Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

September 24, 2008

Houma Indian Chief: Hurricane relief report Sept. 20, 2008


Messages from the Houma Principal Chief Brenda Dardar Robichaux
Week of 9/14 - 20/08
Outreach efforts are continuing throughout tribal communities, although some communities are still under a look and leave order. Last Sunday was spent assessing flood damage with a group of us traveling by boat down Shrimper’s Row in the Dulac community. We drove until the water was too high to go any further and then launched the boat from the side of the highway.Shrimpers Row, a roadway along which most of our Tribal Citizens live, was covered with water. Although there was enough water on the road to run the motor, most of the time one of our group pulled the boat through the sometime waist deep muck which covered much of the area.It was heartbreaking to see caskets that had floated from a local cemetery. A group of caring citizens towed the caskets back to the flooded highway and tied them to a tree to prevent them from floating away again. We met a family of three paddling down the bayou. They mentioned that they had spent the storm in their home until the water had gotten too high and then had to evacuate to their grandmother’s home which was elevated. They also mentioned that there were 4 other children at her home, all under the age of eight.
Read report:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2008/09/houma-indian-chair-hurricane-relief.html
Photo: Hurricane Gustav damage/United Houma Nation photo

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