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Even five months after Katrina, the effects of the devestation
are still very evident. The city certainly hadn't returned
to anything like normal. There was still only one Service
Station open, I think one school may have reopened and there
had only been three garbage collections since the hurricane.
Apparently garbage had been piled three and four storeys
high in the streets. When you pull all the furniture and
carpeting out of a house you get a pretty big pile, pretty
quickly.
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This is the main street - Canal St, in the middle of the
CBD in the middle of the day on a weekday. The main businesses
that still exisit are cheap souvenir stores and some mixed
businesses that also have cheap souvenirs. Every business
had signs out - Hiring Now!
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The beautiful Jackson's Square which is OK. I don't think
it was harmed much. But recovery every else is much slower.
There are no people to help with the recovery.
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Jackson's Square is just across the street from the Mississippi
Riverfront. |
Such a beautiful park in such a devastated city |
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The 'rich' part of town - St Charles Avenue. It was
not terribly affected but it was not ignored by Katrina
either.
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Four months after Katrina people are still emptying the
houses of damaged appliances and furniture and food.
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Piles of rubbish were everywhere - even in St Charles Avenue.
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A peaceful park on the riverfront.
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Cafe du Monde - very famous and right on the riverfront.
They are back in business.
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The French Quarter was only minimally affected physically
but when all the people left, they had no business. All
the restaurants had "Hurricane Menus" - limited
menus because they had limited customers and limited supplies.
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An elegant home in the French Quarter.
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A little tribute to some of the jazz greats on Bourbon
Street.
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Bourbon Street looking towards Canal St. Unfortunately
the predominant smell of Bourbon St is stale beer. Suppose
it makes a change from mildewed furnishings!
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The city skyline from the 9th Ward.
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This is the 9th Ward levee. You can see that the roofs
of the houses are very low - below the level of the canal.
That is the Lower 9th Ward. They expect to basically bulldoze
all of it and not allow rebuilding.
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This is from the upper 9th Ward. They had had three garbage
cleanups in the last 4 months - the last one only a couple
of days ago. When you drag everything from your home, you
can get a big pile pretty quickly.
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Again, the upper 9th Ward - much roof damage both from
wind and water damage.
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Some of the signs are heartrending! These 'crosses' with
codes in each segment were everywhere.
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This brick factory was apparently totally destroyed just
by the wind damage. You can see steel girders just bent
like matchsticks.
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There is very little left of the factory - it won't make
bricks again.
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Not all the houses in the upper 9th Ward got major flooding
- but they all seem to have got some - even if it was only
the wooden steps that were under water for weeks.
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Occasionally you find houses that appear to have suffered
minimal damage.
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When you see cars lining the street you know that people
have moved back to this area, and started the recovery process. |
On Halloween, trying to act 'normal' despite still having
the emergency crews notations painted on the walls. |
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The upper 9th Ward is a little like some inner-city Sydney
suburbs - architecturally and socially.
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The Corner Store trying to get back into business. |
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