• Nov.12. 2010


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ISLE de JEAN CHARLES — About four times a week, Maryline Naquin drives on hurricane-damaged Island Road to get groceries, visit doctors and go to church.For more than two years, the 65-year-old and other residents of Isle de Jean Charles have navigated the crumbling road while waiting for the federal and local government to decide how to best repair it.

“I’m beginning to get fed up, but I’m still holding on to hope,” Naquin said.Damaged by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the two-lane road, which sometimes acts as a levee against the Gulf of Mexico’s tides, has mostly dwindled to one lane. With water on both sides, it’s the sole land route for 20-25 families living on the island to get to and from their homes. The residents, mostly American Indians, have slowly migrated from the island as hurricanes have pummeled houses and coastal erosion has eaten away their land.