Yesterday, I wrote of S and D going back into Slidell to salvage S’s belongings that have been in a storage unit and were ruined in the flooding during Katrina. Unfortunately, Shannon’s insurance will pay for none of the damage. D assesses the impact on the worst-hit zones:

“It’s not a happy place. Things are far from normal in the damaged areas. Unless you bring your own support system, including your own clean water, your own food and your own place to stay, you are a drain on the resources that are already there. Unless you’re there as a member of Red Cross or an organized relief group, you will not help the situation. Unless you have a magic wand that will put together all of the destroyed homes, then you’re just in the way, someone else who needs to be cared for. I can’t say this strongly enough – if you really want to help the affected areas, you need to be prepared to live in mud, debris and basic sanitation. Join the Red Cross or a group that has the infrastructure to support your presence. If you know a home or business owner who specifically wants your help, then go and help. If you don’t meet the above criteria, I strongly recommend staying away.

“Until we got to Baton Rouge, there was no visible damage. The traffic was moderate, more than expected, headed down I-12. Stopping to eat on the east side of Baton Rouge, I talked with a Second Harvest Food Bank volunteer. She said that SH takes a semi-load of food to the Slidell area everyday and they wish they could take more. She said, ‘Even though we go there once a day, the destruction is really hard to take.’ As we approached Slidell, we noticed the randomness of the damage. Some street signs were perfectly fine, while ones close by were twisted into cylinders. Most shopping centers and landmarks looked just as I remember them, but it was when we entered the city of Slidell on Highway 11 that the massive, eerily-random destruction became apparent. It looks like a war zone.

“We could tell who had been back to their homes and businesses (haphazardly cleaned-up properties and huge piles of trash bags) and the true military presence. We were behind a military convoy that stopped and waved us around – the reason they pulled over was a Canadian military contingent ahead of them with three inflatable Zodiacs (Jacques Cousteau to the rescue!) and SUVs. At this point, I wanted to take a picture and rolled the window down – between the overwhelming smell of decay and the haunted look on the locals’ faces, I just couldn’t do it. That’s when I began to cry and felt like a ghastly and disrespectful tourist – why none of my pictures have people in them.

“S’s storage facility had cars parked outside with water lines up to their roofs. There was no place to park as the regular parking lot was filled with trailers for the owners and employees, and dumpsters for the contents of the storage units. Once we got out of the truck, the smell was almost overpowering; it was a combination of swamp muck, rotten eggs and sewage. We walked in the storage building and saw that the entire facility had been wiped out to the ceiling. The owners were preparing to throw everything out anyway, so were glad to see S.

“At this point, not knowing how to proceed, we drove to the Allstate Insurance office. As S talked with one of the agents, I overheard the story of one family who had been passed from adjustor to adjustor while desperately trying to get someone to assess their damaged house before they tore out the insides ASAP, so as to lessen the growing mold damage. The homeowner said, ‘Everyday, I see the mold spreading rapidly through my home. Can someone please just come look, do I take pictures or what? I don’t want to lose the whole house.’ The only thing he receives from the insurance reps is the same request to wait. Meanwhile, S was told politely that the insurance company will not cover any of his loss – his flood insurance would cover items actually present in a house but not in storage. As he was between homes, he was not covered at all.

“We returned to the storage unit to save what we could. S’s well-organized stack of belongings were now in a big, wet heap. Most of it was destroyed and we wheelbarrowed it through the mud into the dumpster. Each one of his Rubbermaid containers was filled with pungent slime – we almost threw up on opening one of them. No masks were available, so we made do with gloves. It took us a couple of hours to get the storage unit emptied, collecting the little that could be saved in a small, dry corner of the storage facility. The owners came by at 6:30PM and advised us of the 8PM Slidell curfew.

“With each successive trip to the dumpster, I saw another part of someone’s life that you don’t expect to see in the trash. Ruined pictures, well-worn stuffed animals and a lot of things that, no doubt, held many memories for a lot of people. Worse were the different stages of mourning that people wore on their faces – fear, anger, frustration, anguish and resignation. Conspicuous because of its absence was laughter. We did, however, see several tired smiles and one optimistic car-dealer’s sign spraypainted on a piece of plywood: Fresh Cars & Trucks Coming In Now!

“Tired, stinky and emotionally exhausted, we headed out of town fifteen minutes before the curfew, and thought it best to get a room for the night. We were both tired, but, more importantly, we wanted to wash the slime off our bodies and clothes. According to our internet resources and the 800 numbers we called, there are no available hotel rooms in the state of Louisiana. The first vacancy was 20 miles east of Houston. At 3AM, we reached Houston.

“The one thing not brought up on the news is the long-lasting, life-changing emotional impact that this disaster has had on people who completely lost their homes, as opposed to the residents of Uptown, the Garden District and other spared portions of New Orleans. I got the impression from people I talked with that, psychologically, they will never again be the same. It’s not too soon to tell.”

Re-Entry Deadline?: As mentioned last night, Nagin is hopeful about people going back into the high and dry areas of New Orleans starting Monday. A curfew will be imposed.

• “… the return of residents could create some confusion and perhaps complicate the sprawling relief effort to restore power and drinkable water to the city’s east bank. He plans to enforce a dusk-to-dawn curfew.”
• Streets fully drained in Lower Ninth Ward
• Entergy reports that 264,000 consumers still have no power, “down from a record 1.1 million immediately after the storm.” They estimate that “power would be fully restored to the CBD within two weeks, and to Uptown and the French Quarter within a month.”
• “… the pumping station that drains Interstate 10 as it dips below the Southern Railroad overpass near the Jefferson Parish line also is working again and … should be usable in a few days”
• Nagin retracted his earlier use of the word “bankrupt” to describe New Orleans’ financial state. Instead, “the city coffers have been drained,” which means we’re bankrupt, but it’s impolite to say so.

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Educating Young Evacuees: A Wall Street Journal article on the troubles faced by school-age evacuees.

[The Dept. Of Education] doesn’t know how many children have re-enrolled in public schools, how many are being educated separately and how many are awaiting placement. Since it’s unclear how long the children will be displaced … the secretary won’t be granting waivers ‘in perpetuity.’

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Clean Up Jobs & Immunization: If you’re looking for a job cleaning up New Orleans, here is a site to get started.

The CDC recommends this immunization schedule for adults heading back into New Orleans, including health-care workers. If nothing else, get a tetanus shot.

Shannon & D In Slidell And The Storage Unit: D kept in touch with me via phone (strong signal – no dropped calls) as Shannon and he re-entered Slidell and, following that, Jefferson Parish the Allstate Insurance office. Quite a few Slidell homes have been devastated by wind damage, but clean water and power are back in several neighborhoods. Residents are back to survey damage to their homes and neighborhoods, and have already begun cleaning, clearing and rebuilding.

The storage unit in Slidell was indeed flooded – D and he spent a better part of today throwing out a lot of Shannon’s personal items. Unfortunately, Shannon’s Allstate homeowner’s (w/ flood) insurance does not cover items in the storage unit, and this is going to be a total loss. (We’re going to try and bake the hard drive for the poor lad.) To top it all off, I wasn’t able to find a single hotel room for them anywhere between New Orleans and eastern Texas and, therefore, the two mold-ridden guys are going to have to make it back into Texas smelling like hell. This is great news, given that I am allergic to two forms of mold that grow only in Louisiana and that Shannon and D are covered with it, not to mention how wonderful it will be when we return soon for our short visit. Speaking of re-entry …

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The Latest From Our Mayor About Returning: Earlier today, Nagin announced that, IF a forthcoming EPA report on toxins and status of septic water looks good, he wishes to re-open unaffected to less-damaged parts of the city to locals by zip code (aaah, smart move, the phased re-entry concept).

Should [the EPA] report be as promising as the mayor believes it will be … possibly as soon as next week … Nagin said he would begin to allow residents to return by zip code … return would involve Algiers, the French Quarter, Central Business District and Uptown, Nagin said. None of those areas were flooded.

Big IF. Again, if people go back and start to get sick, it’s the EPA’s and Nagin’s reputations in question, so please, everyone, take five on this one.

My mayor rocks, what with quotes like, “The city is out of nuclear crisis mode and we’re in day-to-day crisis mode.” Yes, now that the locust stream has been diverted to Nevada and Mars has postponed its attack, we simply have to deal with commonplace issues such as flooding, lack of clean water, finding provisions, sputtering power and the rejuvenation of business and life as usual. (Just joking – you’ve got to love Nagin and his lines – he has my vote!) I am POSITIVE that we can and will make it happen, and that Nagin is the man to lead us towards our goal, albeit that nagging feeling it’s going to take more than a few weeks.

As my neighbor said, “Let’s hope the mayor is right this time.”

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Non-Profit Fund Established To Help City Of New Orleans: As I mentioned earlier today, the city has no money, and this is frightening. Please pass on this article and find backers for a non-profit corporation set up to save our now-bankrupt city. Equally scary is the fund’s unattractive name – apparently, one of New Orleans’ primary needs is new PR representation.

Nagin spokeswoman, Tami Frazier, on the non-profit’s goals:

… anything we do will be geared toward helping New Orleanians back on their feet, by taking care of whatever their essential needs may be. City officials said the possibilities include temporary housing assistance, helping small businesses acquire start-up inventory and paying to bring in experts in the fields or urban planning and economic development. The administration has decided to name the non-profit America’s New Orleans Fund Inc.

How To Give: “Once the non-profit is authorized by the Secretary of State’s office, contributions will be accepted at any Chase branch or a post office box the city will designate.”

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.