Sorry I haven't posted since the storm, but I just haven't had much opportunity to get online.

My wife and I decided to get out of Dodge the Saturday before the storm. We couldn't see any reason to wait. It was a weekend so there was not the usual decision about leaving work or my wife shutting down her school. My parents live in Houston so we figured we would spend a couple of days with them then be back home by Tuesday or so. It was a couple of weeks before we could get back into our house. We had a little water in the house, ruining 2 rooms of carpet and 2 rooms of wood floor. We also had enough roof damage to create a few leaks and require re-shingling. Right now we have a pretty blue tarp roof care of the Corps of Engineers and FEMA. My garage had almost a foot of water in it, but the water in my area went down quickly. To answer the question on most of your minds - my bikes are ok.

I live in Metairie, an adjacent suburb of New Orleans. I am just a couple of miles from the largest levee breach that flooded the city. You cannot imagine what it looks like on the other side. Block after block, mile after mile, dead. For about 100 square miles of dense urban/suburban residential area the houses are stained brown with water lines anywhere from 4 feet to 12 or 15 feet off the ground. Many houses were flooded to the eaves and sat in the water for 19 days. Approximately 200,000 people lost literally everything but a few odds and ends they have been able to pull from the muck that filled the houses, several of my fellow employees among them. In an adjacent parish (county) east of the city EVERY house and business was flooded. How does a government survive something like that? Zero revenue for months and months. Recovery will be long and hard. Property owners and businesses aren't sure if they should start rebuilding. The levees and seawalls probably can't be secured in time for next hurricane season. Even if they can, there is now evidence that in many places the designs are compromised by weak soil conditions and insufficient safety margins. The levee system is supposed to be able to withstand storms stronger than Katrina was when it hit New Orleans. We weren't even on the "bad" side of the storm (the eastern side of a hurricane is generally more dangerous) and look what happened. People are REALLY concerned. The really sad thing is that for about $10 billion over the years, the levees could have been designed for Cat 5 instead of Cat 3. Now it will cost over $100 billion in damage. What happened with Katrina was not a long shot that "might never happen". New Orleans will definitely be hit by even stronger storms - maybe next year, maybe in 20 years, but it will happen. It is not a gamble; it is a certainty.

Sorry to get on a rant. It is difficult not to when Ted Stevens is trying to build a $100 million bridge to an island that has 50 residents, but a metropolitan area of 1.5 million can't get what it needs to survive. I will stop now.

Thanks for thinking of us. Hopefully I will get to spend some time online from time to time. I am not able to ride to work right now. We are in temporary offices in a location that is not comfortable to ride to. I COULD do it. It's actually shorter than my usual ride, and probably no worse traffic-wise than many others face, but I will wait until we get back downtown in a few weeks.
Regards,
Raymond

good to hear an update - all the best to you and family and friends

the week of the disaster my mom brought me some coffee she ordered online from cafe du mond from a friend that used to live there. i heard they're back up, and am definetely going to place some orders online from them. just a tiny way to help a biz down there, and it's great coffee.

something that really disgusted me regarding new coverage, was the FOXs and CNNs reporting "claims" of horrific things like rapes of children at the superdome, cannabalism on the streets, and other un-human like things, as if the residents turned into the Morlocks from HG Wells the time machine within one week.

NPR had a story a few weeks back about how most of these stories were unsubstantiated, never verified and forgotten about, but i wish "reports" like that were not reported, even if it was noted it was rumor. i.e. there was never a three year old ***** and killed at the superdome.

anyway sorry for my rant, but i'm sure you know most people are good and did great in a difficult situation

Glad you're okay and I appreciate the update. I hope this story doesn't disappear from national attention. This is a tragedy that didn't have to happen, from beginning to end. I was in tears watching the reports of people stranded at the Superdome, in their homes, and on the highways with no help in sight. I recently read that as many as 7,000 people are still unaccounted for.

I wish you and your neighbors continued strength as you rebuild your lives and your unique and charming city!

Thanks for reminding those of us who are far away that the tragedy is far from over.

Yep.

You didn't answer one question: How are you going to satisfy your King Cake cravings? ;)

Last week, I heard from several professors from Tulane about the politics and political structure of New Orleans and Louisiana, and some of the forces at play. Beyond the Federal response and the incredibly hard task of personal rebuilding, it sounds like the citizens of New Orleans and the region will have to do some really hard thinking about how to make their leaders accountable.

All the best.

Sorry to hear of all the damage, and glad to hear it wasn't any worse for you.

Great to hear from you man, we missed you! Glad to hear you'll be able to recover relatively easily (besides living in a newly-economically-depressed area).

Hi Rainman.
Glad you're back with us and doing better than many folks in New Orleans.

My aunt lived there and her house was completely destroyed by the water. She lived in Chalmette. She's been here in the Atlanta area living with her granddaughter since the storm. She said she'd like to go back home but there's nothing to go back to. Very sad!

Thanks for the warm welcome back, gang. Ron, several of my co-workers live(d) in Chalmette. The adjacent parish to which I referred is St. Bernard, where Chalmette is located. Unlike most of the flooding in New Orleans, which resulted from levee breaches the day after the hurricane, St. Bernard actually flooded from storm surge overtopping the levees. The surge came right up the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet canal, a waterway dug as a shortcut alternative to the several hours it takes ships to actually come up the river. The MRGO has bee cursed by the residents of St. Bernard since before it was built because of concern that exactly what happened WOULD happen. "I told you so" rings a bit hollow at this point.

Glad you are back--I've missed your postings and was very concerned about your wellbeing. It's a crime about the levees--they have the knowledge to build good ones, just makes you wonder what our tax dollars go for. Hope you can get back to commuting by bike soon!

Sorry to hear about all that, but we're glad you're ok. I thought they had federal contractors down there that were supposed to be cleaning up the muck and the oil and human waste and stuff? It sounds like there's still a real problem there. :(

Koffee

I do not foresee a bright future ..... I know: I am a historian, I can predict the future.

Hey, Rainman! Add me to the chorus of "Glad you're okay"!! (And your wife and bikes too, in the appropriate order! ;))

Aside from that, I'd like to ask your opinion about something, if you don't mind. You probably missed this, but a few weeks after the storm (9/11, ironically, now that I look), someone posted a thread about bike organizations helping by sending bikes to residents who needed them. About 8 weeks and an intervening election campaign later, another guy and I are actually trying to put together such an effort here in Maine. We're calling it Bikes for the Bayou, and we have a website here. Immediately afterwards, my thought was bikes for mainly transportational purposes. Now that some time has passed (and we won't be shipping the bikes until mid-December), I'm not sure if that's still such an immediate need, what with people probably acquiring other transportation in the meantime. Of course, there are also probably plenty of people who didn't have cars in the first place, and recreation is also a valid use, especially for children. So we're going ahead with the effort, but not knowing first-hand any affected people, I'm sort of going on faith that it will be a worthwhile effort.

Do you know Audrey Warren? She was a bike advocate there in the Big Easy, and is currently working out of Houston with the Texas Bike Coalition. They are coordinating a national bike collection effort, and will probably be the ones to provide us with local contacts for delivery and distribution, maybe even in Texas, where we hear many of the evacuees are.

So that's what we're up to. I would be very interested in hearing what you think of this idea, and what ideas you might have for how to how we can maximize the value of our effort. You can read more about the details on our website. Of course, I know you must be very busy and probably don't have a lot of time, but I would really value even a few sentences from a local point of view. That would be great!

And best of luck in your recovery.

Rainman, So nice to have you back. We missed your insight on this forum. Welcome back. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

First glad to hear you made it through all right. Second, I moved to AK this summer (military) and find it funny that the majority of Alaskans don't want that bridge built. I don't really understand the whole reasoning behind it, but I've just heard/read a lot of griping about it on radio/tv/newspapers.

Welcome back Rainman. Just got back in town to sta myself.

MattC glad you are OK. Hopefully, your home is OK. Gads both storms were unreal.

Rainman,

I don't hang out much here, or ss/fixe so we
haven't spoken in a while.
I'm glad your and your family are safe.
Glad you thought to get out on Saturday.

Marty

Rainman,

Glad you're ok. I've been hoping you got out and weathered the storm. Sounds like you came through it ok, especially compared to many others. Good luck putting everything back together.

Raymond, I'm so sorry about what happened to your home and so many of your neighbors. I know if anyone can weather the aftermath of Katrina, it's someone with your heart.

All the best to you and Rainbabe, and hoping for a quick recovery--

Pete

Glad to see you back and apparantly still riding. Had been concerned by your lengthy absence after Katrina.

You didn't mention, is your employ still intact?

Thanks for the report on St. Bernard. Unfortunately, we don't get much in news updates on St. Bernard and Plaquemines, and I fear they probably end up similar shorting to the recovery of '27.

good to see your well! thanks for the report.

in my little uptopian way of seeing things maybe the rebuilding of new orleans could happen in a way that will make your city nicer than it ever was before eventually? maybe they could take some of the land lost and turn it into nice greenspace for non-motor transprotation corridors?

one of the things i really wonder is what they will do with all that vacnt land that results from the people who don't want to come back. it wont be easy but they might be able to really creatively rebuild new orleans...

as someone with some background in city planning, as horrible as these events were, i will be fascinated to see how it all goes back together.

please keep us posted.