Mile 90.9 - LBD Domino Sugar Factory (American Sugar Refinery)
90.9 LBD Domino Sugar Factory (American Sugar Refinery)
One of the oldest sugar refineries in the country, the Domino Sugar refinery began operating on May 17, 1909. Today the refinery is said to be the largest in the Western Hemisphere and produces 2 billion pounds of sugar annually, or about 7 million pounds a day. After Hurricane Katrina, the refinery was a central staging point in the rescue effort of St. Bernard Parish. Residents were brought by boat to the safety of the tall, sturdy building. They were then ferried to the Algiers Street Ferry Landing, before being bussed to shelters around the country. St. Bernard Parish, and Plaquemines Parish to the south, were some of the worst-flooded areas during Katrina. They are the Greater New Orleans parishes that suffer the most immediate effects of the wetlands degradation - with exaggerated tidal influences, economic downturn, and higher flood-insurance costs. (Wolf E. Staudinger)