Despite the rosy media reports of light damage from Hurricane Gustav, several of southern Lousiana’s coastal Indigenous communities are reeling from a direct hit by Hurricane Gustav’s 115mph winds and large storm surge. Their communities lie in shambles.

The communities of lower Pointe-au-Chien, home of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT), and the Isle de Jean Charles (“The Island”) Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Confederation of Muskogees (BCCM) are still trying to assess the severe damage and what it will take to rebuild after Gustav’s devastating winds and storm-surge flooded homes, knocked buildings off their foundations, and decimated the primary source of income in the early season commercial shrimp harvest. The Island is still inaccessible due to prevailing flood waters. ( the most recent update from community leaders follows this action alert)

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