Hurricane Rita

Rita's worst work in Cameron Parish was done to the dead. The hurricane came ashore on September 24, 2005, and about 340 bodies were washed out of their graves and scattered across the marsh. The parish police jury and three funeral homes worked for a year to recover and identify them. A memorial on October 21, 2006 marked nearly 300 identified and reburied, with 43 still missing. Students sealed writing and drawings about the storm in a time capsule meant for 2056. Laura floated caskets in the parish again in 2020.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cameron Parish Courthouse — steps away
  The 1937 concrete courthouse that sheltered hundreds of people in Hurricane Audrey in 1957 and stood after Rita in 2005.
• Sabine National Wildlife Refuge — 9.2 mi
  Louisiana's largest coastal marsh refuge, with a 1.5-mile Wetland Walkway of concrete and boardwalk where alligators sun beside the trail.
• Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge — 19 mi
  A refuge of freshwater marsh, coastal prairie and old rice fields, with a visitor center, a boardwalk and the one-way Pintail Wildlife Drive.
• Stark Museum of Art — 32 mi
  A white-marble museum in Orange built by the Stark Foundation and opened in 1978, holding Western art, American Indian art, Audubon's Birds of America and Steuben glass, free to enter.

More markers nearby

• Battle of Calcasieu Pass — steps away
• Gerstner Field — 27 mi
• Lutcher & Moore Lumber Company — 31 mi
• Samuel H. Levingston — 31 mi