Louisiana Parish Must Ready Land Legs as Ship Departs

Here in battered St. Bernard Parish, the docked cruise ship was an oasis amid the destruction, a lifeline for those who had no place else to go.

And now, it’s about to weigh anchor.

St. Bernard took some of the worst punishment meted out by Hurricane Katrina. The storm and flooding crippled or destroyed most of the working-class suburbs hugging the Mississippi River east of New Orleans.

To make matters worse, a beached tanker spilled its oil over a 3-square-mile neighborhood in Chalmette, in the heart of the parish.

On Wednesday, the day after Mardi Gras, the parish will lose the Scotia Prince, the cruise ship that has provided lodging and food for hundreds of residents.

The Scotia Prince is one of three ships the Federal Emergency Management Agency contracted for six months to house evacuees, police officers and reconstruction workers.

The other two, docked at the Port of New Orleans, also will depart Wednesday, said David Passey, a FEMA spokesman.

There’s less need for them now, Passey said.

Initially the ships housed more than 5,000 people, but those numbers have declined rapidly in recent days as FEMA’s temporary trailers have become available, he said.

On Monday, the Scotia Prince, once home to more than 600 people, held 158, he said.

“We can assure them that by Wednesday, they will have a place to stay,” Passey said. “We’re hopeful they’ll be able to move into a travel trailer in St. Bernard Parish.”

Twenty-three St. Bernard Parish residents, however, have filed a federal lawsuit, to be heard Wednesday, to stop the ship’s departure.

FEMA has failed in its task of providing temporary housing, said Mike Ginart, the residents’ attorney. “It’s been six months, and we’re still waiting for 75%” of the temporary FEMA trailers that evacuees from the parish requested, he added.

Ginart said FEMA also should keep the ship around to provide housing for evacuees who are returning to rebuild and will need housing until their trailers are available.

“They could be staying [on the ship] in St. Bernard, and that would make it easier for everybody,” he said.

Residents say the ship provided more than lodging. It offered some of the only food, laundry and phone lines available in a parish that remains bereft of services six months after the disaster.

No supermarket is open in St. Bernard, and only a handful of restaurants are. Hundreds of residents came to depend on the Scotia Prince.

Otherwise, “you got to leave the parish to find food,” said Theresa Doty, who uses the ship for her meals and laundry.

“This is a no-man’s land,” said Janis Lamanette, a beautician from the town of Arabi, who lost her house in the flood. “This is like a Third World country down here.”

Still, some businesses hoped the ship’s departure would be the first step toward reconstruction.

People who have been eating on the ship will now be more likely to spend their money in town, said Jeff Pohlman, owner of Today’s Ketch Seafood restaurant in Chalmette.

“I don’t want to sound greedy,” said Pohlman, whose restaurant serves 200 people a day and runs out of most menu items by midafternoon. “But the parish is going to need a hell of a jump start. We need some tax revenue. That’s going to play a major part in our comeback.”