12:16 PM CDT on Friday, September 16, 2005

Associated Press

Thousands of St. Bernard Parish residents who journeyed to the state Capitol, desperate for information about their homes, received only grim news Monday: Every part of the parish was flooded by Hurricane Katrina. Some homes were coated with oil from a nearby refinery. And one official estimated no one would live in the parish until at least summertime.

"When you go back to St. Bernard, the only memories you're going to have is what you left with," Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez told a crowd in the House chamber that lined the walls, filled up the balcony and spilled down the stairs of the building.

State police estimated the crowd reached as many as 5,000 people, who filled hallways of the Capitol, hoping to gather scraps of information about a parish whose devastation was overshadowed by the flooding of New Orleans and the chaos that followed there.

"It's sort of like the stepchild and the forgotten parish," said Frances Smith, a resident of Meraux, awaiting a briefing from parish officials.

Rodriguez was upfront about the status of the parish. To Shell Beach residents, he told them a few buildings weathered the storm but may not be repairable. To Hopedale residents, he said not one structure was standing.

"When you go back, you won't recognize it," he told all residents.

For homes that may have been repairable after the waters receded, an oil spill at Murphy Oil in Meraux may have made them uninhabitable, officials warned.

Amid the questions and the descriptions of devastation, a bitterness tinged with pride was obvious among both the residents and parish officials, who said they were left to rescue their own as the floodwaters swallowed homes and businesses. State Sen. Walter Boasso, whose business and home were submerged in the flooding, noted Canadian help arrived before the U.S. Army did.

"Did we get neglected? Absolutely we got neglected," he said. "But did the local people take up the slack? You're damn right we did. We didn't wait for anybody to show up."

"Good thing," a resident shouted back.

Bodies of the dead still were being collected Monday. Sheriff Jack Stephens said the parish death toll stood at 56 but officials knew of at least 10 more locations where they needed to recover bodies. He said the highest risk areas, where water covered the roofs of houses, hadn't been searched yet.

Boasso said 30,000 homes were completely lost and he's heard estimates that it would take at least four months to clean up the parish that is home to 68,000 residents.

"I'm told we're going to be able to go back in an organized fashion to our homes and try and recover what we want," said Boasso, choking up.

He said the water should be drained by Tuesday, but officials said environmental testing to determine whether the soil or air was contaminated must be completed before residents would be allowed back into the parish to collect what belongings they could. And Rodriguez said when people are allowed to briefly return, they should bring rubber gloves, boots and masks.

No one should expect to live in the parish again until next summer, according to Craig Taffaro, a parish councilman.

Despite estimates of a long recovery, officials said they hoped the community would rebuild and that residents would return.

"You give us such hope. Please, please stay with us. We will come back again," said Judy Darby Hoffmeister, a member of the parish council.