Caskets that floated away during Hurricane Ida have been returned to a historic Black community in Plaquemines Parish. Ironton, a tight-knit unincorporated community about 30 miles south of New Orleans has no levee protection, so when Ida blew in, the local cemetery’s caskets floated out.
“We didn’t have flood protection so the storm surge came in and just decimated and desecrated the cemetery,” said St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Haywood Johnson.
Johnson told WWL the caskets have been recovered, but they can’t be put into place just yet.
“The marsh mud is knee-deep in the cemetery so we have to get that out, we have to get the marsh mud out of there before we can do that,” said Johnson.
Johnson said a levee is being built that will provide protection for the community from storm surge, but it’s about two to three years away. He said the community has been inundated three times before, but until Ida the caskets had never been dislodged.