Debrisville Twister

[infrogmation]

I can add one more to the list of disasters I've been through.

A tornado (or a couple of tornados, depending on what source you go by) did some damage just after 3am in the Westbank suburb of Westwego and in the Carrollton, Hollygrove, and Pontchartrain Park neighborhoods of New Orleans. The second one is mine. I only got a couple windows blown out, mostly in the attic.

The power went out about 3am with a storm front passing through. About 10 minutes later there was a sudden short severe increase in the storm, and about 6 seconds of the house shaking and a loud WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP like a washing machine with an unbalanced load. I exclaimed, "Damn!" and held H's hand tighter, and it was over. Ms. H doesn't recall, saying she slept through it.

In the morning the wind-up radio had news of a tornado in Westwego and power out in Carrollton, but I didn't know about the situation in the neighborhood until I went outside and talked with a neighbor who'd already looked around. Roofs off and walls down within a few blocks walk. My neighbor said he was sleeping in his FEMA trailer when it was lifted off the ground then dropped back down.

Helicopters started circling the neighborhood.

The tornado made a narrow path of damage, like a tiny little mini-hurricane, 3 blocks or less wide, rather than 3 states. Sometimes the visible damage seemed just yards wide.

The return of debris piles and roofing nails in the streets gave the neighborhood a sense of this time last year.

Unlike the big disaster of '05, response has been prompt, with a slew of police, Louisiana National Guard, debris clearers, and Entergy crews pouring into the area. (Of course a proportional response to Katrina was impossible when the Federal Government decides Americans should be left to die for the crime of living somewhere known to harbor people who vote for Democrats.)

Multiple busy crews were erecting new utility poles, tarping damaged roofs, boarding up broken windows, and clearing debris, with lots of work already done when I came home Tuesday evening.

The area was mostly dark the first night, with regular cop car and humvee patrols. Crews have done a good job of restoring power to most of the area except the blocks most severely effected. I'm glad to have power back, especially as it is expected to get below freezing tonight.

Times-Picayune article yesterday
Picyune today
Picayune photos

5 photos of mine and links to more pix on nola_photos LJ

Comments

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

FYI, New Orleans is one of the four cities being considered for NOAH's Adult Weekend this summer. ("Adult" as opposed to "family")

In the survey we're also considering whether to integrate "community service" into our trip, which I might agree to on the condition that we're in town for longer than 36 hours. What do you think we'd actually end up doing?

Visit

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

I really don't know. Common things lots of volunteer groups have been doing include manual labor stuff like helping haul flood trashed possessions and moldy ruined sheetrock from houses of people too poor/elderly/handicaped to have done it themselves, simple carpentry to build or rebuild housing, helping fix up flood trashed schools, libraries, and neighborhood parks. There are other projects for folks with special skills and special needs. Loyola University here has been coordinating lots of good stuff; other good active groups here include (and are not limited to) Common Ground Collective and Habitat for Humanity.

I encourage New Orleans as a convention choice-- the area of most interest to visitors is in the natural highground developed before 1900 that escaped major flooding when the Federal levees failed, the old "Crescent", more recently dubbed the "Sliver by the River". There are more amenities up and running than there are visitors back to enjoy them still.

Whether you do any community service or not, if y'all come, I hope while you're here your group also take a look at some of the devastated areas, as I keep hearing folks from outside of the area who do so say it gave them an idea of the scope of things they hadn't had before.

Feel free to give me a phone call or drop me an email if you have any questions.

Re: Visit

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

I probably shall. And it's not necessarily a convention, so much as a group of about 30 of us checking into the same hotel for a few days, having some group discussions early in the morning, and then all going out and doing touristy stuff the rest of the day.

I could put you in touch with the organizers if you know of any particular resources they might otherwise overlook, as I'm not sure whether we have any other active members local to NOLA. I know one active member lives in Baton ROuge.

[twillis.livejournal.com]

Damn, dude. I think that makes you officially Hard To Kill. What's next? Plague of Frogs and Locusts?

Well, you'd be OK against the frogs, I suppose. Which could probably eat the locusts, so yeah, that'd probably not kill you either.

And the Lord hardened Pharoah Bush's Heart

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

We had our plague of insects after the big storm in late '05.

Yeah, frogs are just cool... Hard to imagine too much of a good thing...

Re: And the Lord hardened Pharoah Bush's Heart

[twillis.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Insects and toxic watermelons.

[meekorouse.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear you got through ok.. I'm sorry you lost some windows but grateful that you made it through and breathing.. Growing up in the Midwest I've experienced some scary close calls. Indiana homes seem to have basements, but it's something that you don't see so much of in California (earthquakes) and certainly not in New Orleans (or Florida as well).

New Orleans has been here what 300 years.. it better be here for another 300 more at least. Somewhere in there I'm coming back for a visit and bringing the hubby (who's never visited) so he has an inkling of what I miss. It's still there, under the rubble and debris. As long as New Orleanians can come home, it's still there.

[ancientscripts.livejournal.com]

Wow. Glad you came out ok.

The closest to a tornado I've come to is a dust devil in the California desert. They're rather cute, actually. But I don't think I'd want to meet its big brother.

[jennconspiracy.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you and Ms. H are ok! xoxo

[entheos93.livejournal.com]

Damn. I'm glad you pulled through that relatively unscathed. Sorry to hear you're missing windows in this freeze, though.
I'm officially hard to kill, too. Besides Katrina, I went through the '89 quake in SF (very, very bad), a wildfire that took out a fourth of a city, my own house burning down with me narrowly escaping (and that was yet a different fire), and I got the ass end of Hurricane Georges, in which my house and car flooded and a tree crashed through the house.
All I got of that tornado incident was a scary storm and a very long power outage. I had a bad feeling something was terribly wrong.

Disaster notes

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

The '89 San Franciso quake is on my personal experience list as well.

Where were you for Georges? The worst thing that happened to me during Georges was evacuating to somewhere that didn't let me buy beer on Sundays...

Re: Disaster notes

[entheos93.livejournal.com]

I was on Adams near Claiborne, pretty much the only area that flooded. I just happened to be unlucky for that one!

Phew!

[asienieizi.livejournal.com]

Crikey! I didn't make the connection between your area and where it hit
until a day ago. Sure am glad you're okay!
Also?
"below freezing tonight"
?
I expected the wisteria to be bursting out all over by now! Has it
been unusually cold this winter?

Re: Phew!

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

It has mostly been a mild winter. We've just had a couple of brief cold snaps. Some things did start blooming just before this latest one came in.

I've cut back on some outdoor carnivaling due to the cold. It's still great, but always better when its warm.