KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana |Moving north not an option for many Cameron residents

Moving north not an option for many Cameron residents

Reported by Libby White

Should residents of south Cameron Parish communites move farther north? That's an idea some Louisiana planners are suggesting. The New York Times recently ran an article in which consultants for the Louisiana Recovery Authority suggested residents in the south part of Cameron Parish move 15 to 20 miles inland, to take the parish "out of harm's way."

But some residents say there's no place like home.

"There's nobody in this parish who should even consider moving out of the lower part because we went 48 years without seeing a hurricane, we may go a lifetime and not see anymore," Teddy Broussard said.

Broussard is a lifelong resident of Grand Chenier. Despite losing his home and nearly everything in it, he wants to come back. "Home is where the heart is and my heart's in Grand Chenier." 

Broussard's mother, Leona, agrees. "I'm coming back home," she said. "When you have land here, that's the only place you can be. I feel at home over here. It makes me lonesome when I come down here.

Broussard says those who think the southern part of Cameron Parish should move north are wrong, that no matter where you live, you can't escape mother nature.

"It's the same thing if you look at tornado alley," he said. "People are allowed to build in there over and over. They know, but it's by choice. They live there, they know what to expect. They don't know when a tornado is going to drop out of the sky and wipe them out."

The Broussards say south Cameron communities like Grand Chenier are the heart of Cameron Parish.

"I look at what's left and the thing is this, we still have a beautiful place," Broussard said. "We have our land, we have our lives. We have our family and friends

"A lot of them say they won't be come back, but before it's over with, they'll all be coming back," Leona said.

At this point, moving residents of places like Grand Chenier, Cameron, Johnson Bayou, Creole and Holly Beach farther north is just an idea right now.