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St. Bernard Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of 2000, its population was 67,229. The parish seat is Chalmette.

The most populated portion of the parish, in the areas near the Mississippi River, is part of the New Orleans metropolitan area.

Geography

The parish has a total area of 4,646 km² (1,794 mi²). 1,204 km² (465 mi²) of it is land and, at 3,441 km² (1,329 mi²), St. Bernard has the largest water in the state of Louisiana. The total area is 74.07% water.

The parish of St. Bernard comprises an area of 680 square miles, and embraces numerous small islands. The parish may be classed among the alluvial lands of the state. The ridges comprise the arable lands of the parish and have an area of 37,000 acres. The principle streams are the Bayous Terre aux Boeufs and La Loutre. There are numerous smaller streams which are efficient drainage canals. The dominant tree species is bald cypress, of which the most valuable trees have been cut and manufactured.

Adjacent Parishes and features

History

St. Bernard Parish contains a small community of Spanish descent. Sometimes referred to, informally, as "Spanish Cajuns", the Isleños are descended from Canary Islanders who arrived around 1780. This linguistically isolated group eventually developed their own dialect.

The chief historical attraction in St. Bernard Parish is the Chalmette National Historical Park (or Chalmette Battlefield), at which the Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815. Many street names near the battlefield bear the names of the chief participants, or take a pirate theme (since the pirate Jean Lafitte was considered to be a hero in the battle.) Before Hurricane Katrina, there was a high school named in honor of (then Colonel) Andrew Jackson, who was the USA commanding officer in the battle. The school plans to reopen for the 2006-2007 school year as an elementary school.

From 1919 to 1969, the parish was effectively ruled as part of the fiefdom of Leander Perez, a local official in neighboring Plaquemines Parish.

During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, city and state leaders used dynamite to breach a levee at Caernarvon, thirteen miles below Canal Street, in order to save the city of New Orleans from flooding. However, this action resulted in the flooding of most of Eastern St. Bernard Parish and parts of Plaquemines Parish, causing widespread destruction. This action was also unnecessary, as the Levees breached in over 100 other places.

Hurricane Katrina and Its Aftermath

See also: Murphy Oil Spill (Chalmette, La)

On August 29, 2005, Saint Bernard Parish was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The storm damage, which affected virtually every structure in the parish, was believed to come both from direct effects of the storm and from a massive storm surge funneled in by the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("MRGO").

The eye of Katrina passed over the eastern, less populated portion of the parish, but in doing so pushed a 25-foot storm surge into Lake Borgne and into the MRGO. This surge destroyed the parish levees which were 14-17 feet high. Almost the entire parish was flooded, most areas getting between 5 and 12 feet of standing water. There may have been as many as two homes untouched by flood waters. Independent engineering analysis of the storm surge suggests that the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet transmitted the storm surge from the Lake Borgne area directly into the center of the heaviest populated areas of the parish. Unlike most of the flooding in New Orleans, the water rose suddenly and violently, during a period that witnesses have reported as no more than fifteeen minutes. In many areas, houses were smashed or knocked off their foundations by storm surge higher than their roofs.

For more than two months after the storm, much of the parish remained without proper services, including electricity, water, and sewage. Federal and state relief was notably lacking in the parish. Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, declared all of the parish's homes unliveable. Many areas of the parish may have to be completely demolished, although there is much uncertainty about whether or not this will happen. Several residents have begun to repair houses which they believe are more cheaply repaired than bulldozed and rebuilt. There is much fear about the lack of funding because of the complete loss of the parish's tax base. St. Bernard's levee system, however, is being restored and is expected to be at pre-Katrina levels by June 2006. It should be noted that this is the first time in FEMA history that an entire parish or county experienced the severity of damage that St. Bernard received from Katrina.

As of late November 2005, it was estimated that the Parish had some 7,000 full-time residents, with some 20,000 commuting to spend the day working, cleaning up, or salvaging in the parish and spending their nights elsewhere. By mid-December some businesses had returned to the Parish, most notably the ExxonMobil plant in Chalmette and the Domino Sugar plant in Arabi, together with a handful of small local stores and businesses. Thousands of parish residents were still waiting for promised FEMA trailers as their wrecked homes were still uninhabitable. At the start of January 2006, it was estimated that some 8,000 people were living in the Parish, only about 200 of whom were in their pre-Katrina homes.

The Baton Rouge Advocate of February 28 2006 published newly determined official population estimates from several state agencies. David Bowman, assistant director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, who was appointed to coordinate a group of experts working on these estimates, noted that these numbers will play a major role in government funding, both in those parishes that have suffered major losses in population and in those that have gained it. Louisiana Tech University, which has responsibility for providing parish population estimates to the State Treasurer’s office, estimated the population of St. Bernard Parish in July 2005 at 67,419. Bowman and Karen Patterson, the Louisiana State Demographer, consider the best current estimates for January 2006 to be those produced by the Office of Primary Care and Rural Health of the Department of Health and Hospitals. For St. Bernard, this figure is 6,889 – a loss of 89.9%.

Emergency Communities offered one reason for hope in the first year after Hurricane Katrina. In the parking lot of a destroyed off-track betting parlor, EC built the Made with Love Cafe and Grill, a free kitchen and community center serving 1500 meals per day. Made with Love, housed in a geodesic dome, also offered food and clothing distribution, and emotionally supportive volunteers. Upon leaving, EC has offered logistical support for the founding of a new long-term community center for St. Bernard.

Many St. Bernard residents feel their plight is little known and generally ignored by the nation as a whole, having been overshadowed by the proportionately less severe but more visible damage in New Orleans.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there are 67,229 people (an increase of 598 or 0.9% over the previous decade), 25,123 households, and 18,289 families residing in the parish. The population density was 56/km² (145/mi²). There were 26,790 housing units at an average density of 22/km² (58/mi²). The racial makeup of the parish was 88.29% White, 7.62% Black or African American, 0.49% Native American, 1.32% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.73% from other races, and 1.52% from two or more races. 5.09% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 25,123 households out of which 33.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.40% were married couples living together, 14.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.20% were non-families. 22.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the parish the population was spread out with 25.20% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 29.20% from 25 to 44, 22.60% from 45 to 64, and 13.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 93.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.10 males.

The median income for a household in the parish was $35,939, and the median income for a family was $42,785. Males had a median income of $34,303 versus $24,009 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $16,718. About 10.50% of families and 13.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.50% of those under age 18 and 11.40% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

There are no incorporated areas in St. Bernard Parish.

Historical

Education

Public schools in the parish are operated by the St. Bernard Parish Public Schools agency.

Due to Hurricane Katrina, the parish's 20 plus public schools have been consolidated as one school, the St. Bernard Unified School, or SBUS. Starting in the 2006-2007 school year, the St. Bernard Unified School will break up into several different schools.

The parish is served by Nunez Community College.

External links

Louisiana parishes | Greater New Orleans | St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana | Hurricane Katrina

St. Bernard Parish | セントバーナード郡 (ルイジアナ州) | Paróquia de St. Bernard

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana".

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