Dr. John Doucet discussed how hurricanes have shaped settlement patterns across South Louisiana. The great 1893 hurricane at Cheniere Caminanda, which killed more than 2,000 people and caused mass devastation, remains the deadliest storm in Louisiana’s history.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Born and raised in the coastal marshes of Bayou Lafourche, Dr. John P. Doucet is a genetics researcher and professor at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, where he serves as Dean of the College of Sciences and Technology and McIlhenny Professor of Human and Environmental Genetics. In addition to science and technical writings, he is the author of 13 Cajun culture plays, two books of poetry, and a monthly column on coastal culture and science for *Point of Vue* magazine (Houma, Louisiana). His article, “A River Ran Through It,” appearing in *Louisiana Folklore Miscellany* Vol. 29 (2019), is a personal history of his hometown, the wetlands village of Golden Meadow, Louisiana. His award-winning play, “Tant que Duera la Terre,” is a dramatization of life on the Louisiana Coast during the Great Cheniere Hurricane of 1893.