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THE TI^ES-PICAYUNE, NEW ORLEANS
Plaq uemines Towns Hit
Continued from Page 1
the coastal parish, convoys of National Guardsmen moved in to help police and rescue workers.
Plaquemines Sheriff Barney Schoenberger said rescue and reconstruction plans will be primarily the same as those used after Betsy ravaged the area. Martial law went into effect at sundown.
As you drove from Belle Chasse toward Port Sulphur the scenes were much like those in the lightly damaged areas in New Orleans.
SCENE CHANGES South of Port Sulphur, however, on the way to Empire the picture steadily changed and each mile traveled showed increasing devastation.
The road ended in three feet of water about a block south of the Empire bridge.
Some residents from Buras, a few miles away, and other communities farther south stood by helplessly staring at the
highway disappearing under the water.
Others who were lucky enough to make it through a number of police roadblocks gassed up their boats and set out in search of what used to be their homes.
But those who congregated at the bridge were few. As the day wore on parish officials devised a plan of action and began eliminating much of the confusion wrought upon the area by evacuated residents who had swarmed back into the Belle Chasse and Myrtle Grove communities at first light Monday.
£ONVOY STARTS
Monday morning officials were notified that La. 23 was open as far as Empire and part of a long and waiting stream of cars began the trek south.
Shortly afterwards, about 10:30 p.m., officers at the roadblocks were told the order to open the highway to Empire was a mistake and
the road was again closed, resulting in many hot-tempered arguments. This was at Myrtle Grove.
As some residents pointed out to one group of officers how unfair it was to let some persons through and then indiscriminately stop the flow, another group of officers were letting a few cars proceed.
Finally the sheriff’s dispatcher in Port Sulphur said over the police radio that those seeking entry to the area below Myrtle Grove would have to get permits in Belle Chasse some 17 miles in the opposite direction.
The officers then ordered all j those waiting in the area to return to Belle Chasse and emphasized their order with a display of cocked shotguns.
By the time the cars made it back to Belle Chasse, a meet-! ing of parish officials there had. ended and the road was opened! to Port Sulphur.
ALLOWED TO PASS So everybody went back to
Coast Left in Shambles
Continued from Page 1
power to near normal standards.
There were conflicting reports as to the number of Mississippi deaths, but last reports were that 45 persons died in the state.
No one was saying yet how much damage Camille caused, but looking at the devastation, it was obvious it would be many millions of dollars.
The 150-mile an hour winds that racked the coast for more than two hours Sunday night and early Monday morning heaped destruction on all coastal cities. Thousands of persons were homeless.
The storm leveled some homes, tore roofs off others and toppled brick walls. Pine trees were snapped in the middle and huge oaks were blown up by their roots. They fell in yards and streets. Power lines were down every-where
HIGHWAY COVERED
Scenic Hwy. 90 that runs along the seacoast was covered with trees and other debris, and was impassable in many sections. Huge chunks were tom out of the highway near Long Beach.
Police in Gulfport and Biloxi -damped a 6 p. m. to 6 a. m.
day morning, some streets were impassable. Windows had been blown from stores and furniture and other items were tossed everywhere.
CENTER DAMAGED
The nearby Navy Seabee Center was practically destroyed. World War II vintage buildings were crumbled to the ground. Military personnel were moved from barracks into warehouse shelters during the storm, but roofs on the warehouses caved in and walls fell.
Several persons were injured, none seriously, when the root on one of the warehouses caved in.
A spokesman for the Seabe Center said 19 warehouses were either destroyed or practically destroyed. Altogether 46 buildings were demolished at the base. Only one barrack was found livable after the storm.
Capt. James M. Hill Jr., commanding officer of the center, said some arrangements would be made to house the Seabees. Approximately 1,500 to 1,600 persons took shelter on the base during the night.
The center spokesman said damage there alone would run into millions of dollars. The center’s heavy equipment was not damaged seriously, he said.
ment to drive through.
Myrtle Grove where they we checked through to Port St phur.
At 1 p.m. the sheriff’s offii at Port Sulphur was the cent* of activity in Plaquemines Pa ish.
Sheriff Schoenberger said ii an interview the West Bant of the parish was “dealt a devastating blow” by the hurricane and more than 95 per cent of the buildings (homes, business, marinas and other structures) were gone.
The sheriff, who had bee awake since Saturday morning was obviously exhausted an< bleary-eyed as he continued t< work out rescue plans.
He said although one unidentified body was found in Buras, there were no other deaths or major injuries reported. Ambulances spent most of the day ferrying heart patients to New Orleans hospitals.
“Camille was the most intense hurricane I have ever seen in my 43 years here,” the sheriff added.
WORSE THAN BETSY
“My house was built in 1938 and less than 10 per cent of it j was damaged by Betsy. The i destruction this time is 10 times 'worse. It is impossible to live !in.
“It was built solid. The roof
alone weighed 25,000 pounds. I At noon Monday, little work	, £	...	i	j	*	i	»
‘ never believed it would take
had been done to board up stores and businesses. Most per-; sons took care of their homes' first.
Windshields and windows in; hundreds of cars were shat-1 tered. Glass was mixed with1 other debris in the streets.
He said the evacuation of the lower part of the parish began Saturday night and some 15,000 to 20,000 persons were moved out.
Some 3.300 of them were
, ,,	,	i housed in Plaquemines shelters!
hpaan tn1 and the others went to New Or-'
nn	V,nm«ileans	h°tels	and the	°f
make repairs on their homes!
and .go after stray automobiles jre a lves' .	.	j.
and boats after the winds died	Empire	Tony Dimak, 44,;'
down.	i	waded	to	dry	land from his 1
One woman was visibly'home about a half mile from c shaken as she walked along a the brid8e there saying, “Well,|( Gulfport sidewalk and surveyed|we g°t W again.” the damage. “I made it okay in! He said the water there,' those 150 mile an hour winds Reached 12 feet Monday morn-i last night (Sunday),” she re-!ing.	;
marked, “but it just breaks my! others gathered around toL heart to see my beautiful town; ^ear his description as sea if torn up like this. We had such a p]anes and helicopters buzzed i0
pretty town.
Police Superintendent DeCelle of Gulfport said that as police searched through debris Monday morning they found a demolished house with only the
overhead.
Many blamed what they called improper levee construction in the area for the flooding. Not far to the east of the bridge is the Mississippi
foundation and a king-sized i River le^ About two bIocks mattress left. Thirteen _people, to the west is the back levee
four adults and nine children, were found hiding beneath the mattress unharmed except for minor cuts and bruises.
Some relief in the form of
built to protect the communities along Hwy. 23.
START OF FLOOD Empire and Buras residents
...	,	.	, I said the pressure created by
medical supplies and ice be-jp^;,,,,, y -	-	-	-	J
j_ f.