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This incredible annotated photo gallery by a New Orleans resident/Nicaraguan immigrant chronicles the progression of Katrina in New Orleans. It shows images of preparations for the storm, its first pass, the eerie calm of its eye, and the flooding and looting that followed. There are many photos, so it takes some time to view and read the entire set… but it is certainly worth it. Link found on Boing Boing.
From the site:
On Sunday August 28 I woke up at 5 in the morning to go to my morning job at the Chateu Sonesta Hotel. The night before, we had been warned that Hurricane Katrina was preying her eyes upon us. In the history of New Orleans, there has NEVER been a direct hit by a hurricane. In everyone’s mind, this hurricane would follow the same path that hundreds of past storms had done before. However, because of the size of the storm and ferocity which it tore through South Florida, the citizens of the The Big Easy prepared themselves as best they could… this is my tale of the events.
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I would like to see the pictures that you mention about Hurricane Katrina but I cannot find them. The link that you give does not show them. Please help.
Thanks,
Americo95@verizon.net
Sadly, the individual who had posted the photographs has since removed them from his photo gallery.Fixed!
Alan Bellows said: “Sadly, the individual who had posted the photographs has since removed them from his photo gallery.”
I found it again! The URL changed, but it’s still there… the link in the article has been adjusted accordingly.
Great find Alan! I worked down in Plaquemine Parish shortly after the hurricane up into late May. Our company won a contract to work under the USACE (US Army Corp of Engineers) and USEPA (US Environmental Protection Agency). We helped locate and move all environmentally hazardous waste that was scattered all over the Parish. There were some very trying times and sacrifices made by everyone involved in this storm. Being a Louisiana resident I saw firsthand the damages made emotionally to people not just the physical damage that is shown in those pictures. There are some people that will never be the same mentally after this horrible storm.
In the little town of Buras, LA (located about 55 miles south of New Orleans, LA) the eye of Katrina sat for over 2.5 hours and recked all kinds of havoc. I have never seen a water tower on the ground before this incident. There was a man that I met down there that related a story to me that I would like to share as one small example of the emotional backlash that followed this storm.
I climbed a telephone pole shortly after the water reached the top of my roof and I relized I couldn’t stay there any longer. I clung to this pole for three days while I waited for the water to receed or a rescue helocopter to come. Neither happened. I decided to swim to the closest levee, about 2 miles away. Once there I walked North on the levee amongst cattle, deer, dogs, and pile of debris as far as the eye could see. I ran into a house that had been washed up onto the levee and looked to be otherwise unscathed. I entered this home to try and find some food that was still sealed just as cans, bottles, or bags of some type. What I did find was a dead child that I guessed to be around 2-3 years of age. I took this dead child with me and continued to walk North on the levee until I finally got to dry land. I found Highway 23 and made my way into Belle Chasse, LA. A school here was being used to help those in need. I sought shelter at this school and inquiried as to where I could place this dead child. They pointed me in the direction of the playground. Upon arriving at the playground I noticed that it was guarded my Sheriff Deputies and a newly constructed barbed wire fense was inplace. On the other side of this fence were piles of bodies. I really didn’t want to leave the child with all the other bodies but I really had no choice. I tried to get by the Deputies but they told me that I would have to throw the baby over the fence since there was no gate. I did this with a heavy heart. The baby got tangled in the barbed wire on the top of the fence and I was given no choice but to climb up the fence and pull this baby out of the wire and into the pile. I will never as long as I live forget the image of pulling that baby off that wire and the smell it left on my arms that would linger for days.
This man was still very distract when he related this horrible story to me even though it was at that time, March of 2006. I sometimes have nightmares of some of the images I witnessed in Plaquemines and some of the atrosities that transpired. I told this story to give a little more insight into one mans emotional plight after the mass physical damage that occured. This guy also made short mention of the second degree burns that he received all down his legs and arms from the anti-termite chemicals used on telephone poles.
ColinJ said: “Great find Alan! I worked down in Plaquemine Parish shortly after the hurricane up into late May. Our company won a contract to work under the USACE (US Army Corp of Engineers) and USEPA (US Environmental Protection Agency). We helped locate and move all environmentally hazardous waste that was scattered all over the Parish. There were some very trying times and ….quote]
OMG! Your story is so incredibly sad. To much like too many others. It breaks my heart. We must all, collectivly decide that this sort of thing must never be allowed to happen again. We as the human race have got to start “takeing care of the house.” If we continue to blindly abuse our planet , she will eventually die, and we of course will be swept away in her death throes. >:***(
We can start by going back in time and hiring Gore instead of Bush. He made a anti-hurricane machine that saved the Big Easy (SNL Reference for those who missed it)
I found this all very interesting in a number of ways. Alvaro’s account is very different from the impressions that I got from the national media, and confirmed many of my suspicions.
The main one is that the victims, as a whole, took very little individual responsibility to help themselves. There was plenty of time to leave the city before the storm, but these people did not. Growing up on the Gulf Coast, it’s common knowledge that New Orleans is below sea level, and could not withstand a large hurricane. I remember many times, when a hurricane came into the gulf, thinking that 1) I hope it doesn’t hit us, and 2) I hope it doesn’t hit New Orleans. Regardless, modern technology gives us ample opportunity to evacuate the coast, and I have done so more than once myself.
Even after the storm, remaining residents had a full day to evacuate before the water started rising, and a good day after it began. Instead, many of the victims shown on TV chose to spend their time waiting for someone to come help them. They were trapped by their own complacence. Others decided to spend their time looting, or even creating their own destruction. Even after finding themselves trapped, most were shown on TV sitting around, askind, “When are they going to come help us?” My question was, when are they going to help themselves? Why don’t the citizens organize themselves to gather food and water, to maintain sanitation, and to enforce rules? My theory is that this was a disaster caused by welfare.
Also, universal health care and flying cars that run on vegetable oil…
Enter your reply text here. OK
well read comment story. ? credibility ?
pictures are not available.
I love reading another (above):
Gila Monster #7 November 15th, 2007 1:22 pm My question was, when are they going to help themselves? Why don’t the citizens organize themselves to gather food and water, to maintain sanitation, and to enforce rules? My theory is that this was a disaster caused by welfare.
ANSWER: This commenter is telling a whole city of poor people – nieve opinionated sounding jouvenile experience mind set.
Pres. Bush without leadership pouring money into the area wasn’t very successful.