Truncated first post back in town

[infrogmation]

Hi from New Orleans-- or at least Terrytown, Louisiana, across the river from the city.

I'm over at Ms. Hollie's place, which has electricity and net access.

I checked out my place, hoping to be able to make a first post from home on my laptop, but not even the old rotary phone could raise a dial tone.

The city looks like it was hit by a hurricane. And that's the part that didn't flood.

Driving into town, we see the latest decorating style seen everywhere throughout the better parts of the metro area is a blue tarp on the roof and a dead refrigerator on the front curb.

I sang to myself:

It will remind you of old-fashioned lace;
A glass of wine will greet your smiling face
(Bring your own wine, and a clean glass. And what you smiling at?)

Actually, we did get wine (and pizza and a smile) at an open restaurant near Hollie's, offering a limited menu called "Special Katrina Overcomers Menu".

No power yet in my part of Carrollton on the lake side of St. Charles. Exactly one business is open: the Maple Leaf Bar, running on a generator, with bottles of beer in tubs of ice.

My home is surrounded by trash, downed branches and tree trunks, fallen gutter pipes, and broken glass. I can see daylight through the roof in much of my attic; a fair amount of what was in my attic will have to be tossed. Some water dammage in the 2nd floor ceiling, and along one wall. A couple of windows blown out. And that's about it. In other words, I'm one of the very lucky ones.
Not bad, not bad at all.

Ms Hollie's place is also fortunate; a few square yards of siding blew off, some leaks in the roof, and one of two fridges is out on the curb. The house on one side of her is uninhabitable, and the one on the other side is in the blue tarp roof club.

So. We're back.
Start serious cleanup work tomorrow.

Comments

HoOrAy!

[hyla-regilla.livejournal.com]

so glad to know you both fared well.
(I've a friend who is leaving the Ninth Ward simply to survive.)

I wish I could take a month off and come help you work.
It would feel really good to be some positive physical HELP.

Much Love and Hoppiness to both of you!

My observations along the route on neworleans community

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/community/neworleans/1636758.html

Re: My observations along the route on neworleans community

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

mirror of that post for reference

Kenner, Westbank, Uptown, Carrollton

Account of my first trip back into the city today. Mostly visited areas that never flooded, but they still look like they've been hit by a hurricane. Much debris has been removed but much remains. My impression is of a city full of buildings with blue tarps on the roofs and dead refrigerators piled out front.

Foul smell comes and goes, but not constant or overpowering. Bugs not especially bad (like I'd experienced along the coast earlier); birds are back in the city.

Drove in this morning from Baton Rouge, took from about 8 to 11:30 to get from S. Baton Rouge to Terrytown Westbank. Most of the time was on I-10, very slow. At La Place we went over to Airline, which had some delays but was much faster.

In to Kenner by the Airport, no checkpoints. Looked like there was a temporary refuse dump by the Airport. Lots of roofs with blue tarps; continued seeing this through all areas visited.

Airline to Earhart: about 1 out of 3 businesses open. Many buildings dammaged. Traffic lights all working.

Earhart expressway to Huey P. Long, no problem. Westbank Expressway all the way to Terry Parkway. A fair amount open. Some buildings dammaged pretty much every block. Clearly much cleaning up had been done, but still debris on the roads.

Oakwood Mall all blocked off. A couple of the several gas stations on Terry Parkway open. A couple of restaurants open here and there; we ate at Specialty Pizza, Terry Parkway and Belle Chase Highway, open with a limited menu from 11am to 5pm.

Across the Crescent City Connection. Only some of the lanes through the toll booths were open, but no one taking tolls. Again, no check points. Camp exit, and went up Prytania. Pretty much all the traffic lights were working. A few scattered businesses open, including a pharmacy, Prytania Theater (!) and Creole Creamery. Langenstein's uptown is closed.

Up to the Carrollton Riverbend area. Much more dead. No electricity on the lake side of St. Charles. At Carrollton & St. Charles, Cooter Brown's and the Daquiri's place were open, nothing else. Maple Street is all boarded up. I happened to see one of the Maple Street Books employees driving by, who said they hope to open up in about a week if power is back on in the neighborhood. On the lake side of St. Charles the only business in Carrollton open is Maple Leaf Bar on Oak, running on a generator, offering beer bottles in tubs of ice. They're having one or two music events a week, no cover.

Back down St. Charles. Yes, many trees down, but most are still alive, though pruned back by the wind. Someone here said the oaks in Audubon Park and St. Charles are leafless; they are not from my observation; lots of leaves. The building with a blue roof tarp that most surprised me was the Church at Loyola University. Many more traffic lights are out along St. Charles than were on Prytania; most are marked with 4 way stop signs. Fair amount of traffic, mostly orderly.

Took a detour to check out Napoleon Avenue lakewards from St. Charles. Major debris clearance going on on the street. About halfway between St. Charles and Freret the dirty high water line appears on buildings. By the time I reached Freret even houses raised a yard up off the ground clearly had about a foot of water get inside them.

I'll be back in the Carrollton Riverbend area tomorrow &/or day after; I'll take requests to report on specific intersections or such.

[valiant-200.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that your odyssey is nearly at an end and you will be returning to the familiar lily pads of home. I read your linked post as well. Your observations match those that Petal and I made when we sneaked into Kenner to rescue her car several weeks ago except, at that time, there were no blue roofs. I will continue to follow your posts, and I am glad that the recovery from Katrina can finally begin in earnest for you and all of the displaced people of the Crescent City.