Remember Rita: Dispatch from the Cameron Parish Library

Less than a month after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Rita swept west and made landfall at Johnson's Bayou, Louisiana as a Category 3 storm. Areas of the Gulf Coast that had been spared the brunt of Katrina were devastated, including many Louisiana libraries.

One of the hardest hit was the Cameron Parish Library System. Three of four library branches were destroyed, with their entire collections -- the Main Library, the Grand Chenier Library, and the Johnson Bayou Library. The fourth was flooded, and 33-40% of collection was destroyed.

Charlotte Trosclair, Director of the Cameron Parish Library System told me that often, libraries hit by Rita are excluded from some funding efforts that go to help Katrina libraries only. However, despite its name, the ALA Hurricane Katrina Library Relief Fund does provide funding to libraries hit by Rita.

The pictures above are, from top to bottom, the Main Library, the Grand Chenier Library, and the Johnson Bayou Library. As you can see, all three were reduced to rubble.