New Orleans firsthand

[MapleLeaf]

As I mentioned, I was just in NOLA doing some volunteer work. If you are interested in seeing some of the pictures from the trip to get a sense of what the houses still look like after 18 months, click

here
here
here
here
here
here

These were taken between January 2 and January 5th, 2007. Sad, and enraging, if you ask me.

(URLs are fixed now)

[Ana Ng]

Only visible to Facebook members. Can you put it in a subfolder of the contest, maybe?

ETA: I'd like to see, is why. I saw the exhibit at the Met last month and it was very sad and stunning.

[MapleLeaf]

I just realized that, Ana. I'm moving them to my photobucket account.

ETA: Something's wrong with two of the pictures. The one that is really cut off badly was a house that we gutted. It's all pieces of drywall. I'm not sure why photobucket did that, though.

[Johnny Slick]

One of this year's Dirty Jobs episodes dealt with a team of guys who were clearing out houses so they could be renovated. As nasty as that water looked 15 months ago, I can only imagine what it would be like to deal with after sitting around for all that time...

[Ana Ng]

Thanks, MapleLeaf. Will definitely look when they're up.

[MapleLeaf]

Well. They're up.

[Horse Chestnut]

Originally Posted by Johnny Slick

One of this year's Dirty Jobs episodes dealt with a team of guys who were clearing out houses so they could be renovated. As nasty as that water looked 15 months ago, I can only imagine what it would be like to deal with after sitting around for all that time...

That's what I was thinking. As bad as the houses look, I can't imagine what the smell in that city must be like.

I never thought I'd live to see the day that a major American city would be left abandoned.

[Algae]

Oh, MapleLeaf. Those pictures are heartbreaking.

What did you do in NOLA?

[Pixiechic]

Wow. Those were hard pictures to look at. I'm glad you were able to go down there and volunteer. What it must have been like to be there.

Pixiechic

[Astra]

Originally Posted by Horse Chestnut

That's what I was thinking. As bad as the houses look, I can't imagine what the smell in that city must be like.

Think of wet cardboard.

Amplify by 1000.

[MapleLeaf]

Originally Posted by Algae

Oh, MapleLeaf. Those pictures are heartbreaking.

What did you do in NOLA?

We spent a day cleaning out a gutted house, two days putting up siding on another house, and a fourth day gutting a house.

Originally Posted by Astra

Think of wet cardboard.

Amplify by 1000.

Sounds about right. I don't even know how to describe it. We had to wear gas masks in some of the houses to protect us from the mold.

It's just awful that 18 months after the fact, most of the houses still haven't been touched.

[Griffin2020]

It is sad and tragic that the entire Gulf Coast is still in shambles, and will be for a long time to come. Many people have picked up the pieces of their lives and moved forward, but many more people are sitting around with their hands out saying "gimmee, gimmee, gimmee".

What is more sad and tragic to me is that NoLa, which did not see much wind and surf damage has received so much national attention, and the MS coast between Biloxi and the LA border has received so little. MS got a 20-40 ft storm surge, massive wind damage, etc and very little notice goes to them.

[jw]

It's depressing to see New Orleans, still in a slow pace of recovery.
Well done MapleLeaf for going down to volunteer.
Is there many people doing this or is it isolated?

[Ana Ng]

I still can't believe that this has gone on so long. It's so embarassing.

Thanks, Maple Leaf. Heartbreaking but something people need to see.

[Sweeney_Todd]

Maybe I am comparing apples to oranges here. I see photos like those and wonder where the homeowners are? After the disaster in Phuket Thailand, international relief was there but the citizens were not waiting for the government to come and clean up the mess while they stood by. Homeowners and business owners took it upon themselves to get the job done. Phuket is open for business today. I know the vastness of the area on Phuket pales in comparison to what happened after Katrina. But, most people there, along with a lot of volunteer help, busted their butts to put it back together. Am I making a bad comparison here?

[Astra]

The homeowners in many cases left or were evacuated and have been settled elsewhere. Most of the hardest hit areas were very poor, so these people don't have a lot of money to be going back and forth from wherever they went and New Orleans, much less afford to come back to a place where their jobs may or may not exist to clean up a house that is uninhabitable. Others have just left it all behind and don't want to come back.

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

Originally Posted by Griffin2020

What is more sad and tragic to me is that NoLa, which did not see much wind and surf damage has received so much national attention, and the MS coast between Biloxi and the LA border has received so little. MS got a 20-40 ft storm surge, massive wind damage, etc and very little notice goes to them.

That's because there's a rather large difference in the damage inflicted on the areas. NOLA damage was far more about the flooding, which turned the city into a charnal house, and not so much about the damage from wind and rain. Most of the damage on the coast was reminiscent of the damage I've been privvy to after spending most of my life in Fla., and seeing Panama City Beach directly after at least two storms (although G-ma and PaPa live in the City proper, we had close relatives on the Beach, and were allowed in the disaster area to assist). And that damage was nothing at all like the situation in NOLA.

Oh, and I would like some proof to back up your statment that "many more people" are just lazily demanding assistance.

Why is this entire situation of the disaster in NOLA so hard for people to grasp? Did you folks not watch the news or something?

[Ravenhull]

I've got to wonder about whether some of the differences seen between NOLA and places like the Miss Gulf Coast might have to do with a number of different factors.

For one, I wonder about a comparason of rates of Home Owners versus Tenants. Lets be honest, if the house I was renting was totally submerged, I would probably try to salvage some of my possessions, then find a new place. If I owned the home, then I would probably working to restore what I had. Also, unless I'm off base (and I've been known to be so), I wonder about the diffence between Renter's and Owner's insurance coverages for belongings.

Also, for those who left everything behind. Did they have a job to return to when they returned?

There are a lot of factors beyond the 'Mississippi residents are more reseliant than New Orleans dregs' arguments.

Donovan Ravenhull

(Who's uncle lost his truck and entire first floor to that storm in Passagoula (sp))

[Ravenhull]

Also, there were a couple of towns wiped off the map. What is the progress in areas like that who do not have at least part of an intact community in Mississippi? Passagoula was relatively intact north of Ingals Blvd. There, they had a community they could work with.

[ThistleS]

MapleLeaf, were you there as part of an organization? I cannot donate my time unfortunately but I would like to make a monetary contribution, if that would be effective and possible.