Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Merry Katrina Christmas

Disclaimer: Don't get the impression that New Orleans is doing alright because people are decorating their houses for Christmas. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It's true that life goes on almost normally along a narrow sliver of the city that follows the curve of the Mississippi River. I'm not interested in the Christmas decorations there -- those homes have no markings on them because they had no flooding. What you're seeing here, for the most part, are homes that were in areas that flooded, but that were at least marginally habitable (often because they were sufficiently raised or had second floors), or that had already been gutted and restored. If you traveled in a straight line from the river to Lake Pontchartrain, the condition of neighborhoods and homes would generally diminish as the natural land elevation dips deeper into the shape of a bowl, with the exception of a few natural ridges (see the elevation and flood maps listed in the sidebar for a visual). The homes pictured below lie in that periphery on the very edge of habitable New Orleans. Most of these homes are in the Broadmoor and Mid-City neighborhoods. Remember that 80 percent of the city was flooded, and less than 100,000 of some 400-500,000 original residents are now living in the city. The discovery of a house with Christmas decorations is not common in many of these neighborhoods where people are living in a frontier ghost town with few, if any, neighbors.













































More Katrina Christmas photos can be found in earlier PGR posts here and here.

If you know of any other homes that need to be added to the collection, please let me know by leaving a comment.

6 Comments:

At 12/20/2005 05:51:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, thought I'd come by and catch up. Great photos, as usual. Your post about Bush (you know, with all the "F" words?) was fabulous.

It's so hard to watch this shit happen, isn't it? I mean, you guys down in NOLA have it much worse, obviously, but to listen to all the crap this administration gets away with leaves me with outrage fatigue.

NYT sat on the NSA spying on citizens story for over a year? What is that all about? This guy could rape a two-day old baby on live television, and nothing would happen to him.

I can't stand it.

 
At 12/20/2005 08:36:00 AM, Blogger Schroeder said...

You know -- the outrage fatigue -- I'm there. I have so much to say about that asshole I just can't do it anymore. I mean, what is this -- a gestapo state? He just needs to be impeached.

I hope your hiatus from the blogging thing is treating you well.

I'm thinking I may cut back to once a week after the first of the year.

 
At 12/20/2005 09:36:00 AM, Blogger dillyberto said...

You are the bomb Shroeder!

Great photos.

Great commentary.
Cheers,
Merry Christmas to you and yours.

 
At 12/20/2005 10:02:00 AM, Blogger Michael said...

Your point re: floods/damage to houses/location is well made. It's also a tremendous worry for me. Sunday I took my first trip to the city since the storm. On the way in from the west, yes, you can see some things--blue tarps on the roofs, broken or bent trees, and so on--but the REAL devastation isn't readily visible from the highway (maybe it is from I-610, but I was heading downtown and took the Poydras exit).

Also, I'm guessing things look different if you hit the city from the east...

I worry though, that some people might not realize that the areas of greatest damage AREN'T the areas frequented by tourists.

 
At 12/21/2005 07:18:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

check it!

http://www.cafepress.com/dirtycoast/989784

 
At 12/24/2005 11:19:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If bush had as much BACKBONE as the brave people of New Orleans and Mississppi,,,,He would be downt there helping out....how in heck are we gonna get rid of him.

YOu guys all just keep on keeping on,,because New Orleans and all of the gulf coast is GONNA RISE AGAIN...
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.............

 

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