In La., Miss., 'heartbreaking' path to recovery from Isaac

KENNER, La.. – Although efforts to keep New Orleans safe in the path of a hurricane proved effective, people in surrounding parishes have been left to cope this week with the impact of Hurricane Isaac's punishing rains and winds.

By Douglas Collier, The (Shreveport, La.) Times

Eric Dixon, right, clears out debris from his son's bedroom with help from his friend Paul Matar in the Cambridge area of LaPlace in St. John the Baptist Parish, La.

By Douglas Collier, The (Shreveport, La.) Times

Eric Dixon, right, clears out debris from his son's bedroom with help from his friend Paul Matar in the Cambridge area of LaPlace in St. John the Baptist Parish, La.

Residents here — and in Metairie, Plaquemines, LaPlace and elsewhere — sorted through the soggy mess as floodwaters receded, leaving damaged homes, decaying dead animals, scattered debris — and, in some cases, despair.

In LaPlace, where residents told harrowing stories of trying to escape chest-high waters that poured into their modest middle-class neighborhood from lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, Mary Dixon and her family started the process of rebuilding.

The family's possessions — chairs, beds, TVs, china hutch and more — were piled on the front lawn and sidewalk. Similar piles lined the streets of the city's Cambridge neighborhood where residents lost nearly everything to floodwaters that rose 4½ to 5 feet.

"How do you tell your 4-year-old there is no home to go to?" asked Dixon, 36, who relocated to LaPlace after losing her New Orleans home to Hurricane Katrina seven years earlier. "It's heartbreaking."

Little impact from Katrina, Gustav and other hurricanes lulled residents into a false sense of security, Dixon and others said.

"Everyone stayed," said Dixon, who described escaping floodwaters with her husband, Eric, two sons and mother. "We didn't have a chance."

Some of the remnant storminess from Hurricane Isaac could bring more rain and the potential for flash floods to the eastern Gulf Coast this weekend. The threat is not as high for the Louisiana Gulf Coast, however.

There is a chance this "piece of the former Isaac" could regenerate into a tropical depression, or perhaps a weak tropical storm, over the next couple of days in the central Gulf, according to Weather Channel meteorologist Jon Erdman. A depression becomes a named storm when its winds reach 39 mph; if it gets a name, it would be called Nadine.

The storm, not forecast to reach hurricane strength, could make landfall along the Florida Panhandle or west coast of Florida on Sunday, said Weather Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters.

During a break from tearing out drywall and throwing out waterlogged possessions, Dixon and her sister Judy Cimo looked up and waved as President Obama's helicopter flew overhead to survey flood ravaged areas.

"We are going to be back, we are going to rebuild, and we are going to be stronger," Cimo said.

In Plaquemines Parish this week, residents struggled to return to normalcy as local and state officials and the National Guard worked to get food, water, ice and other necessities into Port Sulphur, Venice and other communities that have been cut off since Isaac made landfall Aug. 29.

In Ironton, an unincorporated community in Plaquemines Parish, Imenii St. Cyr and his mother returned to their mobile home to retrieve clothes and what few belongings weren't damaged.

St. Cyr, who lost his home in Katrina, said he wasn't sure when the family would be allowed back and was frustrated.

"It's my home — it feels bad not to be able to come back home," St. Cyr said.

There is no electricity throughout much of the parish, cellphone service is sometimes sporadic. and most communities remain under a boil-water advisory. Many homes along the highway are inaccessible, surrounded by floodwater.

The smell of rotting dead animals — including cattle and horses — permeates the air. Standing, brackish water was filled with tree trunks and limbs, plastic bottles, ice chests, barrels, appliances, sheds and other debris. Stranded cattle stared forlornly at passing vehicles.

Officials were turning their focus toward helping displaced residents return from shelters in Shreveport and to help those who may not be returning to their homes for some time with rent assistance, she said.

"They are going to have to start over," Campbell said.

Meanwhile, in Picayune, Miss., residents were trying to recover from 20 inches of rainfall and the worst flooding the town has ever seen. In the hardest-hit neighborhood, hundreds of people lost almost everything they owned. Some, including the Sheffield family, had to be rescued from their home last week, wondering what, if anything, would be left to salvage when they returned.

"It was overwhelming to me," Ann Sheffield, 68, said. "I was in a daze. I just didn't realize it would be like that."

This week, her husband, Jerry, 80, took trips to and from his garage, transporting debris with a wheelbarrow. Ann followed close behind, heaping remnants of their lives onto a pile of ruins in the front yard.

Bath also reports for The Times of Shreveport, La. Contributing: Doyle Rice in McLean, Va.; Brian Eason, The Clarion-Ledger, in Jackson, Miss.

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