Lost Coffins Remain Part of Katrina's Legacy

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 30, 2008 11:32 AM CDT

Louisiana is still finding coffins displaced by Hurricane Katrina three years on, the Wall Street Journal reports. Katrina and Rita moved 1,500 bodies from their resting places in the state's swampy south, where floating coffins during floods have long been part of local folklore. Hundreds remain unidentified, and they are still turning up in woods and water.

In one hard-hit parish, Katrina obliterated most of the cemeteries, moving some coffins across the Mississippi River. Couples buried together have been separated, and families fear their loved ones' remains have been lost forever. And as Hurricane Gustav moved closer yesterday, the third anniversary of Katrina, more than 80 of the storm's unclaimed New Orleans victims were laid to rest.
(More coffin stories.)

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