festival showed off a beautiful new building and pier. There were several people fishing on the pier and the jetties. I was mistaken for a local when someone from Lafayette complemented me on the progress Cameron had made since the hurricanes.

“The Saltwater Fishing Festival was an extra-special celebration. The ribbon-cutting and blessing of the Police Jury’s newly completed Jetty Pier was the opening event. Karl Krielow, owner of KAS Construction of Jennings, was in attendance. KAS is the same contractor who built Prien Lake Park.

The new Jetty Pier makes the same kind of public recreational statement of excellence. Engineer Lonnie Harper’s design is perfect for the function of the facility. The Lion’s Club’s annual event was quite a success, as well as a social event for the community.

The funds raised will be used to support youth and community endeavors, as well as academic scholarships,” said Rodrigue.

Cameron Parish is here to stay and the people have a passion and a commitment to their home and land that no force of Mother Nature can squelch.

“You would never know that we had gone through all of that. We are so thankful for other things that the impact of the storms just wither away. Storms only last for so long. This place is worth saving to us,” Bourriaque said.

This is a community that has recovered. So, if by chance another hurricane comes their way, they will pick themselves up again. It is a way of life for coastal communities according to Stephanie Rodrigue.

“As now deceased Bishop Maurice Schexnayder’s Hurricane Prayer says, ‘we live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control.’ People ask, ‘why do you live there?’ We live here because it is peaceful, small and unique...we live here because we know that just as we pray for a reprieve from the weather, we also know that our prayers for recovery are being heard and answered. And, they will be answered again.”