Cameron

Nothing prepared us for today. I went in to work for a bit, and on the way home spoke to Peter about helping the media get into Cameron Parish. Remarkably, despite the passage of nearly a week, few people have seen much of Cameron Parish.

David Tadlock gave us his boat and we quickly secured Coast Guard approval to take the ship channel down to Big Lake and to Cameron. I was surprised when we got to David's and went down to the boathouse. The smell was unbearable. This storm killed so many fish that they were floating everywhere. We were lucky to find Bart Yakupzack at David's. Bart is a lawyer at the Gray firm and skippered the boat down to Cameron for us. The waterways are different now. Markers are different and things just don't look the same. Although I fished Big Lake often and thought I knew it pretty well, I felt more comfortable with Bart navigating us through Longpoint than if I had tried make our way. Bart had already made one trip into Big Lake with David and Monsignor Greig, and knew his way around.

When we got to Big Lake, from the water everything at first looked fine. When we walked into Hebert's we found that what was behind the waterfront camps and homes was beyond description.

We then headed towards Cameron. All down the ship channel we saw debris that went back hundreds of yards past the shoreline. The "debris" included rescue pods from rigs well offshore, 18 wheeler trailers, dumpsters, you name it. Cameron looked like a bomb detonated on main street.

While walking on mud trails we asked a deputy where we were. When he said main street I thought he was kidding. There was nothing there but twisted metal. From time to time we saw cars slammed into these piles, at other times we saw cars upside down. Boats, or parts of them, were in yards.

A helicopter landed and five military types headed to the courthouse, which is still standing. We headed over there and found General Honore, who is everything, and more, that he is cracked up to be. He sat down with Peter, Gary Shannon of Apex Radio, and I, for at least 30 minutes. When Gary couldn't get the station on his phone, Honore gave us his sat phone. When we kept getting busy signals, he told us to take it easy he could stick around for at least another 15-20 minutes while we tried.

He said that he was struck by the rural areas that were hit by Rita. He said that these areas were devastated but that the rural people were strong and self sufficient. He nearly choked up when he told us of stories of people who lost everything but who urged he and his troops to help others more in need.

He was a great guy, in total command. I couldn't get over the scope and depth of his knowledge. He knew details of Cameron and even Lake Charles that I assumed had been delegated to others. Gary is interviewing Peter and I on the radio tomorrow morning. After that I'm going to Lafayette to Patrick Tadlock's wedding. It will be smaller than planned, but I know it will be great. I will try to post pictures, but the home connection is horrible. If I can't I'll try to upload tomorrow.