[StBernard] For St. Bernard Parish, Hurricane Isaac was no Katrina -- and that's a good thing

[Westley Annis]

For St. Bernard Parish, Hurricane Isaac was no Katrina -- and that's a good
thing

Published: Thursday, August 30, 2012, 4:07 PM     Updated: Thursday, August
30, 2012, 6:06 PM

 By Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune 

What a difference seven years makes: Lenor Duplessis, an assistant to St.
Bernard Parish President David Peralta, said Thursday that the parish has
been largely ignored by the national media during Hurricane Isaac. And
that's a great thing, she said. To be the epicenter of the media horde
during a hurricane, of course, means that you're also the epicenter of
destruction. "We'll take it anytime,'' Duplessis said of the relative quiet.

But if the parish wasn't making news, it doesn't mean nothing's happening
there, she said. Crews continue to fan out across St. Bernard, assessing
damage and beginning what will be a long cleanup.

Duplessis said she had heard a few reports of some sporadic house flooding
in the Chalmette area, but said those reports had not been confirmed. She
said at this stage it appears most homes inside the parish's hurricane
protection levees system fared well.

That's a far cry from seven years Wednesday, when Hurricane Katrina battered
the area. Numerous levee breaks led to massive flooding in St. Bernard,
leaving thousands of people stranded on rooftops. Those levees have been
rebuilt as part of an unprecedented federal bolstering of the local
hurricane protection system.

One of the biggest problems Thursday, she said, was that much of the parish
remained without electricity. But that seemed to be a complaint shared by
much of the metro area.

C 2012 NOLA.com. All rights reserved.