In 2005 it was Hurricane Katrina, from which New Orleans and much of the upper Gulf Coast has not yet been recovered. Much less publicity was Hurricane Rita, Ike and Gustav. Rita hit the southwest part of state near the Texas border in less than a month after Katrina devastated New Orleans and the far southeastern parishes.
Gustav and Ike arrived in 2008. Gustav, the worst storm I've ever experienced, came to the south central part of the state. Ike, a month after Gustav actually made land fall on the upper edge of Texas, but had a significant impact in some areas of the region damaged by Rita, three years earlier. Last year, an explosion deep Horizon, death, and the spill has brought additional attention to this area. [1] A few debates still rage over the long-term economic and environmental consequences of this event.
Now the world knows about the flood of 2011, Atchafalaya River, Moganza spillway, as well as several small towns south Louisiana and the communities that are hard to find on a map. The media attention was focused on the Krotz Springs, Butte La Rose, and Morgan City. Krotz Springs (population c.1300) located in the northern part of the basin on the Atchafalaya River. Butte La Rose, a community of several hundred, in a more central part of the basin near Interstate 10. Morgan City (pop.12, 000), in the southern part of the basin is a major center of Louisiana's commercial fishing and offshore oil industry. It is like the narrow end of the funnel. Released water in the pool at the Morganza Spillway flows toward Morgan City.
These cities are not as isolated as some data. They are on the three routes, giving access to Baton Rouge and New Orleans from the west of the Mississippi River. Krotz Springs, U.S. Highway 190, provides access to Baton Rouge. Traveling from Houston to New Orleans on I-10 is one within 5 miles of Butte La Rose. Similarly, the drivers pass Morgan City, located on Highway 90 (soon to be expanding Interstate 49), if they take the southern route into New Orleans.
More distant are the hundreds of fishing and hunting camps and boating facilities in all parts of the basin. These camps are an important element in the life of this part of Louisiana. They are used by locals for recreation, but many of them also earn money enterprises. The lease is staters for fishing and hunting camps generate income.
As affected by recent major disasters and deadly tornadoes already know the results linger long after the national attention focused on other areas and events. The morning after Gustav, fifteen neighbors are equipped with half a dozen chainsaws and pickup trucks and two tractors, spent the day cleaning two miles from the strip and township roads so that we could get out of our rural neighborhood off the main highways of the state. Not far from the damage was minor. Again, those recovering from tornado know what I mean. Almost three years later, I can look out the window as I write and see the big dead limbs and branches hanging high in the trees reminds me of Gustav.
I live near Grand Coteau, about 10 miles from the western edge of the Atchafalaya Basin, in which water from the Morganza Spillway flows. Fortunately for us, Grand Coteau is translated as "big sloping ridge." In the epic floods in 1927, this town was one of the directions of these fled flooded basin. They came from the fact that they can carry and is often accompanied by their livestock.
Louisiana is not only part of the country are facing serious accidents this year - Forest fires in Texas, the devastating tornadoes in the central part of the country and floods in the Upper Mississippi Valley. For us in Louisiana and Mississippi Bottom, flooding in 2011 is the latest in several series of annual disaster.
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