Back home in Lake Catherine

A recent article in the Times Pic tells the story of a family who've rebuilt in Lake Catherine.

Excerpts

Although plenty of folks might scratch their heads about the decision to rebuild on the waterfront, it wasn't a hard one for Bourg, a born and bred local who attended Jesuit High School. After buying a camp on Lake Catherine in 2002, he became enchanted with the area and became an ardent convert to fishing.

"When my parents bought the camp," said Becky Bourg, the couple's grown daughter, "at first it was meant for weekends and getaways. It wasn't their primary residence at first; that was in Mid-City. But by the time the storm came, they were spending almost all their time out here. It had become their permanent home."

The Bourgs' camp was one of about 500 that lined the shores in the Lake Catherine community before Hurricane Katrina.

"After the storm, when I could get back in to check it out, there were no more than 20 buildings still standing, and only 16 or so of those were sound," Bob Bourg said. "Our house was gone. All that was left was the foundation."


The Bourg's house is the one on the right

The house is manufactured Deltec, an Asheville, N.C., business,which designs hurricane-resistant circular (technically, polygonal) homes and produces kits for assembly. The company trains contractors in various locales to ensure that kits are assembled according to company standards. Locals who follow "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" were introduced to the company when Ty Pennington and crew landed in town last spring and replaced the storm- and tornado-damaged home of a Westwego first responder and his extended family using a Deltec product.