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Got an e-mail From Eve Dupont (worldwidese) with a request that I post this for all here. She is unable to get on the forum right now and wants her friends to know how she's doing.
TwisTee
Well I've been back a while now and the initial shock of the destruction and mess is beginning to wear off. Most of my friends have made it back if they decided to come back. Lots of tales of hair raising escapes and heroism too. Only one person I know died. She drowned.
Plenty of people though have settled elsewhere. I don't blame them as things are pretty difficult here. Many phone lines are still not working and some places don't have electricity, and others don't have gas.
Many of us don't have mail delivery and we have to go to temporary stations and stand in line to get mail, which is very time consuming, as you can imagine, although it is done by zip code.
The French Quarter was the first to get up and running and indeed one or two bars never closed. Now there are many restaurants and souvenir shops open again and all are doing tremendous business due to the thousands of National Guard guys and other Government and non agencies (Charity, Insurance, demolition and reconstruction firms ) here.
The absolute symbol of Katrina's work is the hundreds of refrigerators out on the curb, They are everywhere. Due to the long period of power off, everything inside a refrigerator became putrid and millions of small flies invaded and bred and made a disgusting mess that makes it impossible to clean inside the motor and behind the seals.
Contractors with Bobcats and Dumpsters are gradually clearing debris from the streets and curbs, but because the Mayor cut 3000 jobs due to no finance, we don't have garbage pick up so houses are rapidly disappearing behind mountains of trash.
Now that many people have no way of cooking, there are lots of charities running mobile units around delivering hot meals, and others are set up in parks and squares. There are also stashes of supplies in these places. Cleaning materials, hygiene supplies, clothing and dry food etc. One place I saw had about a million condoms for the taking!
Mardi Gras will happen, but with far fewer parades. Normally there are 65 total. Halloween should be really big this year with an opportunity for the locals to come out with their usual topical and witty costumes!
TwisTee
Well I've been back a while now and the initial shock of the destruction and mess is beginning to wear off. Most of my friends have made it back if they decided to come back. Lots of tales of hair raising escapes and heroism too. Only one person I know died. She drowned.
Plenty of people though have settled elsewhere. I don't blame them as things are pretty difficult here. Many phone lines are still not working and some places don't have electricity, and others don't have gas.
Many of us don't have mail delivery and we have to go to temporary stations and stand in line to get mail, which is very time consuming, as you can imagine, although it is done by zip code.
The French Quarter was the first to get up and running and indeed one or two bars never closed. Now there are many restaurants and souvenir shops open again and all are doing tremendous business due to the thousands of National Guard guys and other Government and non agencies (Charity, Insurance, demolition and reconstruction firms ) here.
The absolute symbol of Katrina's work is the hundreds of refrigerators out on the curb, They are everywhere. Due to the long period of power off, everything inside a refrigerator became putrid and millions of small flies invaded and bred and made a disgusting mess that makes it impossible to clean inside the motor and behind the seals.
Contractors with Bobcats and Dumpsters are gradually clearing debris from the streets and curbs, but because the Mayor cut 3000 jobs due to no finance, we don't have garbage pick up so houses are rapidly disappearing behind mountains of trash.
Now that many people have no way of cooking, there are lots of charities running mobile units around delivering hot meals, and others are set up in parks and squares. There are also stashes of supplies in these places. Cleaning materials, hygiene supplies, clothing and dry food etc. One place I saw had about a million condoms for the taking!
Mardi Gras will happen, but with far fewer parades. Normally there are 65 total. Halloween should be really big this year with an opportunity for the locals to come out with their usual topical and witty costumes!
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