To see a larger view of the picture above please click here.
Next ask yourself how you would feel if there were hundreds of homes in a similar state of disrepair in YOUR neighborhood 16 months after the fact.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Never in my life had I imagined...
Saturday, January 13, 2007 10:49 AM Pacific
Mary writes:
Being not long home from the storm ravaged areas left in Hurricane Katina’s wake, we’re left in shock and awe on so many fronts.
Everything familiar changed for these folks some 16 months ago. Everyone we spoke to had a horrible story to tell, yet they still hang onto the hope that some day they will get their community back, their lives back, their businesses back.
That process is painfully slow, and I mean painfully slow. We were astounded to see that much of the area is still in ruins, massive heaps of peoples belongings still piled up on ravaged front lawns, littering streets, bayous, parklands. Many upper middle class homes (brick and mortar), destroyed, still abandoned since the floodwaters receded. Chandeliers still hang from collapsing gabled ceilings. Cars left. Boats still perched on fences and rooftops.
Traditional clapboard homes sat saturated in the salt water for 3 weeks, salt water that left in its wake structural damage and mold. Most of the homes took a greater toll by sitting in salt water for weeks, than they did from the hurricane winds and the over 300 tornadoes that were generated in the storm. The insurance companies are calling the majority of the damage, flood damage and it is not insurable in most cases.
Over the past 16 months the rats, snakes and spiders have moved in, making clean up that more dangerous.
With the storm, almost all of the jobs were lost. The community tax base has all but disappeared, hence few funds to repair infrastructure. Pumper trucks today still draw raw sewage from the lines and directly dump effluent into the Gulf and surrounding bayous.
While the powers that be, try to figure out where they are going with this mess, the desire from the community is still to hang onto what they have and rebuild.
The situation is desperate. Never in my life had I imagined that I would see such destruction especially 16 months after the fact.
We are all connected to New Orleans and the surrounding parishes by a few interstate highways. In less than 24 hours of driving from this continent's worst weather disaster in New Orleans, we can be at ground zero. We made the events of September 11th our business - like it or not the social genocide that may come from Hurricane Katrina is our business too!
While we were at Habitat for Humanity’s Camp Hope and in the surrounding communities the citizens there pleaded with us to, send as many people to help as possible, to plead with others to send funds if they couldn’t volunteer, and to ourselves to return, soon and often.
Habitat for Humanity and Camp Hope has a job for any one of any skill level.
We went down with the mind set that we would be on the tail end of the clean up only to find that the clean up and the rebuilding is just beginning.
To learn more about how YOU can help please visit: http://www.camphopeonline.com/howtovolunteer.html
Mary writes:
Being not long home from the storm ravaged areas left in Hurricane Katina’s wake, we’re left in shock and awe on so many fronts.
Everything familiar changed for these folks some 16 months ago. Everyone we spoke to had a horrible story to tell, yet they still hang onto the hope that some day they will get their community back, their lives back, their businesses back.
That process is painfully slow, and I mean painfully slow. We were astounded to see that much of the area is still in ruins, massive heaps of peoples belongings still piled up on ravaged front lawns, littering streets, bayous, parklands. Many upper middle class homes (brick and mortar), destroyed, still abandoned since the floodwaters receded. Chandeliers still hang from collapsing gabled ceilings. Cars left. Boats still perched on fences and rooftops.
Traditional clapboard homes sat saturated in the salt water for 3 weeks, salt water that left in its wake structural damage and mold. Most of the homes took a greater toll by sitting in salt water for weeks, than they did from the hurricane winds and the over 300 tornadoes that were generated in the storm. The insurance companies are calling the majority of the damage, flood damage and it is not insurable in most cases.
Over the past 16 months the rats, snakes and spiders have moved in, making clean up that more dangerous.
With the storm, almost all of the jobs were lost. The community tax base has all but disappeared, hence few funds to repair infrastructure. Pumper trucks today still draw raw sewage from the lines and directly dump effluent into the Gulf and surrounding bayous.
While the powers that be, try to figure out where they are going with this mess, the desire from the community is still to hang onto what they have and rebuild.
The situation is desperate. Never in my life had I imagined that I would see such destruction especially 16 months after the fact.
We are all connected to New Orleans and the surrounding parishes by a few interstate highways. In less than 24 hours of driving from this continent's worst weather disaster in New Orleans, we can be at ground zero. We made the events of September 11th our business - like it or not the social genocide that may come from Hurricane Katrina is our business too!
While we were at Habitat for Humanity’s Camp Hope and in the surrounding communities the citizens there pleaded with us to, send as many people to help as possible, to plead with others to send funds if they couldn’t volunteer, and to ourselves to return, soon and often.
Habitat for Humanity and Camp Hope has a job for any one of any skill level.
We went down with the mind set that we would be on the tail end of the clean up only to find that the clean up and the rebuilding is just beginning.
To learn more about how YOU can help please visit: http://www.camphopeonline.com/howtovolunteer.html
To see the photo above in a larger format please click here.
Note the dentist's chair - washed out and still sitting on the street.
Social Genocide
Mary called the second she got in the door - home save and sound after a week plus that she will never forget -- I know istantly that she's not the same as she was before she left.
She called me here in California from her home in Wiarton, Ontario, Canada at midnight her time - before she had unpacked her car. Even though I would have thought she would be absolutely exhausted after she put in several long hard days of driving on top of her volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity, I don't even know where to begin to describe the frenzied pace at which she recounted just some of what she had seen and heard in the time she had been away.
I'm guessing that Toni was at her home duplicating the process with someone in her family or a close friend.
After the first hour I was still mesmerized and I knew I had to start taking notes so I furiously started typing as fast as I could...
I can't believe that the things she described have not been taken care of - after all Hurricane Katrina was 16 months ago and again, this is the USA -- not some third world country!
I go to bed but after listening to her begin to tell the story - no matter how hard I try I can't sleep - the two words that stick in my head are... SOCIAL GENOCIDE.
She called me here in California from her home in Wiarton, Ontario, Canada at midnight her time - before she had unpacked her car. Even though I would have thought she would be absolutely exhausted after she put in several long hard days of driving on top of her volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity, I don't even know where to begin to describe the frenzied pace at which she recounted just some of what she had seen and heard in the time she had been away.
I'm guessing that Toni was at her home duplicating the process with someone in her family or a close friend.
After the first hour I was still mesmerized and I knew I had to start taking notes so I furiously started typing as fast as I could...
I can't believe that the things she described have not been taken care of - after all Hurricane Katrina was 16 months ago and again, this is the USA -- not some third world country!
I go to bed but after listening to her begin to tell the story - no matter how hard I try I can't sleep - the two words that stick in my head are... SOCIAL GENOCIDE.
To see the photo immediately above in a larger format click here.
Please visit http://www.camphopeonline.com/howtovolunteer.html to learn how you can help!
Hard to believe this is the USA!
Friday, January 05, 2007 4:10 PM PACIFIC
Hi Marie,
Just received your package, thank you so much. The office was closed by the time we got in and not opened yet this morning once we left for work so this is the first time we got a chance to see it. Thank you the pJ's and tops were great, loved the biscotti’s and the chocolate well you know girls and chocolate.
I am wearing the pink top to wear to dinner tonight in the French Quarter. Fits great. I better scram, the place is crowded and only 3 computers.
We'll have to have a long talk about this place. I have heard and seen so many alarming things; it is still devastated after a year and a half.
It really looks like a bomb has hit it and there is limited help. Some places are just getting water to their homes and the whole sewage system is still in ruins. Hard to believe this is the USA.
I'll be in touch!
Love,
Mary
oxox
To see the photo above in a larger format please click here.
Hi Marie,
Just received your package, thank you so much. The office was closed by the time we got in and not opened yet this morning once we left for work so this is the first time we got a chance to see it. Thank you the pJ's and tops were great, loved the biscotti’s and the chocolate well you know girls and chocolate.
I am wearing the pink top to wear to dinner tonight in the French Quarter. Fits great. I better scram, the place is crowded and only 3 computers.
We'll have to have a long talk about this place. I have heard and seen so many alarming things; it is still devastated after a year and a half.
It really looks like a bomb has hit it and there is limited help. Some places are just getting water to their homes and the whole sewage system is still in ruins. Hard to believe this is the USA.
I'll be in touch!
Love,
Mary
oxox
To see the photo above in a larger format please click here.
Monday, January 1, 2007
16 Months After Katrina rubble still is curbed
Monday, January 01, 2007 1:59 PM PACIFIC
Just a bit ago Toni and I signed into the Camp Hope project. Quickly we opened up the two boxes ... thank you. Have not a chance to try on anything yet. Still have to get set up for the stay and start work in the morning.
Just a bit ago Toni and I signed into the Camp Hope project. Quickly we opened up the two boxes ... thank you. Have not a chance to try on anything yet. Still have to get set up for the stay and start work in the morning.
To see a larger view of the "dorm" room at Camp Hope please click here.
Still very devastated here. Spent some time in Biloxi the other day. Terrible the damage in that area. Not far from the eye [of the hurricane].
In New Orleans, just north of the superdome you can see the waterline about 10 feet up on the walls of buildings. Most of the area surrounding the French Quarter and the Garden district, which to the most part was spared, is still not up and running.
Many homes and businesses are abandoned; rubble still is curbed and has been for months, roofs are still in tatters.
One thing that struck us both is that most of the churches have been repaired and are in good order yet the surrounding areas are still in tatters.
The drive was good/ we did get pulled over at customs and had to line up with passports in hand. They punched us into the system and never had to show any other info or have a car search. Thanks for the heads up as it could very well have happened and we were prepared with letters from Melissa and Ellen and I also brought my house appraisal and home insurance just incase. Better go and get settled in will email soon.
Thanks again and Happy New Year!
Mary
xoxo
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