The Destruction and GRADUAL Rebuilding of Chalmette Post-Katrina

Hurricane Katrina tore through the St. Bernard Parish, which includes Chalmette, in August of 2005. The US Census for 2000, before the storm, estimated that Chalmette had a population of 32,081. After the storm, however; the population seems less than half of the population that was there in the 2000 census data. City-data.com estimates the population in July of 2007, nearly 2 years after the storm, to be 9,491. An ethnic breakdown of the 2000 census data estimated that about 92.7% of the population was white non-Hispanic as opposed to 89.0% in the estimated 2007 data. It may come as a surprise to some that the Hispanic population remained the same, 4.8% from 2000-2007. The African American population also remained the same from 2000 to 2007, with a steady 2.4%. Additionally, the median household income in 2000 was estimated to be $36,699 while it rose to be $45,255 in 2007.

Remembering this data while analyzing the effects of Hurricane Katrina is crucial. When Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana (specifically the New Orleans area) it was a category 3 hurricane. Much of the damage caused by the storm was due to the storm surges and the levees breaking in New Orleans. Originally, it was expected that Hurricane Katrina would make landfall again near the panhandle of Florida, not Louisiana. However, it soon became clear that Katrina had other plans. On August 28^th, President Bush discussed a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans with Governor Blanco leading to a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans (as well as many other areas of Louisiana who had mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders). According to the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, the St. Bernard Parish had 80% of its houses damaged; although other sources put the percentage higher (some even say 100%).

Looking at the 80-100% estimate for the amount of houses that were damaged during Hurricane Katrina and the census data it is clear that Chalmette was slammed by Hurricane Katrina. The St.Bernardproject.org claims that 100% of the houses were uninhabitable after Hurricane Katrina. Ken Winters, who is a member of the St. Bernard Parish government, put together a video about the effects of Hurricane Katrina. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_vY4EaYC04 ) Winters says that flood waters reached anywhere from 2-28 feet in the parish for about 13 days. This video also deems 100% of the houses to be uninhabitable after Hurricane Katrina. According to the video, the entire St. Bernard Parish had an estimated population of 60,000 before Hurricane Katrina but only a post-Katrina population of 20,000 during the day and 8,000 at night. In addition to the 100 percent of houses in Chalmette being uninhabitable, businesses were also destroyed. Taking a look at the 2007 census data it is obvious that some of Chalmette has been rebuilt, considering the fact that almost 9,500 people have since returned to the area. Driving through the neighborhoods you see that many houses have been rebuilt. However, there remains houses that have to this day have not been touched. In some neighborhoods there is a random house still completely destroyed neighbored by many of new houses. The people in Chalmette have well-kept houses and perfectly manicured lawns, something that was also valued before the storm.

Many areas of Louisiana saw an increase in the Hispanic population following the hurricane because people immigrated (legally and illegally) to find labor and help rebuild the affected areas. However, the census data shows that the Hispanic population of Chalmette stayed the same. However, this is due to the fact that Chalmette residences take great pride in keeping their houses and land well-maintained. The people of Chalmette believe that allowing lower income people and low income housing, like the immigrants pouring into Louisiana for labor work, to move into their neighborhoods would decrease the property values because they would not have the means to deal with the upkeep of the property. (This issue is discussed more in another blog.) Another thing that is noticeable when you enter Chalmette is that many businesses have rebuilt, but there is still much more that must be done. There was a grand opening of a Big Lots in October in the area just entering Chalmette. However, just across the street there is an entire plaza that is still destroyed and empty due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Another thing to look at is that post-Katrina, Chalmette had approximately 12 schools. Post-Katrina; Chalmette High School, Andrew Jackson Elementary School, and Trist Middle School were the only schools to be reopened. To put into perspective the fact that Chalmette is still rebuilding: on September 17^th of this year the First Baptist Church of Chalmette finally reopened.

A significant event that occurred due to the hurricane was the Murphy Oil Spill. According to the video mentioned above, the oil spill spilled approximately 1 million barrels of oil, making it the largest residential oil spill in the history of the United States. Apparently, the flood waters shifted the oil tank and when the water receded back, the tank tipped over, spilling a million barrels of oil into nearby Chalmette neighborhoods.

In summary, Hurricane Katrina completely destroyed Chalmette, rendering all of its residents homeless, some of its residents missing and dead, and businesses destroyed. More than 4 years later, Chalmette is sitting well below half of the population size of what it was pre-Katrina. It is clear when you drive through the city by the grand-opening of new stores and churches and the road construction that Chalmette is still struggling to rebuild. However, they have been making a gradual effort since just after Katrina. In fact, many people in the town refused to even wait for FEMA assistance to begin the rebuilding proces