Hurricane Rita

[FistFullaRoux]

Hurricane Rita has devastated a large part of Southern Louisiana. It basically landed on the part of the Louisiana Gulf Coast that escaped major damage from Katrina. My hometown of Abbeville, LA is under a lot of water, and my mom's house has at least 3 feet of saltwater in it, 5 miles inland from Vermilion Bay. All of my friends and family are safe, if scattered.

Here's what I know of regarding major food entities from Cameron, Vermilion, and Iberia Parishes that are as of tonight underwater. This does not include points north and east that may have suffered wind damage or who will lose stock because of power outages. This does also not include transportation issues because of the economics of travel and transport (gas prices), or preparation (natural gas)

-Lots of shrimp, oysters, and blue crab come from Vermilion Bay and through Vermilion Parish. Lots of seafood processors in the area as well.

-Consider much of Louisiana's sugar cane crop ruined, and the ability to process the cane at least somewhat comprimised.

-Cameron and Vermilion parishes have a lot of cattle/beef/milk producers. It is difficult to even hazard a guess of the number of dead or injured livestock and damaged dairies.

-Other major local crops impacted include rice, yams, peppers, and soybeans.

-I haven't heard anything specific regarding Avery Island, but Tabasco is likely to be at limited to no production for quite a while. Same with the Trappey's, Konriko, and Mahatma/Water Maid brands and products.

-Cajun Power products are an unknown, but the area around their facility south of Abbeville is known to have flooding.

-A large percentage of Louisiana's crawfish farms are underwater right now. It's not going to affect the mudbugs themselves too much, depending on the salinity of the water covering them. But many farmers will lose their stock to wandering. They may simply go somewhere else. There is also flooding and damage at a large plant that processes crawfish bait.

-Also underwater, a major alligator proccessing plant, and a large talapia farm.

-The Steens Syrup plant is on the banks of the Vermilion River and is above the water at the moment, but the river can still rise, and their raw material is sugar cane.

-Lord knows how many smaller farms, specialty companies, restaurants, food manufacturers, processors, and other food related businesses are underwater or destroyed right now.

Louisiana's food industry, already reeling from Katrina, has recieved a major blow from Rita as well. In the space of 4 weeks, the entire coast of Louisiana has been impacted by flooding, high winds, and extended power outages. Major infrastructure damage affects all industries, but especially food due to spoilage issues. The full impact may not be known for a number of years.

edited because I forgot to list some stuff.

Edited September 25, 2005 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[feedmesomethin]

Does anyone know the condition of the following businesses?:Black's,Dupuy's,Shuck's,Richard's and Cajun Claws in Abbeville.

Prejean's in Carencro

Soop's and Mr.Keet's in Maurice

Cafe des Amis,Poche's and the rest of Breaux Bridge

Crawfishtown,USA in Cecelia

How did Lafayette make out?

How bad was damage North of I-10?Were places like Hawk's

D.I.'s and Joe's Dreyfus Store spared?Eunice O.K.?

Does Cocodrie still exist?Grand Chenier?

Sorry for the sweep of this post.

[Jason Perlow]

according to the Cajun Power website, they are fine and still shipping product.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Abbeville info from each parrish ...

more info on more places...

[chezcherie]

what about camellia brand beans? haven't been able to get any in CA since katrina hit. (and i used up my back stock for our fundraiser on friday...but, hey--we raised $2500, so the beans went to a good cause!)

[Gifted Gourmet]

update on Lafayette, La.

Sysco delivered supplies in Lafayette to its customers Sunday morning, a few days behind schedule. The damage from Hurricane Katrina disrupted the supply chain, he said. "Our biggest problem has been getting supplies," Cart said. "We used to order from them out of New Orleans and then after Katrina, had to struggle to get the orders out of Houston and now we don't know where we're going to get supplies."  The restaurants lost power, but by early morning had electricity. He said he lost food, but it was a few days old and would have been thrown out anyway. He opened his coolers to neighboring restaurant, Hub City Diner.  A Sysco representative delivering his supplies Sunday said the business' operations in the New Orleans area will start back up next week.

[joiei]

what about camellia brand beans? haven't been able to get any in CA since katrina hit. (and i used up my back stock for our fundraiser on friday...but, hey--we raised $2500, so the beans went to a good cause!)

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have you tried calling The Cajun Grocer to see if they are open and shipping.

[chezcherie]

have you tried calling The Cajun Grocer to see if they are open and shipping.

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if my local place doesn't get them in a week or so, i will do just that. thanks for the suggestion. (the shipping will cost 'bout as much as the beans, and i currently have a big batch of leftovers in the freezer, so i can hold out that long.)

checked to see if mayhaw man carried them gourmetfoodmall but didn't see them there.

[OnlyTheBest]

What about my favorive place for boudin...The Best Stop.

Does anyone know anything about it??

[My Confusing Horoscope]

news from Iberia parish

"The parish saw its rural areas south of La. 14 from Delcambre southbound and U.S. Route 90 including Lydia, Rynella and Avery Island.

About 40 McIlhenny Company employees received water damage to their homes on Avery Island, said Harold Osborn, vice president of agriculture for McIlhenny Co. The Tabasco sauce making family owns the island.

"We had a fair bit of wind damage, but the water came up pretty high," Osborn said. "We had white caps in the pepper fields. (Rita) probably destroyed about half the crop."

He said the water spared the pepper sauce factory by about three inches.

"We hope as soon as we get electricity we can start bottling," he said.

Osborn said about 150 people live on the island, including factory workers and McIlhenny family members.

The island's gatekeeper, Kenward Louviere lost his home that sits at the entrance of the island.

"I had about 4 1/2 feet of water in the house," he said. "I lost everything."

Osborn said that there have already been discussions with FEMA for temporary housing for those who sustained damage. "

Sills, Marsha. (September 28, 2005). "Disaster Zone: Residents Begin Cleaning Up the Muck Brought by Storm."

article here

Edited September 28, 2005 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

[FistFullaRoux]

-Cameron and Vermilion parishes have a lot of cattle/beef/milk producers. It is difficult to even hazard a guess of the number of dead or injured livestock and damaged dairies.

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Edited to add - an estimated 5000 head of cattle dead throught the Erath/Henry area. Lots of dairy and beef farms are going to suffer badly.