Lafitte, La. -
After cleaning up and starting over three other times since Katrina, a seafood restaurant in Lafitte does it once again.
Voleo's Seafood, right over the Goose Bayou Bridge, is the first to open its doors after Hurricane Isaac flooded the restaurant for a fourth time.
"It's horrible, you watch the water coming in, what are going to do, you're helpless," said chef and restaurant owner David Volion.
Chef Volion shows cell phone video of water rushing into the restaurant on Nunez Street in Lafitte. For 27 years, Voleo's Seafood has been a community favorite.
"At first I wasn't going to open back up, it ain't no way in the world," said Volion. "Because you can get everything back up and running, it could happen next year."
It's the fourth time in six years Volion has had to gut his restaurant and start over.
"We had like four to six inches of mud, and then you're walking to the place, things are floating around because it happened so fast, and you really don't know where to start at," said Volion. "You want to cry, number one. How are you going to do this again... you know what I mean."
But he did. After taking on nearly six feet of water inside, Voleo's has finally reopened, nearly a month after Hurricane Isaac.
"Soft shell crab, stuffed shrimp, regular shrimp," said first-time customer Barbara Wallace, listing some of the items on her seafood platter.
"He makes a mean red beans," said long-time customer Jared Maise.
"I love being able to come down and get anything from red beans and rice to a muffuletta," said Michael Elliot, coming in during his lunch break.
Volion says the threat of flooding remains, but his family -- most of whom work at the restaurant -- and loyal customers drive him to maintain the family mainstay.
"Strong back, weak mind, thinking that it's never going to happen again, you know, that's why you keep doing it," said Volion.
"It's a small community, everybody [is] here for everybody. As long as he's open, we're going to be here," said Maise.
"This is the only reason why you keep going, just to watch the smile on somebody's face being happy leaving, on Facebook... everybody wants you to come back," said Volion.
A constant motivation, Volion says, keeps him coming back stronger each time a flood tries to wipe them out.
Jefferson Parish Pres. John Young says Barataria, Crown Pointe, and Lafitte have all flooded four times in the last seven years since Hurricane Katrina. Young says flood protection will be part of the discussion at a hearing Tuesday morning in Gretna.
