Losing Louisiana
Coastal erosion is washing away a football field of land every hour. Meet one community facing the reality of losing their past and their future.
Ten years ago Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, leaving over 1800 people dead and causing billions of dollars of damage. It was dramatic and destructive - but Katrina has been described as 'like a cold suffered by a cancer patient'. The cancer is the erosion of the coastal wetlands of Southern Louisiana, a slow motion environmental disaster that has continued almost unabated since Katrina. Caused by the taming of the Mississippi and oil and gas exploration, a football field of coastal land washes away every hour, and with it the homes, places and livelihoods that have sustained the storied Cajun culture. James Fletcher travels to Bayou Lafourche and the town of Leeville to get to know one community facing the reality of losing their past and their future.
Produced and presented by James Fletcher
(Photo: A shrimp boat on Bayou Lafourche, southern Louisiana)
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Clips
-
See one of the world's fastest disappearing coastlines
Duration: 01:53
-
Louisiana's Cajun culture under threat
Duration: 01:28
Broadcasts
- Thu 27 Aug 2015 02:32GMT大象传媒 World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview & Americas and the Caribbean only
- Thu 27 Aug 2015 03:32GMT大象传媒 World Service South Asia & East Asia only
- Thu 27 Aug 2015 04:32GMT大象传媒 World Service Europe and the Middle East
- Thu 27 Aug 2015 05:32GMT大象传媒 World Service Australasia
- Thu 27 Aug 2015 06:32GMT大象传媒 World Service East and Southern Africa
- Thu 27 Aug 2015 16:32GMT大象传媒 World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Thu 27 Aug 2015 18:32GMT大象传媒 World Service West and Central Africa & East and Southern Africa only
- Thu 27 Aug 2015 21:32GMT大象传媒 World Service
- Sun 30 Aug 2015 09:06GMT大象传媒 World Service
- Mon 31 Aug 2015 01:06GMT大象传媒 World Service Australasia
- Mon 31 Aug 2015 06:06GMT大象传媒 World Service East Asia
Download this programme
Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes