SHELL BEACH, La. – The 13th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall along the Gulf Coast is coming up August 29th.
It is one of the worst hurricanes on record in American history. Shell Beach was one of the very first towns destroyed by Katrina. Twist reporter Adam Bowles visited the fishing community and found out what life is like 13 years after the storm.
“The water started rising in the attic ma’am, and I’m gonna drown in the attic, I’m 37 years old.”
This was an actual 911 call made from Shell Beach during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Today, it looks like a totally different place. Life is here and new stories are being told.
But if you come here, the tragedy of that day still lingers in the air. You will see scars that never healed. There are cypress trees with bark still ripped from them from the storm.
Robert Campo has lived here since he was born, taking care of a fishing marina that has been in his family for more than 100 years. In August 2005, with 175 mile per hour winds, Hurricane Katrina destroyed it.
“It just looks like a bomb went off in this whole place,” Robert says.
Everything was gone except his passion, which made him rebuild.
“Everybody wanted to come back fishing. You’re never gonna stop fishing. That’s why people come here is because the fishing is so good,” Robert says.
Fishing and living life on the water: this is why he lives and breathes. He passed this passion down to his son Zack.
“This is what I’m gonna die doing, this is what I grew up doing. It runs in my blood. Salt water runs through my veins,” Zack Campo says.
Robert Campo says Shell Beach is one of the top places in the world to catch speckled trout and blue crab.
“It don’t get no better than Shell Beach. I don’t care how hard you try. You can go anywhere you want. This is it man. This place here man, this is home,” Robert says.
