New Orleans and Katrina – 3 years later
As mentioned previously I recently returned from a few days on vacation. I splurged (not a word you will see in my vocabulary very often) and went to New Orleans, a place I have always wanted to spend some time but never seemed to get around to it until this week.
On day one I was escorted in the 9th Ward so I could get a handle on the current state of affairs for myself. I needed a visual that was untainted by the news; something I could see and touch and something that would be more real than images on a screen.
I got it.
Despite ongoing daily construction (and reconstruction), the entire area still bears all the telltale marks of the devastation. The images that follow are all taken in the past few days by me, and my time in the 9th Ward proved to be the most poignant and intensely memorable of the entire vacation.
As a result, the post beyond this link is slightly image-intense.
The only souvenir I brought home from this trip was a dirty measuring tape that I found on the street in the 9th Ward when my emotions got the best of me. I stepped out of the car to catch my breath and when I looked down on the street corner, I saw it lying there and covered by dirt and weeds. It is sitting on my desk next to me as I type this post and even now there are tears in my eyes.
These photos don’t come close to summing up the overall devastation that still remains almost three years later. Areas that were once vibrant and alive are now desolate and populated by nothing more than shells of homes and in some cases only the broken remains of what was once a foundation.
Even in the French Quarter the number of people walking the streets has been greatly diminished. Bourbon Street wasn’t anything like the Mardi Gras videos we see on television – the people just aren’t there like they once were.
Still, I am glad I had the opportunity to visit this historic (and still beautiful) city. It may have changed me more than I am yet ready to admit.
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