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Katrina struck New Orelans and the MS Gulf Coast 10 years ago today

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by BayouBengal, Aug 29, 2015.

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  1. BayouBengal

    BayouBengal VIP Whale

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    I had a very close call with Katrina. I had just graduated from LSU in May and accepted a job in LaPlace,LA which is a few miles west of New Orleans just up river. I had scouted apartments in the Kenner and Harrahan areas of New Orleans metro area. Not ideal for a recent college grad but it was what I could afford and didn't have anyone to room with at the time. I was all set to start my new job and sign a new lease in New Orleans within a week or two as I still had an apartment in Baton Rouge through end of July. I head back to north Louisiana for the weekend to visit my parents before starting the new job. On my way up I get a call from the University of New Orleans for a final interview and potential offer. So I stop and return for that. I take that job instead despite slightly lower pay as a steel mill in La Place LA is no place for a computer guy. Haha. Luckily my assignment is in Baton Rouge. I avoid the mess that was New Orleans on August 29 2005. My now gf wasn't so lucky. She lived just a few blocks from the 17th Street Canal levee breach. The entire 1st floor of her house was submerged.

    It was surreal watching the images on TV knowing it was happening just a few miles down the road but had no way to help or do anything. I couldn't even get to LSU's campus to help out with triage as it was near impossible to get anywhere due to an influx of evacuees or downed trees and power lines not allowing you to pass. LSU's basketball arena was being used as a triage facility and the neighboring track stadium used as a landing pad for helicopters ferrying the most critical patients. There's a video somewhere of basketball and football players acting as IV bag stand as there were so many people and not enough equipment. And this doesn't even consider the dozens still trapped in hospitals with no power, a/c and flooded basements ruining generators and medicine. At Chairty Hospital bodies were being stored in the stairwells since the morgue had flooded. Truly a desperate time.

    At the time New Orleans was a true city of ruin....

    [video=youtube_share;NqShcQagaAY]http://youtu.be/NqShcQagaAY[/video]

    GF's house is somewhere on the left side of this picture
    image.jpg
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2015
  2. bshowell

    bshowell VIP Whale

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    This was such a horrible time. I can't imagine being in that area and wanting to help but not being able to.
     
  3. NewOrleansSlimm

    NewOrleansSlimm VIP Whale

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    at the time I had 2 jobs...auto collision tech which i still do, and bartending in the french quarter

    since you know the kenner, harrahan area well. I live in Metairie right off clearview, were on a ridge so all we got was some roof damage which messed up to rooms in the house, nothing major...my job then and currently, i work near I10 and clearview, our main dealership at the time near veterans and clearview had about 4 foot of water, where I work got about 1 foot inside.

    the bar in the french quarter got nothing

    now we never evacuate, we decided this one was the one and left, we were in baton rouge, then in some country town south of alexandria called forest hill. my brother got a pass through his work to come back in. I was back working at both jobs, 1 week after landfall...I got to see a lot of the devestation first hand and it was bad...a lot has come back but still to this day a lot has not
     
  4. joesmom

    joesmom Low-Roller

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    It was a horrible time - it was so hard to watch on tv and not be able to help but I couldn't turn it off either.
     
  5. NickyDim

    NickyDim Hockey is life

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    A terrible destructive and deadly storm. It's very scary. In hurricane Sandy we lost our roof, but we were lucky being in the middle of the Island and suffered only wind damage and before that while running last minute errands a tree came toppling down on my passenger seat nearly injuring my wife. .

    [​IMG]


    Over 100,000 homes on Long Island lost their first floors due to a 15 foot storm surge that effected all of Long Island and NJ's shores. And while Katrina was more violent and more deadly than Sandy, Sandy dwarfts Katrina in size of effect on peoples lives and business.

    <table class="MsoNormalTable" border="1" cellpadding="0"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 477.75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" colspan="3" width="637" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>In Comparison to Katrina</em></strong></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width: 212.25pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="283" valign="top"> &nbsp; </td> <td style="width: 81.0pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="108" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><strong>Sandy in </strong><br /> <strong>New York</strong></p> </td> <td style="width: 184.5pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="246" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><strong>Katrina &amp; Rita in Louisiana</strong></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width: 212.25pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="283" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Housing units damaged or destroyed</strong></p> </td> <td style="width: 81.0pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="108" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">305,000*</p> </td> <td style="width: 184.5pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="246" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">214,700</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width: 212.25pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="283" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Power outages (peak)</strong></p> </td> <td style="width: 81.0pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="108" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">2,190,000</p> </td> <td style="width: 184.5pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="246" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">800,000</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width: 212.25pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="283" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Businesses Impacted </strong></p> </td> <td style="width: 81.0pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="108" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">265,300</p> </td> <td style="width: 184.5pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="246" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">18,700</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width: 212.25pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="283" valign="top"> <p class="MsoNormal">*This number only includes assessment to date; the number is anticipated to grow</p> </td> <td style="width: 81.0pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="108" valign="top">&nbsp; </td> <td style="width: 184.5pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;" width="246" valign="top"> &nbsp; </td> </tr></tbody></table>

    These figures are just for NY. You could make a case for doubling all those numbers as NJ was just as hard hit, as was Conn, RI and Mass.


    Living on LI my whole life hurricanes were common and we had a very laid back approach, going out in them, throwing parties, but now we all take them very seriously and if the warnings go up make sure you not near the ocean or some 100 year old trees, and be prepared to not have power, hot water or the ability to cook in some cases (we had gas), because the power could go out for more than a week, and make sure your car has a full tank. Sandy left Long Island with no gasoline and we had long lines and rations for 2-3 weeks following the storm.


    Katrina taught us alot about how much damage and how many lives can be affected by a disaster. You'd think the Gov't learned some lessons but apparently most of the people I know here were very frustrated with the response here 7 years after Katrina. Some took upward of 2 years for repairs to be completed for some I know.
     
  6. BayouBengal

    BayouBengal VIP Whale

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    One of the apartments I was looking at was in the creeks in harrahan since it was close to Airline as well as an easy route to downtown taking Earhart. The other was off of Vintage in Kennah Brah. I probably would have been ok in either location in terms of storm damage. So glad I got that call from UNO with the job being in Baton Rouge. I knew it was a better fit career wise as their computer stuff was much more up to date compared to the steel mill. Being low man on the totem pole I wonder if they would have asked me to stay on call.

    If I ever go back its Garden District or Marigny for me.
     
  7. NewOrleansSlimm

    NewOrleansSlimm VIP Whale

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    lol, i live a few blocks from airline, right near the rouses and krispy kreme. i take airline into the city, dont take Earhart much unless im going around traffic or my brothers work at Amtrak...would love a garden district home but ever since we became hollywood south, some celebrities dont want to be low key and announce they have a home here now and its driving prices sky high...a home you could get for $300-500K a few years back is now going for 1.5-2mil
     
  8. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    I was there about six months after it hit. State tourism brought in writers to show that life was continuing. It was sobering to say the least.
     
  9. BlueSkadoo

    BlueSkadoo VMB Sweetheart

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    Hey, me too! Such a small world. Geaux Tigers!!
     
  10. BayouBengal

    BayouBengal VIP Whale

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    A couple of months back I rode through the 9th Ward and a lot of it still looks bombed out just with half as many houses as before.
     
  11. RebelDiceMan

    RebelDiceMan VIP Whale

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    Thanks for mentioning that Katrina hit the MS Gulf Coast too. A lot of people in other parts of the country don't seem to remember that. We own a condo in Biloxi. Katrina completely washed out the first floor and put 6 ft. of water in the second floor. That doesn't sound that impressive until you know that the bottom floor of our condo is elevated 21 ft above the waterline. A 28-30 ft storm surge will do that. The thing about Katrina is that is was such a huge storm. When it hit, I lived 150 miles from the coast and still had a couple of hundred year old oak trees dropped on my house. We were without power for eight days but those two oak trees turned our front porch into a green cave that stayed a little cooler than inside the house. According to MEMA reports, there were over 1,000 homes damaged or destroyed in our county even as far away as we were. Damage got progressively worse with every mile you traveled south.
     
  12. BayouBengal

    BayouBengal VIP Whale

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    A high school and college classmate of mine had recently moved to Biloxi just before the storm. I recall him posting a picture of when he found his dishwasher down the street, still full of dishes.
     
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