Random Photo TR through Katrina recovery

[calcajun]

Decided to take a short trip in New Orleans to see how things comming along and maybe take a few pics.

All photos taken today 11-10-2005.

Keep in mind that what you see is uninhabitable and is like this for miles and miles and miles.

 

There are strange smells all over but there is one unmistakeable smell you get no matter where you go. It is the smell of rotting food and meat in the fridge/freezer. It is a sweet funky smell, and when i say sweet, yes it is sweet but in a bad way! I just can't describe it. I thought i got use to it but if you get a strong wiff close up it makes you gag.

I have a friend who is a funeral director and he says the worst cases are pretty close to dead body smell as you can get. As i sit here and work with this report i can actually smell it off my cloths now and then. It just sticks with you.

 

Last week i ran an errand downtown and the sun had set just before i headed back home and most of the city has NO electricity yet. It is just miles and miles and miles of pitch black. no movement, sounds or human activity.

 

You can see it on tv or in pictures but you just don't feel how strange, eerie and how big the whole mess really is.

 

Here sum dem dare pictures i took.

Pretty common in my hood with huge pine trees falling on homes and doing roof damage. This place is just down on the next block from me. The trees have been cleared away but the house is condemmed and will be demolished.

Another shot of house that got 5 trees. Imagine you are the owner and you are driving in and you see a tree on a roof now and then. At this point you start relaxing thinking things not so bad and you turn the corner to see your house like this. Ohh how ho

Now in my hood , it wasn't so much wind and flood, it was trees falling on your house that did the damage then rain pouring in. This house is just down the block from me and got 5 trees on it! The house is totally destroyed along with a car they left park

Sometimes you see a small path of complete destruction. In the case of this photo, you see the electric pole and corner of building badly damaged but all around other damage not so bad. Most likely a tornado touched down here

Destruction everywhere you go.

Just miles and miles of devestation due to flooding. You can see landscaping, shrubs and trees dead. Car on front lawn. It just does not convey through pictures. It's all kinda a light grey and it is quiet for as far as you can see.

In New Orleans it is customary to pull your car on the higher neutral ground because of common street flooding. Did not do much good here.

A hood in the process of being cleaned up. you can see truck and workers in the distance. keep in mind that a lot of cleanup has already been done. after the storm these roads were un passable with tree,treeparts and debris

More destruction not yet cleaned up. The cars most likely floated here from somewhere else

Untill someone gets around to cleaning it, this was basically everywhere. Mud and dirt left behind after water drained

A huge part of New Orleans is still without power. All intersections that have traffic lights now have stop signs. You can also see the rediculas amount of signs on the neutral ground . These are advertisements for house gutting,carpet cleaning,mold remov

Dead grass,shrubs and trees

After search and rescue checked homes they then marked them in this way. This home had no dead humans or pets inside. You can clearly see the water lines here. the fact that most grass trees and lanscaping are dead also gives the feeling tha a bomb was dr

As you can see there is nothing but a big mess after flooding like New Orleans experienced. Looks as if no one has touched this place yet.

You can see some of the plywood still on windows. Common thing we all do to help protect against hurricanes. Not much help here though.

destruction

This boat tours no more

Road is blocked by boats pushed out of the marina

Mess at the marina

A mess near the marina.

A random boat where it should not be.

A damaged house. you can see how deep the water was by the line across the front.

Before anyone could get back in the city trees blocking roadways had to be removed and are still being cleared. I saw that they were shredding a lot of this. One of the few times something smelled good round here. This pile is most likely 5 stories tall.

Then the big mess from gutting houses is moved to another temporary place. these piles right now are 3 to 5 stories high

When you get 5 to 18 feet of water in your house there is not much to save really. You throw most everything out and strip walls and maybe ceiling down to the studs and rebuild from there. Then as you can see, this creates another big mess to deal with la

[Louise]

I can't even imagine what everyone there has been through (and is still going through).

 

You said trees falling was the most common cause of damage in your neighbourhood, were you one of the lucky ones who escaped much damage?

[calcajun]

For whatever reason, everyone on my block on our side recieved minimal damage. Some roof shingles missing, fences down and maybe some siding messed up.

Of course everyone lost thier fridge.

When the power goes out for few days and food spoils, the smell gets in the insulation in the fridge walls and there is just no saving it.

I TRIED! You just can't. I bought a new fridge last week

[PhishyBrewer]

It's hard to believe that Katrina actually happened. It looks like something off a movie set.

 

Well, at least your well. Take Care!

[Token Yankee Guy]

Wow, the news segments on TV didn't do justice to your pictures of the aftermath. Did your house get flooded? or were you alright?

[trustkill22]

Wow! Thats incredible. I live in Hamilton, Canada and yesterday a tornado touched down and we haven't ever really had one so we thought that it was so bad but me and my mom were saying that how much damage the tornado did at our hometown couldn't you imagine Hurricane Katrina. Great Pictures. Good Luck with your new Fridge

[stingrock23]

I haven't been around New Orleans much since the storm, only downtown and the Quarter. My house got 5 inches of water and I'm still not back in it. 5 inches was all it took to have to remove 4 feet of sheetrock in the house. It should be ready by the end of this month, and I"m just dying to get back.

 

And it's so strange that since Katrina, and excluding Hurricane Rita, we've only had rain once. We actually need some rain to help clean up all the dirt and dried mud. It's gonna be a loong while before things get back to a semi-normal state.

[Hattuchili]

Oh, that looks so sad and bad! I have never seen something like that before! I hope everything get back to normality in the next years!

 

--Sören

[Chrissie]

Wow, Those pics really sum up what happened there,

 

Im glad u guys are ok!

[Gregory DG]

Man, that sucks...

[dandaman]

Didn't realize it was still that bad down there!

[SharkTums]

Wow, thanks for sharing those pictures.

[Mind Eraser]

The part that really hit me was the water lines on the houses.

 

What happened to all the cats?? I only saw refugees carrying dogs! I guess all the cats in New Orleans died. I love cats...

[Chris Benvenuto]

This really stinks for you man, hope you recover quickly and as soon as possible, every time Supplies from northern states comes in, think of me okay?

 

Chris

[calcajun]

The city is broke. All non esential city workers were laid off long time ago.

The city may come back but it sure won't be the same. At least not for many years to come.

 

Many residence left thier pets behind. Not very smart. If you can't survive why would you think an animal can?

Don't worry, it was not just cats, I am sure an equal amount of dogs,cats and rodents died! :shock:

 

Now there is ongoing controversy that the levees were not built to spec.

 

Still a huge mess and will be long hard road to recovery.

[Mind Eraser]

Didn't the government destroy the levees... ya know, to kill all the black people?

[calcajun]

^:o

 

I would not touch that myself but am laffin my a$$ off that you did.