I spent the last weekend in New Orleans and it is still very strange there. Uptown is quickly returning to "normal" whatever normal will be after all of this. And when I speak of Uptown I am really only talking about from St Charles to the River and even then it is small pockets. As I explained to someone earlier today, instead of one big city, New Orleans right now is a bunch of small towns. When driving around you can instantly enter an area that has no people, no electricity and debris still scattered everywhere. The good news is that many restaurants have opened and continue to open each day. And of course Bourbon St. seems pretty normal, with the exception of the greater than Mardi Gras presence of law enforcement.
I did spend Friday in Lakeview at my aunt’s house clearing the front of the house and some paths inside so that we can attempt to salvage as much as possible. Of course that will be very little. The area though is shocking, depressing and ultimately unbelievable. The destruction is colossal. We even drove over to where the breech occurred and I could not understand or believe what I was seeing, entire homes destroyed, moved and washed away. Television and pictures cannot even begin to give a true grasp of how bad it is there. Even though they can’t tell the whole story I will be posting pictures soon of the area. I have to resize them first.
Some of the positives happening around town besides the stores and restaurants that are opening are things like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army have stations set up all around the city to distribute items like food, water and ice. The Red Cross continues to open service centers as well to assist people financially. Many if not all of the Red Cross and Salvation Army volunteers are from out and town and it makes you feel good about things that so many people are willing to take time from their lives to come help out the city. I can’t wait to get back full time to be a part of it! There are also volunteer groups do things like cleaning up Magazine Street and Canal Street. This past weekend they had the B.Y.O.Broom party on Canal and in the CBD.
When you are in town be sure to tune to WWL 870 AM as there is a wealth of information being announced 24 hours a day. Everything from what is open to how to get FEMA assistance.
All in all I know that New Orleans will be back, just how long it will take and exactly what it will feel like in the interim are the big questions still to be answered.
Take care,
Kevin