St. Bernard Parish Reopened!

On Monday, September 25th, St. Bernard Parish will be open for all residents and businesses owners EAST (Paris Road side) of Pakenham Avenue (the street by the Fire Station, Court House, and Bubba John's).

Here are some important points to keep in mind:

1) Rita has flooded all of Arabi and western Chalmette up to the Courthouse. If you live between Pakenham Avenue and Orleans Parish, please wait for the water to be pumped out of your area lest you get stranded or turned away.

2) There is no more "RED ZONE." All areas where the oil spill took place will be open.

3) Routes to St. Bernard: 3 ways, though the third (c) has not been confirmed:

(a) I-12 to Causeway, Causeway to I-10 east to I-610 east to I-510.

(b) I-12 to I-10 (slidell) west to Eden Isles exit to Hwy 11 to I-10 west or Hwy 90 (Chef) to I-510

(c) Westbank Expressway to Belle Chase Ferry (Unconfirmed if operational come Monday).

4) Use protection. Have surgical and work gloves; knee high boots; germ masks; hat, long sleaves, long slacks. Also bring bottle water for consumption and cleaning sludge from skin; towels; sandwiches (no businesses are open); a full tank of gasoline; towels; and a full change of clothes. Bringing plastic bins would be helpful for storing suspected contaminated items.

DO NOT wear shorts or fail to wear boots.

5) Have patience. Cool your heels and keep the road rage at a minimum. Be considerate when driving.

6) Be mentally prepared for the worst. Remember, we all lost everything...expect to be able to salvage little.

7) Keep your cell phones charged and use them at an absolute minimum. You don't want to run out of juice when you need it. Also the cell towers in the parish will be maxed out as is. Think for others with your actions.

Any questions, please shoot them my way: mikebayham@yahoo.com

Rita Nixes St. Bernard Return

Tropical Storm Rita's entry to the Gulf of Mexico has caused the return of residents to St. Bernard Parish to be temporarily suspended. St. Bernard Parish Government might also evacuate for the storm as the loss of levees from Katrina has left the parish more vulnerable to storm surges.

St. Bernard Return Information

1) To those returning home to gather what is left, please be aware of certain things and take appropriate precautions:

The ground, air, water, and sludge is HIGHLY toxic. I strongly suggest you receive the appropriate booster shots for tetnus, hep, etc. Supplies I would bring include: knee high boots, surgical gloves, work gloves, a second pair of pants, towels, 2 pairs of socks, bootled water, a germ mask, and a maul for breaking in your door.

Also bring sandwiches and a full tank of gasoline as the parish is dead in terms of commerce.

Doors are sealed shut by dried mud on your interior. Be prepared to break in your own home.

2) Be mentally prepared for the worst. Virtually EVERY house in the parish is a loss. The homes that fared best were those between Chalona and Paris Road between JP and St. Bernard Hwy. The mud and muck in your homes could be as high as 3 ft and it will suck the shoes from your feet.

3) If you have open wounds, esp if you are diabetic, please bound them with bandages thoroughly. Infections are deadly.

4) DO NOT WEAR SHORTS!

5) If mud or sludge gets on you, wipe it off immediately with a towel and bottled water.

6) Purchase plastic bins to place all retrieved items. Your possessions could be contaminated.

7) Keep cool. This is a frustrating time for everyone. A loss of patience on your part could boil over to major problems as those around you are also stressed.

Official St. Bernard Parish Return Schedule

The schedule will be as follows:

Saturday 9/17 & Sunday 9/18 Jackson Barracks to Paris Road,

St. Bernard Highway to the River

Monday 9/19 & Tuesday 9/20 Jackson Barracks to Paris Road,

Judge Perez Drive to St. Bernard Highway

Wednesday 9/21 & Thursday 9/22 Paris Road to the Violet Canal,

Judge Perez Drive to the River

Friday 9/23 & Saturday 9/24 Jackson Barracks to Paris Road,

All areas north of Judge Perez Drive

Sunday 9/25 & Monday 9/26 Paris Road to Palmisano Boulevard,

All areas north of Judge Perez Drive

Tuesday 9/27 & Wednesday 9/28 Palmisano Boulevard to the Violet Canal,

All areas north of Judge Perez Drive

Thursday 9/29 & Friday 9/30 All areas below the Violet Canal.

Unless significant progress is made by the Water Division, Entergy, and Atmos regarding repairing the utilities in St. Bernard, on Saturday, October 1, 2005, all residents must again leave St. Bernard Parish to allow these entities to complete repairs. This decision will be made and announced later depending on the progress of the restoration.

To be eligible to return to St. Bernard, residents must present proof of residency. To protect homes and businesses from unwanted intrusion, we will strictly enforce this rule. PLEASE BE SURE TO HAVE PROOF OF RESIDENCY.

When planning your return, please keep in mind that electrical power, telephone, water, and sanitation have not been restored in St. Bernard. Moreover, presently there is no gasoline, food, water or building material available. Thus, please plan accordingly. You should be totally self-sufficient with generators, tools, etc. to enable you to accomplish your planned tasks, and you must have sufficient gasoline to exit St. Bernard when you are finished.

St. Bernard Parish Update 9-14

With relatively normal communications now established, information has been released through more official channels. Here is some news that could be of interest:
1) I-10 between the Twin-Span and I-510 is still under water and is impassable without driving on the median with a large vehicle.

2) The fatality count from St. Bernard is now in the eighties with recovery still going on.

3) The St. Rita's tragedy was the lead story in the USAToday, though the article did not contain any unique information regarding the charges against the nursing facility owners than has already been promulgated through other media.

4) A little note on your elected officials. I've personally seen them work to the point of exhaustion to help our people that remained. All of them have worked far beyond their $500 per month council salary.

5) The oil muck at Paris Road on its eastern bank is still considerable. A car parked off on the side had muck up to its tire rim (a depth of several inches). Almost all residences between Paris Road and the Murphy refinery north of Judge Perez are inaccessbile because of this hazzard.

6) Business report: Rainbow, Taco Bell, the Republican Party HQ, Aarons Doughnuts near Jean Lafitte) and many nearby Village Square businesses, Blockbuster Video appeared decimated. The salon on Pakenham (old Video World), Gallodoro Insurance, SuperWalmart, and New Orleans Original Daiquiris seemed to have weathered the storm better by comparison. The brick wall facing JP at Prudential Realty was ripped off and the Hibernia Bank near the SuperWalmart was severely damaged (did a single Hibernia in the parish make it through the storm?). The Council on Aging Building is nearly demolished.

7) Parts of Judge Perez are almost impossible to drive across and are covered with debris. Telephone poles are leaning at an angle across the parish.

8) The entire area in front of the Winn Dixie on Paris Road is covered with dried mud.

9) Residents in Meraux near the 40 arpent canal in the vicinity of Legend are virtually gone. Numerous houses in Arabi by the 40 arpent are off their foundations and there is a house sitting in the middle of Rose Street.

10) Powerlines are down on the west bound side of JP between Paris road and Delille obstructing any traffic from crossing into the residential areas of west Versailles subdivision from Judge Perez.

For more information, please e-mailMikeBayham@yahoo.com. I don't have information on specific addresses of homes.

Charges Filed Against St. Rita's Owners

From the Times Picayune...

Owners of St. Bernard nursing home charged with negligent homicide

The owners of a St. Bernard Parish nursing home where 34 people died during Hurricane Katrina were charged with 34 counts of negligent homicide, state Attorney General Charles Foti announced Tuesday.

Salvador and Mabel Magano, owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home near Poydras, turned themselves to state authorities today at 3 p.m., Foti said.

Officials had been looking for the Manganos since a FEMA recovery team began pulling the 34 bodies from the home last week. The Manganos are being held in Baton Rouge pending bail.

Parish officials last week said the owners had refused evacuation buses offered the day before the storm. Foci on Tuesday said the owners also failed to call an ambulance service they had under contract to provide for an evacuation of the home’s patients.

“They had adequate notice that the worse nightmare for the state of Louisiana was about to occur, and they did nothing,” Foci said. “Their inaction resulted in the deaths of these people.”

If convicted, each defendant faces up to five years in prison for each count.

St. Bernard Parish Meeting at the State Capitol

I attended the first part of the meeting held at the State Capitol. While many major questions were not answered definitively, for many residents this was their first chance to see and hear their elected officials.
Part of the reason why matters such as the oil spill, the return to St. Bernard, and the matter of claiming bodies were not addressed is because they themselves do not yet have the answers.

When I say that St. Bernard looks like an atom bomb hit it, I am in no way exagerating. Unfortunately it was necessary for President Rodriguez to drop the hammer on expectations. I've heard quite a few people chirp that they heard from someone who talked to a friend who lived near them that the water didn't go no further than their driveway. I'd like to know what part of Neverland they think their house is in.

On top of the destructive forces of the water and wind, our parish has also endured our very own version of the Exxon Valdes (Murphy Oil will have to compensate owners for damage done to property and as Junior mentioned, might have to buy them if the contamination is as bad as it could be.)

Junior did not sugarcoat the reality that there is virtually nothing left standing outside the levee protection system in eastern St. Bernard. I've seen the proposed district plan to allow people back into the parish, though the timing of it is contingent on the oil clean-up as a 40 block area would have to be totally secured while also having the resources to guard our parish borders with Orleans.

Senator Boasso reiterated his welcome opposition to Army Corps funding to dredge the MRGO, the surest way of closing it without any more time consuming studies. The MRGO has been the source of erosion that destroyed acres of once lush swampland that would have broke part of the storm surge that inundated St. Bernard.

When more information is determined, it will be passed along via the parish website, press releases, and possibly this forum. With communications largely restored, it should be easier to get info out, especially compared to the agonizing first few days after Katrina hit.

When more details and specifics come my way, I will pass them on.

President Bush in St. Bernard 9-12

For the first time in parish history, a sitting President of the United States paid a visit to St. Bernard Parish when President Bush met with the parish's political leadership in Chalmette today.

St. Bernard Parish Update 9-9, Pt. 2

Conditions of the parish
There is no subtle way to put it: St. Bernard has suffered a catastrophe equivalent to a chemical version of Chernobyl.

First I should mention that access to the parish is RESTRICTED. One must pass multiple checkpoints guarded by machine gun weidling soldiers. Until further notice, civilians are not allowed in the parish and won't make it any further than mid-St. Tammany.

Second, I spoke with Jr. and he informed me that a plan is being devised where residents will be able to return BRIEFLY in about two-three weeks. We are many months away from people being able to come back on a permenant basis. It will be done in sections as the oil contaminated areas are inaccessible.

Though I am sure the news has been spread via this forum, I assume it is known by now that the oil spilled had benzyene in it which is a major health problem. The area affected is roughly between JP and Golden through Lexington Place. As of this moment, Jr. does not intend to bulldoze any homes before residents are allowed to go back.

The winds and water that hit are parish had an impact to say the least. I saw a billboard supported by I-beams bent, not snapped, but bent in half. I saw a cadillac tossed into a tree. The trees in Meraux have been seriously thinned and the water line is noticeable by the line of garbage symetrically caught in its branches.

Old Arabi between St. Bernard Hwy and the River is dry as a bone. However, the interior of homes were likely damaged by water. Water is gone from most of the Chalmette Vista closest to the St B hwy, but is noticeable near Chalmette Middle. Carolyn Park is under 3 feet of water.

Rocky and Carlos is still standing but the sicilian room was battered badly.

The LeBeau House and Beauregard Platantation are also standing.

A 6 inch sludge is prevalent around all areas hit by the oil spill. This could end up being a superfund site...Murphy Oil will be cutting a lot of checks before this is all said and done.

Meraux looked like an atom bomb hit it. The old Delchamps was wiped out; campers from JP were thrown all the way to the back of Jumonville Estates. Shorty's Cafe and the Bar were totaled.

Homes in Chalmette between Murphy and Paris Rd south of JP seemed to be in good shape.

The Parish Librar had some damage but books were still visible on the shelves. Parts of the glass panels were smashed. The Gulf Coast Bank building seemed to be in good shape above the first floor.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church lost its roof and OLPs suffered damage to its steeple and three large punctures are easily visible in the roof near its steeple.

St. Bernard body count could be under 250.

Though i know I am asking for trouble on this count, if you have any questions, (please no questions about particular addresses or neighborhoods not covered...i tried to be as comprehensive as possible with this report), e-mail me atmikebayham@yahoo.com.

St. Bernard Parish Update 9-9, Pt. 1

Part 1, Parish Leadership

I have completed my supply delivery to St. Bernard Parish. During my trip there, I had the opportunity to visit parts of Arabi, Chalmette, and Meraux and meet with various officials.

Here is part of my report that will be posted in full on savingstbernard.blogspot.com.

1) As of right now the official death count is around 65, including several from St. Rita's.

2) Junior Rodriguez was in high spirits and was in command of the parish government at the Mobil refinery. For a man near death only months ago, he displayed youthful vigor handling multiple tasks at the same time. Junior is quite a celebrity as many visiting doctors and military men were lining up to take pictures with him when he was taking a break.

3) Our other parish officials were also working at the scene. Councilmen Madary and Taffaro were present at Mobil and a bearded District Attorney Jack Rowley was manning the Court House post. Sheriff Stephens was operating his office from a barge near the sugar refinery. Voice Publisher E.M. Roy was there writing stories for the next edition of the historic parish weekly (started in 1890) though he admitted that his office in Arabi was severely damaged by water.

St Bernard Parish Update 9-6

Escambia County (FL) Search and Rescue will be in St. Bernard Parish to assist with efforts. They are bringing with them several flatboats and certified search dogs.
Water in St. Bernard Parish is down four feet and in other places nearly dry.

More supplies are streaming in as are personnel thanks to the efforts of concerned citizens outside of St. Bernard who are working during their evacuation.

And finally an amazing story. A dog that was lost in the area of Oak Ridge was swept into the Mississippi River. Fortunately for this pooch, the river was moving upstream due to the storm and made it all the way to Chalmette Slip where it was rescued by St. Bernard firemen. I don't know the dog's name but I'd say it's "lucky".

Regarding The Oil Spill

According to a member of the St. Bernard Parish Fire Department, there are no plans to bulldoze homes contaminated from the oil spill at Murphy Refinery.

www.connectedcommunitynetworks.com/stbernard

A site has been constructed to assit with tracking St. Bernard evacuees. There are two options: one for people looking for their friends, families, and neighbors, and another for people to share info where they are. It will be alphabetized to make searching easy. Please take advantage of this site.

St. Bernard Update, 9-5, 11:30 PM CST

Escambia County (FL) Search and Rescue will be in St. Bernard Parish to assist with efforts. They are bringing with them several flatboats and certified search dogs.
Water in St. Bernard Parish is down four feet and in other places nearly dry.

More supplies are streaming in as are personnel thanks to the efforts of concerned citizens outside of St. Bernard who are working during their evacuation.

And finally an amazing story. A dog that was lost in the area of Oak Ridge was swept into the Mississippi River. Fortunately for this pooch, the river was moving upstream due to the storm and made it all the way to Chalmette Slip where it was rescued by St. Bernard firemen. I don't know the dog's name but I'd say it's "lucky".

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

I know hundreds of you are anxious to return home to help rebuild our parish. If you would like to take part in our area's biggest reconstruction project in history, please e-mail savingstbernard@yahoo.com. Give your name, parish address, "exile" address, contact phone, e-mail, and skills (electrician, carpentry, plumber, accounting, etc). These lists will be sent to the central authority vested with the rebuilding.