Tomorrow marks the anniversary of Hurricane Rita's landfall in Texas and Louisiana. Cameron Parish got hit the hardest by the category 3 storm. Luckily, two days before Rita hit, almost the entire population of Cameron Parish, around 9,500 people, evacuated. Most of the homes and businesses were destroyed or heavily damaged by storm surge and high winds. A third of the population still hasn’t returned. WWNOs Jesse Hardman spoke with Parish administrator Ryan Bourriaque, whose family has spanned six generations in Southwestern Louisiana about Hurricane Rita, and how it changed his community.
Support for WWNO's Coastal Desk comes from the Walton Family Foundation, Kabacoff Family Foundation and Greater New Orleans Foundation.