Hurricane Rita Hits Southwestern Louisiana (Photos)

Hay is exposed to the elements at a barn damaged by Hurricane Rita in Beauregard Parish. Many Louisiana sugarcane farmers already were having difficulty because of a poor crop before Hurricane Rita. Now some of them face flooded cane fields like this one east of Abbeville. Cattle are herded on the banks of Schooner Bayou, where a shrimp boat came to rest and a work boat is passing by.

Cattle seek higher ground in a pasture in Vermilion Parish. Cattle owners are working throughout the southern part of the parish to round up animals that were scattered for miles by high water. An aerial count found at least 100 dead cattle a few days after the storm. Traffic makes its way along La. 82 at Esther in Vermilion Parish, where Hurricane Rita's tidal surge pushed an estimated 8 feet of water several miles inland. Mark Detraz examines a trap containing dead crawfish at his home near Perry. He suspects they died from saltwater pushed inland by Hurricane Rita's tidal surge.