Demolition activity has increased in one of the southern Louisiana parishes hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. According to an AP report, contractors and workers have begun tearing down the thousands of condemned homes in St. Bernard Parish, located adjacent to the city of New Orleans.
The news report documented demolition activity in Meraux, La., a town within the parish “that once contained brick and frame homes, green lawns, barbecue pits and quiet streets,” according to AP.
Structures in Meraux were flooded by several feet of water and now sit on tracts of land that are largely devoid of residents, except for a small percentage who have returned to live in trailers provided by the federal government.
The demolition activity is expected to be frenzied in May, as owners of condemned homes only have until May 31 to take advantage of who a government-funded demolition program. If homeowners agree to demolition before May 31, their structures may still qualify for the program even if the actual demolition does not take place until later in the year.
According to the AP report, a crew “demolished one home that was pushed into the middle of a street. Most of the owner’s possessions were still in the home and were trucked away to the landfill along with brick, mortar and beams.”
St. Bernard Parish employee Charlie Reppel tells AP that about 8,000 homes are expected be demolished, representing about one-third of the homes in the district, which cover more than 450 square miles of land, some of it too swampy to have been settled. The parish’s pre-Katrina population was approximately 65,000, but only about 20,000 people have returned, according to the news report.