Upper 9th Ward

10 months after Katrina:

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A couple of houses show signs of activity on this street. The brown tape markers on the telephone pole show the high water mark and various depths as the flood waters receded. Attached by search and rescue people in boats, the markers helped the searchers know which areas needed to be rechecked as waters fell. The water levels greatly varied from area to area.

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The SPCA also left marks on houses indicating where animals had been found or rescued. This one says a dog had been found outside. In case returning residents want to reclaim their pets. I doubt if that’s possible now, though.

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A neighborhood where people have come back to reclaim their homes. Lots of activity on this street. Hurricane wind damage evident here as well as flood damage. All of the houses in these pictures are labeled TFW (Toxic Flood Water) and are not habitable until they’ve been gutted, power washed, and disinfected.

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Corner gas/service station still in the same condition it was 10 months ago. So much clean-up left to do that isn’t getting done.

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Another view of the gas/service station and house next door, showing clear signs of hurricane and flood damage. This is not a busy, thriving service station, obviously.

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One house already undergoing rebuilding. The pile of rubble is what’s left of a house that stood on this lot. It was too damaged to be repaired and was bulldozed before it further collapsed and hurt someone. Habitat for Humanity is helping to rebuild homes on many lots like these if the former inhabitants meet the requirements. Mainly, ownership, a willingness to work hard with Habitat and an agreement to live in it.

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A corner store with attached living quarters.

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The same store with various spray painted notations.

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Looks as if someone should walk out the door any minute. But the house is unlivable as are the rest. No one lives there. The small white square trailer in front of the house, a couple of doors up, is a FEMA trailer. Someone is reclaiming and rebuilding.

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Another house, another FEMA trailer. Notice the ubiquitous bathtub ring around the aqua house. That’s the flood water line and shows on many houses that weren’t flooded to the roofline. Don’t know the final verdict for this house. It looks a little saggy in the middle.

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I don’t know what this structure was. The volunteer with the lad urged him to take the picture. It’s an historic building of some kind, but it will have to be torn down now. It is structurally unsound and unsalvagable. The house to the left of it has almost completely been rehabbed.

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Another house being gutted and reclaimed. The pile of rubble in the street in front is from inside the house. Again, it looks as if the house is fine and people might be living in it. They aren’t yet.

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Nothing has been done here yet. Pretty clear what the first order of business will have to be if anyone comes back to reclaim the house.

The structures in these neighborhoods that are conspicuous by their overwhelming absence are FEMA trailers. There are a few, here and there, and they stand out as the bright and shining exceptions.