Helping to rebuild after the hurricane

Nov 6 2007 by Tom Wallings, The Journal

A WOMAN from the North is helping to tackle devastation left by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Emily Tyrie, 31, who comes from Belsay in Northumberland, moved to Los Angeles with her husband Max, 31, two years ago.

Max, a Hollywood animator who worked on Spiderman 3, had some time free after finishing his last project and the couple volunteered to take part in the St Bernard Project (SBP), which has been raising funds to rebuild and renovate homes destroyed or damaged in the hurricane for the last year.

The project has already helped more than 70 families get back to their home, but since arriving a week ago, the Tyries have still been appalled by the scale of the destruction.

Emily said: “There were whole neighbourhoods chained off, boarded up and completely unlit.

“Streets marked on the map seemed almost to have vanished, eaten up by undergrowth and neglect.

“Only around a quarter of the houses in the particular district we are rebuilding are inhabited. It really is a shocking sight.”

Every one of the 27,000 houses in the parish was rendered uninhabitable by the 2005 flooding, some with 12ft of water inside.

The couple are helping to rebuild the home of John and Nadine Stogner, who are living with their two children – Jack, nine, and John, 17 – in a caravan in what was their garden.

Emily, who is a florist in Los Angeles, and Max, who was chief animator on the TV series Walking with Dinosaurs, have put their careers on hold as a way of thanking their adopted countrymen for the welcome they have received since moving to the US. Emily said: “Max and I were warmly welcomed to America, and we wanted to give something back.

“We chose the SBP because all money raised goes directly to rebuilding the homes and community of St Bernard Parish. There’s no red tape.”

St Bernard was a predominantly white, lower-middle class area of New Orleans, with low unemployment.

But in the years before Katrina, the insurance companies had changed regulations in the area, leaving 75% of homeowners without cover when the hurricane broke.

Many parishioners are American forces veterans who felt betrayed when their saviours were the Royal Mounted Canadian Police.

The Tyries have been helping to renovate a gutted house, starting with rebuilding and plastering interior walls, but the St Bernard Project as a whole still has much to do.

Only one third of the community has been able to return, and the vast majority of people in the area are living in caravans.

Mr Stogner said: “It must seem strange to outsiders that people want to return to this Godforsaken area.

“Generations of families lived in this close-knit community, so people lost not only their homes, but families, community and church.”

With little sign of government aid on its way, New Orleans is relying on the generosity of others.

“I may be a Northern English girl,” said Emily, “but I believe we have a responsibility to help people, wherever they are from. It may be that people feel there are more deserving causes closer to home, but believe me that all donations to St Bernard go to helping needy people rebuild their lives.”

Donations can be made at www.firstgiving.com/tyrieandstbernardproject