Ninth Ward - Every block looked like this ... miles and miles of debris. Every house uninhabitable even if had managed to stay standing. Several weeks of being 6-9 feet under poison water in 98 degree heat doesn't leave anything anybody wants. Eery silence and lots of crows.
Ninth Ward: Kid's playground bleakness. No kids or people.
House floated on top of a car? or car lifted house?
Two Limousines floated here from some place.
Car sitting on fence. Just your normal day.
Rivers of mud near the Industrial Canal Breach
Mud buried cars & other things
Poor little bug couldn't live underwater.
The house stood but someone died in here
The Guard marked buildings by date searched and people or bodies found. This house is searched a month after Katrina. I started taking pics of these markings as we drove down Carrolton South (no stop lights) then I realized these markings were EVERYWHERE.
This says 1 DOG DOA (dead on arrival). I saw lots of pet markings (death, dangerous dog warnings, and finds). Dogs did not fair well since so many were left behind to guard houses & were either stranded by rising water or starved when their owners could not come home.
Wyatt broke through this roof from his canoe to save an old man that escaped to his attic when the water engulfed his house. He was wheel-chair bound but somehow pulled himself up to the attic where there was no flood water but excruciating heat. He died 3 months later after regaining consciousness for a couple of months. (Lakeview area)
Plucky people of St. Bernard Parish are restoring things themselves. There were signs EVERYWHERE for gutting and restorations (saw none in 9th ward because no one is coming back there). None of the street lights worked but I saw people and some local businesses open (NO major national chains open yet)
. I thought "WET VIDEOS" was porn (this is the NOLA area) but Wyatt says that is a repair service for VHS tapes.
Everywhere are abandoned cars in lots with businesses no longer there. Nobody wants them. No $$ to remove so many of them. (Bywater area)
Some ruined cars are marked for tow when anyone gets around to it.
Lakeview's general sentiment (near 17th St Canal Breach)
Wyatt's house. He had to break glass to get in. No shrubs survived being underwater that long.
Wyatt looks at his warped fan. His house had 9 feet of standing water for 2 weeks. Total loss for him but he had flood insurance. The big guy said he did OK going back to the house after the water was pumped out but broke down crying when he saw his daughter's destroyed room and muddy stuffed animals.
Wyatt and I on Magazine Street where businesses and fru-fru establishments are open and life is completely different. I got some t-shirts that said "New Orleans, proud to swim home" with pictures of marked houses. I didn't see a lot of survivor guilt.
Wyatt says the ratio of men to women is still skewed because the population is mostly construction workers and reserves. A stripper of any shape or size would make a killing. COME ON DOWN GaLS! ;)
