Delcambre, Erath get back on dry land

• By JASON BROWN
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Sep 20, 2008 - Page: 4A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Delcambre is back on line and people’s spirits remain intact despite Hurricane Ike’s hard hit, an official said Friday.

Delcambre Mayor Carol Broussard said the town, which is split almost evenly by the Vermilion and Iberia parishes boundary line, is dry and that they are back on their own system since electricity, water and sewage has been restored.

He said morale appears to be high given what residents there have endured over the last three years.

A little more than half of the town was flooded by Hurricane Ike, which appears to have pushed in about 9 inches less water than what Hurricane Rita brought on Sept. 24, 2005.

Broussard said those who raised their homes were spared any flooding, which should give extra incentive to those who had not.

He said people are returning although it will likely take some time before they are able to truly gauge how many will stay.

He said there are still no firm numbers as to how many homes were flooded but it “was way less than Rita for sure, thank goodness for that.”

However, the town does bear some resemblance to itself three years ago as “the inside of houses are back outside again.”

Meanwhile, the town is in the process of picking up debris from both hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

A few miles to the west in Erath, Mayor George Dupuis said that were it not for the debris lining the streets, one would be hard-pressed to tell that the area had been flooded.

He said people have been quick to come back and have been hard at work cleaning up and repairing their homes.

He estimated about 300 homes were flooded and that anywhere from 75 percent to 80 percent of the town had standing water following the storm. Rita flooded far more homes because the water was deeper, he said.

Dupuis said he walked through a grocery store in town Friday and was amazed at how upbeat and positive people appeared to be.