Yesterday a team we are supporting from our location went out to assess the damage in a community named Grand Bayou. The community is home to a group of Atakapa Indians which have lived in this area for over 200 years. An interesting thing about this group of people is that they have not evacuated for a storm. Even in Katrina they banded together as a community and took their boats up in to protected areas and rode out the storm. I was able to sit and talk with one lady and she described her experiences while riding out Isaac. She described the storm surge as a “wall of water” coming toward the boats.
All the houses are built on stilts about 15 feet above the ground (swamp). The only mode of transportation in or out is by boat and they mostly live off the land. They lost their church in Katrina and it was not rebuilt, so some come in to Port Sulphur Baptist Church where our relief efforts are staging.
- Kyle Tupin
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