DELCAMBRE — Businesses and their owners here are still suffering from two “once-in-a-lifetime” hurricanes and the effect those hurricanes had on a lifetime of work.

Lil’ Sandwich Shoppe owner Stephany Viator didn’t want to reopen after Hurricane Rita in September 2005 but did so because her daughter and town residents kept asking her to, she said.

Viator gutted the shop, installed insulation and replaced lost equipment. The $11,000 she received in state assistance was helpful, she said, but the fact they didn’t have flood insurance was not. She said the store had never flooded before.

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She didn’t raise the store after Rita because it had been added onto so many times and was composed of many different parts. She also didn’t want to go into debt.

Then came Hurricane Ike Sept. 13, which “sealed the deal,” she said.

“I just couldn’t afford to keep sinking money into it, so we decided to shut it down,” Viator said. “We did good. For 25 years, we did well.”

The family still has a daiquiri trailer and managed to save the ice cream and sno-cone machines. They’re planning on putting those into the daquiri trailer and selling sno-cones.

“If we have to leave again, we can pull that with us,” Viator said. “Emotionally, (closing) is a mess. Financially, it’s something we had to do.”

Vickie Dooley and her sister Linda Dore are in a similar position to Viator, though they’re still keeping things going. Dooley and Dore run a hardware shop their father started around 1975 — Arthur’s Hardware, Plumbing, Electrical and Marine Supplies.

Like Viator, they were “considered the high spot in the neighborhood” and didn’t have insurance at the store before Rita.

But during Rita they took on 3 feet of water. During Hurricane Ike they took on 2 feet.

“We lost a lot of inventory (during Rita) and we have just never recouped from that, and then we got hit again,” said Dooley. “This time we lifted everything, so at least after this storm we had inventory to sell.”

Dooley said after Rita, the sisters told each other if the store flooded again, they’d be forced to close down. They were “barely making it” before the storms.

“We’re just trying to keep things going. It’s really day-by-day,” she said.

Population loss in Delcambre also means fewer people coming into the store.

Dooley estimates Delcambre lost 25 percent of its population after Rita. Local officials say in the 2010 census, Delcambre’s status as a town may be downgraded to “village.”

Fewer customers leads to a limited numbers of items in the store. The sisters have to put their money in items they know they can turn over.

As far as businesses in general, Delcambre Mayor Carol Broussard said the town’s lack of a grocery store is “hurting us big-time.”

“As these floods keep coming in, it’s not a helpful thing not to be able to get groceries,” Broussard said.

Ricky Luquette, vice president and general manager of Champagne’s supermarket, formerly located both in Erath and in Delcambre, said it took the company a year of fighting with its insurance company before being able to rebuild in Erath with the help of the Bank of Abbeville. By the time the money was in hand to repair in Delcambre, the building had deteriorated to the point at which the building needs to be torn down, he said.

Luquette purchased the building where the old drug store was, to be close to the Texaco convenience store the company owns.

Then that property flooded during Ike. The company still plans to return to Delcambre, however, and put in a bid for the American Legion building.

“We’re committed to Delcambre and want to stay in Delcambre,” Luquette said.

Other positive things are happening. The Delcambre Steering committee envisions a flourishing waterfront area around the canal, including an outdoor seafood market. Some new businesses are moving into the area.

Hopefully, changes will happen soon enough for existing businesses and current residents.

“If we can’t get some type of board walk, tourists or something else to bring the people to spend money in our town, and if people keep moving out, how can we survive?” Dooley said.

“It would break my heart to close this store. It was my daddy’s dream. It’s a very discouraging situation.”