Through the Eye of Katrina •  Journal of American History •  special issue, december 2007

St. Bernard Parish

St. Bernard Parish covers nearly 680 square miles of land and water stretching from New Orleans to the eastern Louisiana coast. Spanish colonists from the Canary Islands settled the area shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Proximity to the Mississippi River made the land nutrient-rich and excellent for agriculture despite frequent flooding. The area was originally named New Galvez after the Spanish military leader Bernado de Gález, and residents referred to the area as St. Bernardo. But by the 1780s local maps labeled the region St. Bernard. In 1807 the area became a parish of New Orleans.

Two of the most important events in the history of the parish were the battle of New Orleans and the flood of 1927. Many streets in St. Bernard parish are named after U.S. naval officers to commemorate the 1815 victory. The flood of 1927 had a dramatic impact on the demographics of the parish. Before the flood, most of the residents were poor immigrants and blacks. As the floodwaters neared New Orleans, city official dynamited the Caemavon Levee, flooding the parish and displacing area residents. Few blacks returned to the area, and in the 1940s the parish experience a population resurgence as whites left the city for the suburbs.

In August 2005, St. Bernard parish was a largely white, middle-class suburb of New Orleans that consisted of both residential and commercial areas. After Hurricane Katrina made landfall almost everything was washed away. As the eye of Katrina blew over the area, a 25-foot storm surge swept into the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, overwhelming the levees and inundating the parish.