"Houma is just sitting there naked," said Roy Dokka, a geologist with LSU who's conducted a recent survey of levee heights in southeastern Louisiana. "People do not realize how bad it could be."
If Gustav makes landfall as feared near here, an area about 100 miles in width — extending from vulnerable portions of New Orleans west of the Mississippi River across a large swath of swampy land centered around the oil-and-gas town of Houma — could be flooded.
"What Katrina didn't destroy in '05, it looks like Gustav could destroy in '08," said Ivor van Heerden, a hurricane expert with Louisiana State University.
"There could be 3 feet of water or more in downtown Houma," said Al Levron, a spokesman for Terrebonne Parish, of which Houma is the government seat.
It's a worst case scenario for the folks here who have largely been spared a direct hit from a hurricane for at least 44 years when Hurricane Hilda struck in 1964.
And back in 1964 there was plenty of marsh and swamp cushioning Houma.
"We have no buffers anymore," Dupre said.
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