http://www.statesman.com/news/content/metro/stories/09/12plaq.html
Eileen Flynn, Austin American-Statesman
*"They shared wild stories." Mark my words, we're gonna see some genuine 21st century Southern Gothic voodoo tale-spinning folklore out of all this woe.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/metro/stories/09/12plaq.html
Returning to a wasteland
Parish south of New Orleans bore the brunt of storm.
By Eileen Flynn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, September 12, 200
(...)
"In some spots, the litter thrown about from trashed stores and homes made it appear as though a landfill had exploded. Dozens of front porch steps led to nowhere. A swimming pool slide descended into murky floodwater, no trace of the pool. Some homes seem to lunge into the road, their sides torn off, their contents vomited onto the highway.
"The ghastliness of the destruction was evident in coffins that burst out of sarcophagi and washed up on the levees and the side of the highway. A hole in one coffin along Louisiana 23 allowed the ruffled sleeve of the corpse to slip out and flutter in the breeze. Power company contractors from Michigan stopped their vans to snap pictures with disposable cameras.
."They shared wild stories about the hurricane, including one of a man who reportedly survived by strapping himself to a tree with duct tape.
"But when the phones went dead and the wind picked up, he and his girlfriend sought shelter, along with four others, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in nearby Port Sulphur, another town ripped to shreds.
"Farac and the others had to climb into the choir loft when water began rushing into the sanctuary.
'"We're going to drown," an old man cried. The six huddled in the loft and watched with terror as the water rose, tossing pews and smashing windows and slowly climbing the crucifix over the altar.
"The only thing left in the church was Jesus on the cross," Farac recalled.
"The water got up to the Christ figure's feet, then his knees, then his stomach.
"An elderly woman in the group started praying, and everyone joined her. They looked back at the crucifix, Farac said, and the water was at the neck of Jesus, and then it began to recede.
Farac said he climbed into the bell tower to peek out. It was morning, and he began to cry.
'"The water was still rolling over the levee," he said. "I watched everything float by." (...)
