Home?
Well, I have pictures that I will eventually put on my blog, but even those won’t really do it justice. The destruction here is unreal. I saw home video of a friend’s trip to St. Bernard parish yesterday that is indescribable. 80% of the New Orleans flooded. All of St. Bernard did. Everyone’s ceilings are sitting on the floor of their houses after falling from being waterlogged for so long. Boats are on top of roofs from when the flood subsided. Cars are standing on end.
Trash barriers on the sides of the roads grow every day. The smell in some places makes you wretch. Mail comes spurratically to Jefferson Parish. In Orleans, we stop by the post office because there is no mail yet. Garbage men are truly the unsung heroes of the world, and we cheer them whenever we see them.
Every intersection is a four way stop, and in some places you have to swirve to avoid a boat or perhaps a power line or tree limb. Traffic is returning now and getting bottlenecked at strange times, probably because they close down some roads periodically for work being done.
Life is starting to return and at first felt hopeful, but it weighs on me a little more everyday. A friend who has been working for FEMA said you get used to it after a while.
The bar and restaurant industry are the first to return. There is a swath of Orleans along the river that didn’t flood, and every bar or restaurant that has the staff to reopen is hopping. However, gas stations and grocery stores close about 7 or 8. So do stores like Wal-mart and Target.
Some areas of Orleans that don’t have power yet are as dark as the country at night. It’s pretty scary and has kept me from going out much in the city after dark. When I have gone out, I don’t stay out long because it just feels like I’m doing something dangerous.
I’m not sure yet when I’ll head back to Alabama.
