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Toppled cemeteries add to Katrina woes

By Gary Tuchman
CNN

Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news. CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman describes his visit to Plaquemines, the devastated Louisiana parish southeast of New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

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CNN's Gary Tuchman stands among the rubble in Plaqemines Parish, as he surveys the aftermanth of Katrina.

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Hurricane Katrina

BURAS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Everyone knew that Plaquemines Parish would be vulnerable if a powerful hurricane scored a direct hit. When Katrina made landfall in the Plaquemines town of Buras in August, all communication was cut off. It wasn't clear how bad the devastation was.

We made our way to the parish in the days after Katrina struck. Most of the 67-mile-long parish was flooded.

It was clear the devastation was immense, but it wasn't easy to see because of all the water. (Watch community react to the devastation -- 2:13)

Now, the floodwaters are virtually gone, revealing extreme damage.

Once there were a few thousand homes in the southern portion of the parish, but now no more than 10 of those homes are even salvageable, according to Benny Rousselle, the parish's president.

It is hard to disagree with him after touring little towns with such names as Triumph, Port Sulphur and Homeplace.

We didn't see any homes that seemed livable in the near future.

Something else has happened in Plaquemines that is troubling. And that has to do with some of the parish's cemeteries.

Even though above-ground tombs are used because of the low elevation of the area, many of the caskets floated away.

As we walked through a cemetery in the town of Nairn, the walls of tombs had broken open, and many of the caskets were either gone or toppled over near the tombs.

We watched respectfully as relatives of those buried in the cemetery came by to see what happened to the remains of their loved ones. One woman kissed her mother's tomb, which was still intact. But then she walked to the grave site of her uncle, and to her horror, his casket was gone.

It seemed remarkably cruel that a woman who had lost her home had also lost the body of a loved one.

Rousselle, the parish president, says the entire parish is open to residents who want to see their homes, and he is strongly encouraging them to rebuild.

But it is inevitable that many families, a large number of whom have lived here for generations, will not be coming back.

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