Bringing Back Bayou La Batre

Katrina washed away this Alabama town's industry and flooded its homes, but its resilient spirit remains strong.

In Bayou La Batre, Alabama, the most dramatic reminders of Katrina's 18-foot storm surge are the shrimpboats. Twenty-three of them, scattered in the woods across from Little Bayou, list at odd angles awaiting rescue.

Shrimping is a major source of income in this town of 2,300, especially for the large Asian community. So it's significant that, after many months of uncertainty, the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund provided money to refloat the vessels. Roughly a year after the storm, most of the boats began plying local waters again.

Hope Rises

"A lot of those boats in the trees used to sell us their product," says Charles Kraver, who operates Deep Sea Food, Inc., which buys and sells seafood from all over the world, processing and freezing some 100,000 pounds of shrimp a day. It was critical that Deep Sea get back up and running as soon as possible.

"Everything standing in our plant washed out of the building except the big machines," Charles says. Mounds of debris, muck, and even snakes washed in. The plant, which shut down for about two months, is just getting back up to speed. "We're still short on labor," Charles says.

Devan Phan also scrambled to get his ice, fuel, and unloading operation, Bayou Marine Products, back on line after the storm. "I had nothing left but my unloading rig," he says. "We unloaded eight boats the day after the storm and took them to Bon secour, Alabama, for processing."

Solutions Flow

Bayou La Batre's most pressing problem, though, is one not visible to most people. The town is in serious need of a new water system and sewage-treatment plant. The aging terra-cotta pipes that bring in water under the Bayou are decaying at an accelerated pace.

"There's saltwater intrusion into the pipes," says Debbie Jones, the town's long-term recovery coordinator. The problem affects everyone and is even holding up the building of much-needed low-income housing. It's also posing problems at the shrimp processing facilities. The city has been wrangling with the issue for months, but now the money appears to be in place for work to start soon.

Debbie tries to solve such problems. It's a new role-when the storm hit, she was working for a public relations firm in Mobile. "I couldn't get to work, so I went downtown to help. People I know had all their stuff on the street. People I didn't know were hugging me because I gave them a pack of diapers. I hated to go back to my PR job."

The Silver Lining

The Bayou received an outpouring of support. "We've been very blessed with volunteers from day one," Debbie says. "Trucks were coming in constantly with supplies. One night, eight 18-wheelers arrived. We never knew where they were coming from or when they'd show up, but we knew we wouldn't run out."

Mayor Stan Wright is everlastingly grateful for the volunteers who continue to support the town. "Eight hundred homes had significant damage, and 150 were destroyed," he says somberly. He leans a sturdy forearm on his tired metal desk, his face full of concern. "This is a working community, not a vacation community. It's gonna take a long time to get us back on our feet."

Stan holds no regard for those who say the storm was predestined. "God doesn't send hurricanes," he says firmly. "He sends good people to save our town." -DONNA FLORIO

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Oct 2006
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