New Orleans New Year part 2
I'm sorry, y'all. I have been a very bad blogger. I promised you guys photos of our drive through the Lower 9th Ward and have made you wait several days for them. I could make up some excuses for y'all but I won't.
Anyway, while E and I were riding in the 9th Ward 99% of all the other vehicles in the area were folks with cameras - photo cameras, video cameras, and even a motion picture camera in an SUV with a California license plate on it. I found out that the day after we were there, Gray Line Bus Tours began a tour through the damaged areas. Now I find this to be disgusting. Notice they're charging $35 for adults and $28 for children and donating a whopping $3 from each ticket to one of five non-profits that benefit Katrina and Rita victims. It's just sick to profit from other's loss so please feel free to send them an email telling them just how you feel.
As for our drive, I can tell you that photos do not do the devastation justice. Until you are there and smell the mold and see the dusty powder that covers the streets and round a corner to have to drive around a house that's sticking out in the street, you can't fully get the impact of this storm. I think if I had seen anyone there who had once lived there I would have gotten out the car, hugged them, and cried with them.
The photos below will mostly speak for themselves. Sorry the quality isn't the finest as the light was waning when we were driving around. If you click the image, you'll be able to view it full size.
This first one is a block very near the levee break. The first few blocks look just like this. No houses are left standing as the rushing water was just too powerful.
The house in the center is sticking out into the cross street.
An example of the piles of debris in the streets.
Two houses that have collided.
An angel that survived and landed in a driveway.
Anyway, while E and I were riding in the 9th Ward 99% of all the other vehicles in the area were folks with cameras - photo cameras, video cameras, and even a motion picture camera in an SUV with a California license plate on it. I found out that the day after we were there, Gray Line Bus Tours began a tour through the damaged areas. Now I find this to be disgusting. Notice they're charging $35 for adults and $28 for children and donating a whopping $3 from each ticket to one of five non-profits that benefit Katrina and Rita victims. It's just sick to profit from other's loss so please feel free to send them an email telling them just how you feel.
As for our drive, I can tell you that photos do not do the devastation justice. Until you are there and smell the mold and see the dusty powder that covers the streets and round a corner to have to drive around a house that's sticking out in the street, you can't fully get the impact of this storm. I think if I had seen anyone there who had once lived there I would have gotten out the car, hugged them, and cried with them.
The photos below will mostly speak for themselves. Sorry the quality isn't the finest as the light was waning when we were driving around. If you click the image, you'll be able to view it full size.
This first one is a block very near the levee break. The first few blocks look just like this. No houses are left standing as the rushing water was just too powerful.
The house in the center is sticking out into the cross street.
An example of the piles of debris in the streets.
Two houses that have collided.
An angel that survived and landed in a driveway.
posted by BarefootCajun @ 14:26
5 Comments:
At 3:58 PM,
thatfarmgirl said…
I will be down in April/May, but I do not plan to visit any of the devastated areas. Unlike others, I don't need to see to believe. It is sad enough from 1,300+ miles away. I sent a note to Gray Line via their website. Common decency has apparently left the building.
At 8:08 PM,
BarefootCajun said…
I understand. That city owns a huge piece of my heart - it has since I was born. Seeing the area was part of my grief process. I have made sure to visit both the devastation and the rebirth, not as a gawker but as someone needing to heal. I understand that we all grieve differently. But devastation as a tourist attraction is disgusting.
At 1:30 AM,
Kim said…
I saw a blurb about the GreyLine tours on some news show yesterday and was appalled.
What kind of asses take those kind of tours? It's bizarre.
At 2:51 PM,
Dixie said…
They even had a story about the Gray Line tours on our German news. Sort of a "Americans do the strangest things" sort of thing.
At 4:42 PM,
Anonymous said…
I just returned from New Orleans yesterday,having escorted my elderly aunt back from her evacuation. I think everyone needs to see the devastation and destruction to fully understand what was lost and destroyed. It should evoke pain, hurt and loss and by doing so, hopefully motivate folks to help restore and revive New Orleans. Just looking at your pics made my nose itch and that metallic, moldy taste reappear in my mouth. Everyone should take pictures and share with others how they were affected. Hopefully more people will unite and work together to bring the Crescent City back...
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