In 2016, a resettlement plan had emerged to help relocate the natives of the Isle De Jean Charles. A 515-acre piece of land was bought to be the new home for the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe members of the Isle. 

Chief Albert Naquin, a longtime resident of the isle and chief of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe, said that the construction of the new community was supposed to begin in March of this year. 

“It was four years in January, and they’re still working on it,” said Chief Naquin. 

The Isle could have avoided the major problems it has today if it was included in the Morganza Spillway. The Morganza is a flood control structure in the state of Louisiana that stretches along the lower Mississippi River.

Mart Black, the director of Coastal Restoration and Preservation in Terrebonne Parish, believes that if the isle would have been included in the plan, it would have been saved. The decision to exclude the isle from the plan was made back in 1996. According to Black, Louisiana has had its issues with climate change since the 1930’s. Black believes that both climate change and the geology of the isle are contributory factors to issues that it faces today. Black stated that the core of engineers decided from a cost benefit stand point, it didn’t make sense to include the Isle De Jean Charles in the Morganza.

“The big issue is that we are relocating these people, and we are uprooting their culture and trying to establish it at another site that has no cultural meaning,” said Black.

The resettlement plan was funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  The competition is called the National Disaster Resilience Competition. According to the HUD, HUD had awarded the state of Louisiana $92 million. The funds were split between the LA SAFE Fund and the Isle De Jean Charles, the tribe received $48 million for the resettlement. 

According to the Isle De Jean Charles Resettlement plan, the resettlement process was turned into four phases. The first phase consisted of data gathering and engagement with the community. The goal of this phase was to engage with isle residents and take note of their priorities. In this phase the resettlement team learned that the isle residents wanted privacy, seclusion, access to water, safety, flood protection, continued access to the island and maintaining and strengthening cultural identity. The team focused on looking into the values of each individual to help create a well-represented new community.

The second phase was site selection, acquisition, and master planning. The second phase consisted of multiple meetings with the tribe members of the isle to find the right location for them. Between December of 2016 through June 2017, the state conducted site evaluations and allowed the Isle residents to visit sites. From July 2017 to December 2017, the resettlement team chose a consultant team to begin developing the master plan and discussed the pros and cons of the new location. Between January 2018 to September 2018, a steering committee held two design workshops for the planning of the new community. In March of 2018, the state placed a purchase option on the property that was preferred by the isle residents. In December of 2018, the state purchased the property. The second phase was the longest lasting phase spanning over three years of planning and designing. 

The third phase would consist of development and construction. The third phase would be the execution phase, where it focuses on implementing the master plan created in the second phase. It will consist of reviewing the environment, finalizing site design work, acquiring permits, laying infrastructure, constructing housing, initiating business development activities, launching workforce training programs, and helping residents move in. Currently, the resettlement process is in the third phase, but no construction has been started yet.

The fourth phase would consist of living in the new community. It will help alleviate the concerns of some of the isle residents who feel like the transition will be too great. This phase will have the resettlement team work with the community to ensure that there are new opportunities, new connections and a new peace and security to be found.

The location of the new property is 40 miles north of the Isle De Jean Charles near Schriever in Terrebonne Parish. Although, construction has yet to begin for the new piece of land, Chief Naquin was satisfied with the $11 million purchase. 

“It was a good piece of land, it was high in elevation,” said Chief Naquin. “It was the land we wanted.”

The few tribe members that remain on the isle are very reluctant to leave and plan to stay for the foreseeable future. Whether the isle residents believe in climate change or not, the consensus was that their land will no longer exist within the next 40 years. 

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“From the time you crossed the industrial canal all the way through, mud everywhere,” Harris said. “It was a mess. It had this raw, sewer-like smell.”

Harris estimated that there were about three inches of mud on the streets and most people had about eight to 20-feet of water flooding their homes. Although his family was able to evacuate the city and went to Houston, Harris had to stay behind with his fire department. He wasn’t able to return to his home for two to three weeks after Katrina first hit. Upon returning to his home, Harris was filled with dismay after having seen his home in shambles after the water had receded. The water had moved everything towards the front of the house as the waters receded through the front door. 

“It was heartbreaking,” Harris said. 

Harris mentioned that the northern most part of the 9^th ward was a ghost town with empty lots and abandoned homes. He said his station gets calls from time-to-time to put out fires over there and says that the area is very prone to wildfires due to the waist-high grass.  Harris said that the northern most part of the 9^th ward, which is Johnson St. to Florida Ave., and from the levee to the Jackson Barracks, is a secluded area.

“That’s the lowest part,” said Harris. “So, when I had eight feet, close to the levee had 20 feet. Houses just wiped out, gone. Most of them collapsed or floated away. Just horrible. No rebuilding, you just got to construct from the ground up.”

Harris worked to restore his home after Katrina flooded it with eight feet of water. Fortunately, his flood insurance paid it off. Most of the homes of his fellow firefighters were also submerged underwater.

“We tried to help one another, but everybody needed help,” Harris said. “It was kind of everybody on their own, so it took longer for us to get back up on our feet.”

The lower 9^th ward was forever changed after the hurricane, and the community lost the vibrancy that it had once had. Some people slowly trickled back but the area was too devastated for many to return. Harris said that many of the houses in the neighborhood were owned by older people who were mostly retired. When they left due to the coming storm, they never came back. Harris said he was capable of doing most of the work on his home by himself, but you can’t expect the elderly to have that option too.

“I thought people would come back like I came back,” Harris said. “But when I saw the scope of everything and knowing that a bunch of senior folks left, the hope kind of drifted off.”

Simply returning to the neighborhood was not an easy task as it would require many of the residents to rebuild their homes. If people had flood insurance, they were able to luck out, but for those who didn’t were left with very few options. Harris stated that there was a severe lack of resources and state assistance towards restoration. Harris mentioned that the Road Home Program, which was a program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, did try to help people.

“You had to let them give you a third at a time and you pay back, or let them buy you out, or you sell,” Harris said. “So, it was kind of a tricky situation that you had to weigh out, because either way you go, you’re still in debt.”

After 15 years, Harris has noticed individuals and couples coming to the neighborhood to start again. He felt that he had to take everything at face value and accept that it was going to take a long time for people to come back, but he never anticipated 15 years. According to Harris the neighborhood was very lonely for a long time and it took a lot of persuading to get his wife to return. It took Harris 3 years to rebuild his home, and it wasn’t until 2009 that his family returned from Houston. 

Harris hopes to see the houses rebuilt, kids playing and having fun, and families going to work like before. Harris said that a lot of times, people upstate only see that the city is back up and running. They see Mardi Gras and other festivals as a sign that things are back to the way they are. They fail to see the reality of the situation down in New Orleans.

“They don’t see the areas that really got hit hard,” Harris said.

The post New Orleans Firefighter Talks About 9th Ward Devastation 15 Years After Hurricane Katrina appeared first on Rising Waters.

“No, no we have a place to stay, we all have homes,” said Chief Albert Naquin.

When asked about how he felt about the term “climate refugee,” Naquin’s calm and optimistic demeanor quickly changed. Naquin disagrees with the term because it implies that his people are leaving their country, which they are not. Although the chief dislikes the fact that his people fall under the term, most of his worries are towards the Census. Naquin is fighting for his people to be recognized to have better federal recognition.

“Maybe the census doesn’t like me anymore,” said Naquin. “We just want to be counted.”

The term is widely used in the media, and it pops up almost everywhere, but no one really knows the opinion of the isle residents. A “Climate Refugee” is someone that has to flee their homes due to change of livelihood in their environment. Which is what is happening with the Isle members, but none of them accept the term. Another isle resident, Cookie Naquin, who has spent most of her life living in the isle, also resents the term. 

“I don’t like it,” said Cookie. “I am a person just like them.”

While the Chief’s worries are on the Census, Cookie’s worries are on what’s going to happen to livelihood of the people once the isle is gone. Cookie is slowly started to accept the reality that the isle doesn’t have much time to survive flooding, but she believes that Houma, LA will also suffer the same fate. She feels that most of the troubles that they have are because of the oil dredging going on in the area. Cookie feels resentment towards most Americans because of the elongated mistreatment of her people. 

Cookie reminisced about the times when her tribe used to thrive from the environment around them. She mentioned that isle members used to fish for a living, had livestock, and an abundance of land. Now the land is constantly eroding with no space for livestock or the hundreds of people that used to live there. 

“It feels like someone is pulling your heart out,” said Cookie.

The only viable income that most of the Isle residents have is working for oil companies. Cookie works PHI, Inc. which is a helicopter company the refuels helicopters that go to the oil dredges.

54-year old Christ Brunet is an isle resident who believes that the media is blowing the word “Climate Refugee,” out of proportion. On Brunet’s front lawn sat a big white porcelain toilet with cardboard taped on to it that said, “Climate Change is Not Worth…”. While Brunet didn’t dismiss the fact that climate change is real, he believed that the main issue that isle deals with is erosion.

“The big ol’ talk is climate change, climate change, climate change,” Brunet said.

While Brunet felt that the issues that the isle is facing are due to natural causes, he is hesitant on placing any blame on the oil industry. Brunet is weighing relocating to the new community, but he dislikes the idea of giving up his current home.

Most of the tribal members share the same sentiment, they all want to stay in the place that they call home. 

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