I've seen New Orleans.
I came down I-10, across the Crescent City Connection to I-10 eastbound & took the Esplanade exit. Only the riverbound lanes had been cleared of trees, so I drove the wrong way down the street to N.White, then the wrong way up N. White to Grand Rte St John, then into the driveway.
No water visible anywhere. There had been some little street flooding, and the water got partway up the driveway, but nowhere near the house or office. There's an advantage to living on the Esplanade Ridge.
Wherever the water got onto the grass it is brown & lifeless. That stuff must have been nasty. Now there is just sun-dried mud in the street. It doesn't even smell bad. The water must have gone down as fast as it came up.
Iwas in front of the house taking some pictures when I heard someone call out, asking who was there. Ben & Gene, two old guys from down the street walked up and asked if I had any food. They never left. I gave them all the canned goods from the cupboard in the kitchen and 2 cases of 12 oz water bottles the Kentwood guy had delivered with our order the week before Katrina hit.
When I walked into the house I saw some signs of water damage to the kitchen ceiling. Several small stains in the other rooms had become larger, and more plaster had fallen from the hole in our bedroom. Then I heard water running. The washer was overflowing and sending a slow trickle of water onto the wooden floor in the back hall. Interesting, since the power and the water were both off. I stopped the flow by turning off the faucets, but left the tub full.
There had been significant water in the closet ceiling, and mold was growing there. I didn't have any way to deal with that, so I left it for another day.
Bunny's fish were happy to see me. They all looked fine, and hungry. The automatic feeder hadn't worked, so I changed out some water, replacing it with Kenwood from one of the 5 gallon bottles.
All things considered, it didn't look too bad.
Then I walked around to see if the pecan tree had done as much damage to the office as it looked from the satellite photos. Well, it was worse. When I entered the building & walked upstairs I couldn't walk toward the back street at all, because the room was full of tree. Downstairs there was fallen ceiling and soaking carpet. I grabbed what I could from the main office, but everything was still wet. When I picked up the calculator from the receptionist's desk water poured out all over me.
By the time I filled up the car with the most important items from my lists and fetched the 2 cats from my neighbor's house I was whipped.
Down Esplanade, on the right side now, and back to Claiborne. There was no way onto the elevated I-10 except to drive up the Esplanade downramp and go West on the Eastbound lane. Over the Crescent City Connection the wrong way, and out of town homeward bound.
Armed with a pass to collect equipment needed for service work at one of our industrial clients I went into New Orleans Saturday morning to check out the scene and recover as much as I could from the office.
I came down I-10, across the Crescent City Connection to I-10 eastbound & took the Esplanade exit. Only the riverbound lanes had been cleared of trees, so I drove the wrong way down the street to N.White, then the wrong way up N. White to Grand Rte St John, then into the driveway.
No water visible anywhere. There had been some little street flooding, and the water got partway up the driveway, but nowhere near the house or office. There's an advantage to living on the Esplanade Ridge.
Wherever the water got onto the grass it is brown & lifeless. That stuff must have been nasty. Now there is just sun-dried mud in the street. It doesn't even smell bad. The water must have gone down as fast as it came up.
Iwas in front of the house taking some pictures when I heard someone call out, asking who was there. Ben & Gene, two old guys from down the street walked up and asked if I had any food. They never left. I gave them all the canned goods from the cupboard in the kitchen and 2 cases of 12 oz water bottles the Kentwood guy had delivered with our order the week before Katrina hit.
When I walked into the house I saw some signs of water damage to the kitchen ceiling. Several small stains in the other rooms had become larger, and more plaster had fallen from the hole in our bedroom. Then I heard water running. The washer was overflowing and sending a slow trickle of water onto the wooden floor in the back hall. Interesting, since the power and the water were both off. I stopped the flow by turning off the faucets, but left the tub full.
There had been significant water in the closet ceiling, and mold was growing there. I didn't have any way to deal with that, so I left it for another day.
Bunny's fish were happy to see me. They all looked fine, and hungry. The automatic feeder hadn't worked, so I changed out some water, replacing it with Kenwood from one of the 5 gallon bottles.
All things considered, it didn't look too bad.
Then I walked around to see if the pecan tree had done as much damage to the office as it looked from the satellite photos. Well, it was worse. When I entered the building & walked upstairs I couldn't walk toward the back street at all, because the room was full of tree. Downstairs there was fallen ceiling and soaking carpet. I grabbed what I could from the main office, but everything was still wet. When I picked up the calculator from the receptionist's desk water poured out all over me.
By the time I filled up the car with the most important items from my lists and fetched the 2 cats from my neighbor's house I was whipped.
Down Esplanade, on the right side now, and back to Claiborne. There was no way onto the elevated I-10 except to drive up the Esplanade downramp and go West on the Eastbound lane. Over the Crescent City Connection the wrong way, and out of town homeward bound.
posted by Carl at 11:54 PM
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