After Hurricane Katrina, flood-damaged cars inLouisiana's hardest-hit parishes were left sitting in watercontaminated with e coli and fuel for up to four weeks beforeinsurance companies could get in and start pulling them out.Environmental officials advised that these cars could bedecontaminated by washing with soap and water or a combination ofwater and bleach. Once decontaminated, these vehicles could be sold toconsumers anywhere in the country.

The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies, the third largestauto insurance group in Louisiana and in the U.S., made anunprecedented decision to scrap the more than 5,000 vehicles itinsured that were declared total losses as a result of flood waters inSt. Bernard parish and parts of Orleans parish.

"The reasons are simple," said Juan Andrade, claims generalmanager for the region. "We don't want our people working around thosecars and we don't want them back on the road."

The cars are destroyed using a three-step process at the BayouSteel Corporation's Mississippi River Recycling plant. First, they'recrushed flat. Then, they're fed through a shredding machine. Finally,the parts are separated and the recyclable metals are melted intore-usable product.

This is cache, read story here