We're all a bit strung out from the shock of what we've witnessed and the hours we've worked since we arrived in Louisiana. Kenny Bruno departed Sunday. Christian, Mike and Mark spent Monday in the devastated portion of Plaquemines Parish.

Read more about our investigation and watch a video of our time in the field.



Listen to the latest audio update.


A parish in Louisiana is the municipal equivalent of a county in any other U.S. state. Plaquemines Parish is in the extreme southeast of Louisiana, comprising two narrow strips of land on either side of the Mississippi River as it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The people and the parish government are long acquainted with hurricanes, but nothing could have prepared them for Katrina.

The lower 40 miles of the parish is - for all intents and purposes - gone. A 30-foot storm surge leveled most houses and filled the rest with oily, toxic scum. Power lines are down, schools and stores are destroyed and the vessels of the parish's fishing fleet are sunk, smashed or scattered.

The demise of the fishing fleet may be a moot point, because Plaquemines Parish is a transfer point for crude oil pumped in pipelines from the gulf. Katrina ruptured oil tanks and pipelines, spilling millions of gallons of crude oil, which mixed with gasoline from cars and gas stations. The resulting stew is seeping into the marshes and oyster beds. Fishermen we spoke with expect they will be closed for years.

The water table in lower Plaquemines is very near the surface; houses there draw treated water from central facilities and still most people drink only bottled water. This was prior to Katrina, water quality will sink lower now.

Monday we witnessed a "cleanup" of an oil spill at a Shell Oil facility in Nairn. Workers launched 20-foot, flat-bottomed boats equipped with pitchforks, dip nets and bales of what are essentially big towels, which they drop onto the oil spill. The towels absorb oil, are pulled back into the boats and driven away in trucks. The only protective gear provided the workers were latex gloves and hard hats.

None of the residents we spoke with said they have heard any word about the oil spills or possible toxic threat. Parish officials and police - who have been stretched to the utmost - also express frustration with the lack of cooperation from the oil companies, although they would not express such frustration for the record.

Cows and horses roam the polluted marshes, looking sick and dehydrated for lack of clean water. Dogs and cats are approaching a feral state after three weeks among the ruins. Animal rescue teams from are the country are on site.

Trees and grass are brown, killed by the surge of oil-tainted seawater. Fishing nets and bed linen hang from trees. Trucks, cars and boats are lie everywhere, personal possessions lie everywhere. Only the road, cleared by emergency crews, seems normal.

In the two days we've been in lower Plaquemines Parish, we've seen one reporter and four photographers. The world needs to hear what is happening there.