Early Morning on the Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

New Orleans is on edge, as am I- waiting to see if Gustav will hit or not.
When I wake I will attend the Mayor’s ceremony Commemorating Katrina’s third anniversary.

Gustav’s path will be a little clearer when I rise, but where the storm will hit will still remain an uncertainty. The last days I have been riding along with the National Guard in New Orleans East, driving through areas of urban blight.

Earlier in the day I shot pictures of the new homes being built for Brad Pitt’s “Make it Right Project”. The promise that one would be ready to have someone move in by Katrina’s anniversary has not been kept, though a few of the homes are close to completion. All celebrations for that project including the opening of a playground have been put on hold since all attention is on Gustav and a possible mass evacuation.
Tonight is quiet. Today was picturesque. Hard to imagine a hurricane hitting, yet impossible to ignore the fact that New Orleans is right in the storm’s predicted path. I will be here rain or shine so check back for an update either way.
I created a book on the National Guard patrolling the streets of New Orleans that is now available from blurb. Also available is a book with photos of Post Katrina New Orleans with a poem by Ann McGarrell . It is possible to preview the first 15 pages of the books.

images from top to bottom -clown head in 6th flags in New Orleans East/ home near in lower 9th ward shot on August 28/ wheel chair outside of destroyed nursing home in New Orleans East/ Classroom in New Orleans East school/ Foundation of a home in the lower 9th ward across form "Make It Right Homes"/Kitchen in housing unit still standing in New Orleans East/ Nursing Home in New Orleans East/ Nursing Home hallway/ National Guard Clearing movie theater in New Orleans East/Moose head in Destroyed store left standing in New Orleans East/ One of Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" Homes nearly finished/ Park for "Make it Right" homes- opening delayed due to hurricane Gustav/ Black mold in housing unit / in New Orleans East/ Restaurant in New the lower 9th ward / Nature center path in New Orleans East/ Photos on the wall in nursing home in New Orleans East

 

Flood Street-Still in Ruins From End to End

This morning I rode my bike the length of Flood St. in the Lower 9th Ward, from the wharf on the riverside to the levy. Flood Street is in very bad shape. Little has been rebuilt. I passed only a couple of construction crews and a handful of volunteers who were doing some landscape- 

work. I called a friend to get a reminder of what the codes painted on the homes by rescue crews stand for. 

The number at the 6 o’clock part of the X, is where the number of dead is recorded. Zero, in the case of the turquoise home I photographed. My friend looked up my coordinates on google maps and told me it looks like a sea of blue tarps from above. The scarred landscape and homes with boarded up entry points, illustrates Katrina’s story. A telling hole in a roof of one building looks too deliberate to be wind damage. Someone must have hacked the roof open while escaping the rising water.

 I first visited Flood Street in November 2006. The irony of a street called Flood Street, was one too rich to pass by. 

The Battle Ground Baptist Church, closer to the levee where the water went over the roofs of most of the buildings, is still standing. Benches remain inside, but the mud and other rubbish has been cleaned off.

 

At 1806, I went in to reshoot a home I shot in April 2007. More of the contents have been removed and the lawn was now landscaped, but there are no signs any re-building. In the middle of the house was a picture of Jesus, that is no longer behind glass, as I found it in April, looking back at anyone who enters the empty room looking up at them. The most noticeable change since my last visit in February 2008, are the street signs. At that time most were still hand painted on posts. Now the street intersections sport new shinny signs marking Flood Street and its’ recovery.

Elysian Fields : New Orleans

At the end of the day I rode my bike the length of Elysian Fields. From the river to the lake. Blanche DuBois moved into her sister's place on Elysian Field only to be taken off to a mental institution by the end of Tennessee William’s a Street Car Named Desire, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers", she said to the man who let her leave the premises without having to be put in a straight jacket. Much of Elysian Fields was flooded badly. Signs of Katrina’s wrath start as early as North Rampart and get progressively more intense as you approach the lake.On the ride back, I stopped at a red light where Elysian Fields intersects Humanity Street, took a picture and rode on.

Images shot July 6th and 7th almost 3 years after Katrina

Yesterday I rode my bike to the Lower 9th Ward to check out the progress since I left late February. More buildings have been torn down but I didn't notice too much in the way of rebuilding. 

I returned to the site of a school I shot last May at St. Maurice and N. Rocheblave.
The school has been torn down the the library remains intact and the rubble that was once the school is strewn about.  
I will head out that way again today in the afternoon's high sun after a day spent working behind my computer.  

To see more of my post Katrina images from a series I started in Nov. 06, click here - Post Katrina Set on Flickr