LaPlace, La. - There's a long road ahead for the people of St. John the Baptist Parish. As they deal with the aftermath of flooding they never expected, they wonder what may be next.
A stroll in the LaPlace Park neighborhood still requires rubber boots. "Something you just got to live through," said flood victim Tino Gauna. "You got to work through it, you know. You can't just walk away."
Gauna lives in this still-water-logged area of St. John. He says he lost just about everything. The task at hand is tremendous, especially with water still sitting in his front yard and still no power.
"Is it going to happen again?" asked Gauna. "You know, how much of a storm do we need for this flooding to happen again?"
It's a question that many are asking, including Parish President Natalie Robottom.
"We cannot afford to continue to study a levee alignment when we've just had Hurricane Isaac," said Robottom during a Tuesday afternoon news conference. "I think that proved to us that a hurricane protection levee is necessary, and our neighbor to the east showed us what happens when you have that protection."
Robottom says she had a brief but valuable meeting with President Barack Obama during his visit on Monday.
"I think Hurricane Isaac made the case for us. What the president has committed to is working with Congress to put the funding in place based on the need, not just this disaster. But if nothing else, this disaster in an area that has never flooded, was not in a flood zone, should not have flooded... and what happens when there is no protection for the system?"
And if something isn't done soon to start getting that protection in place, some folks like Tino Gauna may be moving on.
"If this is something we got to look forward to every time a storm comes in, we will probably pack up and sell if we can and move somewhere else," Gauna said.
Home of flood victim in Laplace Park neighborhood (Jessica Holly photo)
St. John news conference with Parish President Natalie Robottom
