[StBernard] St. Bernard puts wrecking ball to work

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard puts wrecking ball to work
One-third of homes in parish may be demolished 
Saturday, February 03, 2007
By Karen Turni Bazile
and Richard Russell
Staff writers 

Despite getting off to a slow start midyear, St. Bernard Parish has
demolished more than 4,100 structures destroyed by Hurricane Katrina,
records and interviews with parish officials indicate. 

At least 4,300 more are on a list of structures that ultimately could be
demolished. That list includes homes where owners signed up for voluntary
demolitions, as well as structures the parish ordered condemned because they
were never gutted and secured by their owners. Owners can get their
properties off that forced demolition list by gutting and securing them. 

Based on those numbers, it would mean more than 30 percent of all structures
in the parish ultimately might be razed in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina, which inundated the parish and left buildings marinating in murky,
roof-level waters for nearly two weeks. The parish estimates the storm
itself flattened another 5 percent of the parish's homes that were outside
the levee system. 

In neighboring Orleans Parish, about 5,660 homes were demolished by the year
end, with about 12,340 more being slated for demolition, Federal Emergency
Management Agency spokesman Rachel Rodi said recently. But while New Orleans
ultimately will have to demolish more homes, perhaps nowhere was Katrina's
damage as complete as in St. Bernard Parish, where nearly every home was
flooded. 

Given that many of the severely damaged houses and businesses are being
cleared away at last, local officials believe the demolitions are paving the
way for St. Bernard's recovery. 

"We anticipate a lot of people coming back," Parish President Henry "Junior"
Rodriguez said. "We have quite a lot of people who have moved away who have
indicated they are coming back. They are finding transportation (from the
north shore) is a problem especially when there is fog, and the cost of gas
is extremely high." 


Throughout the parish 


Nearly two-thirds of planned or completed demolitions are in the Arabi and
Chalmette areas, which were the most densely populated before Katrina. 

About 43 percent of all demolitions have occurred or are slated to occur in
Chalmette. More than 3,600 homes -- or about 29 percent of the homes in
Chalmette -- have been or will be razed. Before the hurricane, Chalmette
accounted for about 47 percent of all the homes in the parish. 

Arabi is home to about a fifth of the parish's demolitions. More than 1,600
homes -- or about 44 percent of Arabi's pre-Katrina structures -- have been
torn down or could be soon. 

And although demolition rates hover at about 50 percent for communities
outside the hurricane protection system, such as Hopedale, Yscloskey and
Delacroix Island, parish officials said many structures don't show up in
demolition statistics because visual inspections immediately after the storm
showed that as much as 60 percent of structures standing before Katrina were
flattened or swept away by storm surge -- and thus did not have to be
demolished by parish contractors. 

The net result is there are very few structures outside the levee system
that survived Katrina, parish engineer Logan Martin said. 


'Covering all the bases' 


Beyond the raw numbers and officials criticizing the slow pace, residents
seem pleased overall with the demolitions. 

Allen and Erin Seither, now living in a condominium in Covington, said they
asked the parish to demolish their 2,700-square-foot home on Queens Court
East in Chalmette because they were fearful their Buccaneer Villa North
subdivision -- swamped by some of the deepest flooding in the area -- might
not come back. 

"Gradually, as we cleaned it out and gutted it ourselves, it got to the
point where we knew" it would have to be demolished, said Erin Seither, 63.
"It's over 15 rooms with five bedrooms and three baths. . . . We couldn't
see anybody buying it and raising it three feet." 

The couple have researched modular homes but are unsure of their next step
in Chalmette. 

"We are doing the Road Home thing," Erin Seither said. "Like everybody else,
we're covering all the bases. We had the flood insurance -- thank you, God
-- but it was underinsured because we own this house free and clear." 

Brad and Gail Gowland resisted tearing down their house in the Chalmette
Vista neighborhood. But the wood-frame house, which was knocked off its
piers, proved unsalvageable. 

"I fought it for a while, and I had a lot of people look at it" for advice
on whether it could be salvaged, Brad Gowland, 58, said. "I had a couple of
guys say you could spend a lot of money and you might be able to get it
right," but there were no guarantees. 

The Gowlands -- Brad is a teacher in the parish school system; Gail runs the
parish's battered women's program -- plan to remain in St. Bernard Parish.
The couple's FEMA trailer eventually will be replaced with a modular home
three feet off the ground. 


FEMA won't pay all 


The bill for the demolitions and related monitoring and testing is expected
to reach about $190 million to $210 million once all of the razing work is
complete, parish Finance Director Amy Blanchard said. Prior to Jan. 1, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency promised to cover 100 percent of the
demolition and debris-removal costs. 

As of Jan. 1, local governments have been on the hook for 10 percent of the
demolition costs. St. Bernard Parish officials are confident that Gov.
Kathleen Blanco's Louisiana Recovery Authority will cover that cost. 

Although the LRA has said it would hold up St. Bernard's money until the
parish adopts the new FEMA flood elevations, parish officials don't expect
that to slow down demolitions or debris removal. 

"That is not going to stop us from proceeding with demolitions," parish
Chief Administrative Officer Dave Peralta said. 

Like other officials, Peralta thinks the vast majority of people whose
houses aren't currently for sale or being repaired are waiting on grant
money from the Road Home program. Some parish officials worry that the
number of demolition requests -- either by the owners or by the council
having to condemn derelict property -- ultimately might shoot up again. 

Because officials expect FEMA to stop paying for demolitions in August, they
fear some homeowners might wait too long before deciding to have their
structures demolished. 

"We have 5,000 houses easily that still have yet to be secured. Those
technically could all be demolished" under the current law that demands
houses be gutted and secured, Peralta said. "My dilemma is: These people are
all waiting for LRA. How do I force them into a decision without them having
knowledge of their award or grant from LRA?" 

However, several Parish Council members said residents who are not coming
back should not hesitate to demolish their homes, because ultimately they
are going to be held responsible for the structures and might have to pay
for the demolition if they wait much longer. The council's Executive-Finance
Committee passed a resolution last week encouraging residents who want to
sell to LRA to sign up with the parish to have their structures demolished. 

However, the LRA says participants who sell to the agency won't be penalized
for not demolishing their homes. 

Ultimately, Peralta said, demolition is the safest bet for most who don't
have definite plans to rebuild. 

"All indications are that FEMA leaves in August," Peralta said. "If you are
selling to LRA, it's best to tear your house down." 

. . . . . . . 

Karen Turni Bazile can be reached at kturni at timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3321. Richard Russell can be reached at rrussell at timespicayune.com or
(504) 826-3727.