The South Riding RV Travels

January 15th - New Orleans LA - The 'Katrina' Aftermath

On August 29th 2005, a category 5 hurricane approached the Gulf coast, reducing to category 4 as it made landfall. It was a huge storm over 140 miles wide. The eye missed New Orleans and hit near Gulfport just over the Mississippi border about 50 miles to the east. The winds were gusting around 135mph and caused significant structural damage. The advisory warnings suggested extensive damage to almost all buildings. New Orleans largely survived the hurricane, most houses in the east of the city (the poorer area) had roof and window damage. There was a storm surge which in places was higher than the levees and there was some flooding. 80% of New Orleans (144 sq miles) is below sea level. The levees are at most 17ft above sea level and the storm surge for category 5 is around 28ft. The damage as Katrina left was extensive but probably not catastrophic.

As night fell, the reports went out about survival. Some of the levees had been overtopped and the water had weakened them by scouring the foundations. In addition some barges had collided with canal walls and caused more weakening. Over the next 24 hrs the levees suffered five major failures and numerous smaller ones. In a matter of hours half a BILLION cubic metres of water flooded various parts of New Orleans as shown above. The Industrial Canal breach flooded the lower 9th ward (a very poor area) and a disaster became a catastrophe. These breaches were more than two city blocks wide. Attempts to plug the gaps with sandbags took a week to stop the water flow and the pumps which would pump out the water failed and took days to repair. It took almost two months to get the water out. The damage went from maybe $1 billion to the current forecast of $26 billion. 1,622 officially died but over 4,000 are still missing.

The red areas were all flooded, mainly from Lake Pontchartrain to the north. Houses (built mostly of wood) which have water in for more than two weeks are almost certain to have to be demolished. In the main this was salt water which only made things worse.

Here you can see one of the breaches. We were told that a house had been built on top of the levee at this point and the owner had removed some mature trees which had destabilized the soil. I can't be certain but it isn't there now. There were many houses washed off their foundations.

Attempts were made to evacuate the city (over 1 million people) but many had no transport or wouldn't leave. Many moved here to the Superdome. Afterwards many more came here but there was little food, water or sanitation, or organisation. This became a disaster zone in its own right.

This is one of the canals, largely intended as a drain for storm water to be pumped out of the city. But in the hurricane they became channels for the storm surge to travel into the city.

The pump stations are quite massive and there are several in each section. But parts failed and replacements had to be manufactured since they are no longer made, so much time was lost.

The city is still in 'relief' mode and has a long way to go before they can start reconstruction and five months have already passed. The blue roofs are tarpaulins covering damaged roofs to try to prevent further damage from wind and rain. As you can see, in this area, every other house has one. A hurricane is more dangerous on its eastern side and Katrina passed to the east of New Orleans so they were spared the worst.

The road above is the I10 interstate but all the cars underneath are flood damaged and thus worthless. There are just thousands of them and nobody has started to dispose of them yet.

Industry survived no better. This factory has much of its roof and side walls just blown away. Few businesses are working yet, in many cases because they have no workers. The city population is now estimated at under 200,000.

This is in one of the more prosperous districts. It is a solid substantial building but has lost some roof sections and several windows and it will have suffered some flooding. There was no sign of occupation visible as we stood waiting outside it for a bus.

This is the house next door and in similar condition. These houses still have structural integrity and so are better off than some even on the same road. Few seem to be inhabited. The owners are probably still arguing with the insurance companies. Flood insurance is optional in the US and unaffordable in some parts. The insurance companies are claiming the damage is from flood and not from wind. It all becomes a game with insurance, state and federal authorities all arguing somebody else should pay. Many families are wiped out, even undamaged properties are now worth so much less than they were. Negative equity will be an issue for some for years.

Across the road there are still portaloos, a reminder that many infrastructure services are still not functional here. As you can see about 80% of the city's traffic lights are not working. Another 6 months and $30 million are needed just for that.

As you move eastwards through the city, the damage gets worse. I don't think a blue tarpaulin is going to help here. The damaged roof went somewhere, often crushing a car or a boat, which is still there. We drove past motels with piles of fridges and TVs dumped on the roadside, just waiting for disposal.

Even brick walls were just washed out with the flood waters. It seems unbelievable in an area which is now dry, but at their peak the waters here were ten feet deep. We found street after street where all you could really do is bulldoze the lot. But the residents are fighting this.

The quality of the housing wasn't good to begin with. The photos on a sunny day make it look a lot better than it is. These are better than some but the gardens are still full of wrecked cars, trees, furniture and just masses of debris.

Some people have started to gut the houses and move everything outside to the verges where it sits in the median (central reservation) or at the roadside until a truck comes to collect it. But we are talking about millions of tons of debris, and where are they going to put it all?

It is just endless. You cannot see how this city is going to put itself back together. As you listen to the news it is a constant set of accusations of incompetence and blame. It really comes down to sheer inadequacy of public officials and systems to cope with needs on this scale. They are talking about rebuilding the levees to withstand a category 5 hurricane. The Corps of Engineers (Army) are working to restore the  integrity of the current system by the time the next hurricane season starts in June. They don't seem to grasp that raising the 200 miles of levees another 15ft is not a practical proposition in the foreseeable future. They have only just paid a visit to Holland to ask the Dutch how to manage things.

A lot of the damage was caused by falling trees and although the main roads are now clear, many side roads are not and many houses have problems as here. Removing these is not a five minute job but requires specialist skills and equipment.

Because the water table is so high, most cables are above ground on poles. The damage to these is extensive and only jury rigged repairs have been done in most places. Cables underground have been damaged by prolonged exposure to salt water, so an almost complete cable replacement is needed. Most of the houses on this road require demolition in my view. But these aren't in the areas scheduled for demolition. We did not dare to venture into those areas.

Even the Garden District was not immune. We saw this house having some of its roof replaced, and it was not alone. In order to repair or rebuild your house, you need permission. If your house is at or above the base flood level then permission will be granted. If it is below then you can only repair if the damage is less than 50% of market value. If you rebuild it must be raised to base flood level or higher. New flood area maps will be released soon and are likely to be worse. Thus many residents are trying to insist their houses are less damaged than they really are since building higher will be much more expensive. The potential for corruption is significant!

We have heard a lot about the number of FEMA trailers which have been provided as temporary housing.  We saw some evidence of that but more evidence of trailers waiting to be installed. The problem appears to be they can get the trailers but they can't set them up with water, electric and sewage connections. So they remain empty. There aren't enough workers, but Louisiana won't allow non-local workers in, and they have no accommodation. Chicken and egg.

Some houses now have trailers in the yard, but many houses in the poorer areas don't have big enough yards. Those who are in authority keep saying it is somebody else's job. There is a real lack of leadership. It seems to be that nobody trusts anybody else and the state/federal arguments are just getting in the way. It needs a JFDI style army general in charge but politics won't allow it.

It almost looked as though you had to have clout to get a trailer. But I don't know the circumstances of this family.

All we did see was thousands of trucks with built-up containers hauling masses of debris - somewhere. Given the progress they appear to have made in the last five months, they will still be doing this in another eighteen months. This city is never going to be the same again, even if it does become the 'Chocolate' city the mayor Ray Nagen says that God always intended it to be.

One of the warnings issued by the National Weather Service in New Orleans before the storm hit:

HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED
STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW
CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE
KILLED.

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR
HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE
CERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.

ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE
OUTSIDE!