Return To “Ground Zero”: This morning, Shannon and D left for Slidell and then Jefferson Parish – D will help Shannon recover everything in two storage units that is not trashed from the flooding, including insurance papers, a much-needed hard drive and Shannon’s prized hunting rifles. Can’t wait to see the pictures from this expedition. Shannon’s Slidell ex-home is now quite convenient for people who don’t like to climb stairs – the wind shoved the second floor into the first floor.

As for me, life is fantastic between dogsitting and the magical mystery trip to the credit union this afternoon.

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What FEMA Is Doing: The Dept. of Homeland Security lists FEMA’s actions to date. Of interest –

$2,000 per household to help pay for the emergency needs of food, shelter, clothing, personal necessities and medical needs

Department of Labor has three programs to offer immediate income assistance to workers displaced by Hurricane Katrina 1) Unemployment Insurance for workers who lost their jobs because of Hurricane Katrina; 2) Disaster Unemployment Insurance for the newly employed and self-employed not normally eligible for unemployment insurance and, 3) Temporary jobs funded through National Emergency Grants.

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Airport Barely Open For Passenger Flights: Louis Armstrong International Airport reopened today for what will most likely be “a combination of people who live in areas with less damage, such as the River Parishes, and people involved in helping southeast Louisiana recover and rebuild.”

Only four flights are scheduled, a pair of round trips from Memphis, Tenn., by Northwest Airlines, and Aviation Director Roy Williams predicted 60 flights per day by the end of the week … Many airlines have waived fees and penalties for passengers who want to reschedule flights they planned before Katrina. Some said they have given passengers refunds for canceled flights.

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City Bankrupt Yet Hopeful: Yesterday, Mayor Ray Nagin declared that the city is out of money but “pledged that he and other citizens of New Orleans rather than state and national officials would be the lead planners in rebuilding.” It appears that the president has left the city in our hands, too.

Nagin does not know for certain when the city will officially re-open for permanent living and business.

Some Business Owners Allowed Back In: Temporary permits are available for business owners who wish to return to the CBD and portions of the Garden District and Uptown. See nola.com article for details (article talks only about CBD businesses).

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Recovery: NYTimes Article On NOLA Recovery Efforts

[FEMA] sending 600 public works laborers to the city, is instead focused on draining the floodwaters, repairing the water system and getting the sewage system operating. Entergy is trying to restore electricity to the drier areas … the Army Corps of Engineers estimates that the city will be drained in another month … officials hoped to get the water system running citywide in 90 days … assuming that thousands of houses will have to be bulldozed … houses can be raised according to the level of risk … Louisiana’s highways need $1.3 billion in repairs (maybe) … future floods could best be deterred through landscape restoration and engineering … “The French Quarter, Algiers and the St. Charles Avenue corridor – all those big houses, all the things the tourists want to see – they’re all still in place.”

From the NYTimes – New Orleans Neighborhoods Worst Hit By Floods

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Political Debris Hinders Efficient Rebuilding Effort: Quite purposefully, I have stayed away from the finger-pointing battle that escalates between the federal government and state & local officials, i.e. who is to blame for what happened in New Orleans?

Guess what, real New Orleanians do not care whose fault it is. We want to see cooperation among all agencies work toward a lasting solution for a city that is vital to America. Aye, there’s the rub: an American city.

Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Independents and Anarchists alike, I have one request: Stop arguing over who caused this problem. Each time the citizens of New Orleans hear anyone lay the blame wholly at the feet of others, they see Americans distancing themselves from an American problem. Even through one of the worst disasters to hit our country, you care more about your teflon armor than watching a unique American port city come back to life and thrive. For once, can this not be about politics and you, but about people who cry themselves to sleep every night or remain sleepless because they have no certainty about anything, much less their political allegiance?

Instead, be positive for New Orleans and America. Request that all of the energy going into castigation be diverted to finding the optimal combination of financial, intellectual and physical resources, at ALL levels of government, to rebuild New Orleans right.

nola.com editorial: Welcome back, Mr. President
Anne Rice In The NYTimes: Do You Know What It Means To Lose New Orleans?

Chemicals In Floodwater: Lead, sewage treatment plant chemicals and car and lawn runoff are some of the main contaminants of NO’s floodwater, never mind the E. coli. Once the water is cleaned, however, the long-term deleterious effects will not be on humans, but on lawns. Hey, America needs some priorities.

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Entry Into Uptown: Post 676 from the nola.com Uptown forums reads, “Drove down to New Orleans arriving around 600A from Jackson Ms. Allowed thru 3 checkpoints telling guards and police I was going in to retrieve my daughter’s belongings from her apt who was a Law student at Tulane. Ended up on Airline Drive, cut across Jefferson Hwy, around River Road to Oak street. I was at the apt about five hours and guards and police coming by constantly asking what I was doing and when I was leaving. Worst problem was rotted food in the refrig and getting that cleaned out. Apt located about a 1/2 mi from Tulane had no water damage, in fact still had running water with a couple of people living in the neighborhood with generators. Police were marking houses that they had checked with stray paint to indicate no one there.”

Can’t wait to find out if the police marked my house or the plywood boards with that awful orange. Small price to pay for safety, I suppose. Also, shivers run down my spine on thinking about the ecosystem that lives and thrives in my refrigerator. Cleaning that up should be an exercise in rapture. Again, if the refrigerator is all this debacle takes from my place, so be it.

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Well Worth A Read: The September 3 print issue of The Economist carries an eloquent and synoptic essay on the defensive, environmental, political and economic implications of Katrina and future Category 4-5s for our area. Oddly enough, the article doesn’t blame global warming for the hurricane as does this Boston Globe opinion.

A Day Off: One thousand apologies for the downtime in reporting. The evening of Day 12 and most of Day 13 were spent in the company of friends, EndoKing and Tonya, in from near Santa Barbara to spend time with us and our local friends such as MojoToad and Ms. G-Lenney.

Back to NOLA.

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Water Level Going Down Quickly: The water is draining and at quite the pace. However, water service is a few months off yet.

Floodwater Temporarily Drained Into Lake Pontchartrain

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My Mayor: Mayor Ray Nagin, on the phone with the Times Picayune from Dallas, “Analyze my ass, analyze everyone’s ass, man. Let’s put the facts on the table and talk turkey. Why was there a breakdown at the federal and state level only in Louisiana? This didn’t happen in Mississippi. That’s the question. That’s the question of the day.”

Nagin has moved his family, including a young daughter, to Dallas for the next six months. He will continue to work out of New Orleans as soon as his family’s life is set up.

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FEMA: Vice Admiral Thad Allen replaces Michael Brown as the hurricane-zone FEMA head. From the US Coast Guard site,

Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen assumed duties as Chief of Staff, U.S. Coast Guard and Commanding Officer, Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC in May 2002. Vice Admiral Allen is third in command of the Coast Guard. VADM Allen serves as the Coast Guard“s Transition Director for the transfer of the Coast Guard from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security.

Those familiar with things nautical think that Allen is a good replacement. He will make progress on the ground, especially given that the Coasties were the first people who DID anything in New Orleans after the hurricane.