A Brief (!) Overview
New Orleans is an interesting place. It is a city of rich history, diverse characters and fantastic flavor. Those that live in the city, as I did for four years, understand the relaxed atmosphere that makes NOLA a wonderful place. Needless to say, the immediate devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina left me saddened, upset and feeling helpless. I attempted for a week to secure a place with the Red Cross teams that were deploying to the disaster region, but the organization kept giving me the run around. When I finally did secure a spot in their mandatory Introduction to Disaster Relief and Mass Care class on September 10, I was informed that I would not be scheduled to deploy for at least another week. I then decided to use my contacts in Louisiana and link up with an organization called Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN). LEAN, an environmental non-profit based out of Baton Rouge, primarily focuses on lobbying and grassroots efforts - hurricane relief was well beyond their scope of expertise.
After splitting the 18 hour drive to Baton Rouge with a friend, we immediately got to work distributing supplies and working with people in the disaster areas to assess their needs. Essentially, we served as "middle men" who took donations, both material and monetary, to the people of Southeastern Louisiana. A typical day began with a run to the local Salvation Army warehouse where we loaded pallets of canned goods, snack foods, cleaning supplies, diapers, water and other materials directly onto our truck or trailer. We then traveled to areas that were still attempting to recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Our initial journeys were to a town called Jean Lafitte where the locals had set up a well run operation serving 15,000 local residents. Though it had been almost 3 weeks since Katrina had made landfall, the locals in the area had yet to see FEMA and had minimal interaction with the Red Cross. Many residents of the Jean Lafitte/Barataria/Lafitte areas were fishermen who had their livelihoods crippled by the hurricane. The relief center was thus teaming with out-of-work volunteers who organized the donations that were pouring in from private relief organizations. We brought a truck of canned food, bleach, sponges, toiletries and clothes that had been donated by the employees of a large company in Plaquemine, a city just west of Baton Rouge.
While there was quite a bit of wind and tree damage to the houses in the area, the high school, municipal building and fire house had fared well. The majority of the residents had returned to their houses and had already begun the process of patching their roofs and fixing their broken windows. We spoke with Albert, the gregarious head of police in Jean Lafitte, who, when he wasn't discussing bass fishing, managed to tell us that the people were doing OK on food and really needed tarps and cleaning supplies to combat the mold. I quickly learned that this type of direct contact was and is the cornerstone of effective disaster relief.
When not on runs to places like Jean Lafitte, we attempted to assist the people displaced by Hurricane Katrina in the areas surrounding Baton Rouge. As word leaked out about LEAN's work, people in desperate need began to call LEAN looking for direct assistance. In some cases we arranged for LEAN volunteers to go directly to the houses of those in need and drop off supplies.
By the end of our first week the situation appeared to have stabilized, as the shelters in Baton Rouge began to empty and Mayor Nagin announced plans to reopen New Orleans. Rather selfishly, I was hoping to get into New Orleans and check out my old haunts and see how Tulane, my alma mater, had fared.
Then came Rita.
We rode Hurricane Rita out in the LEAN office in Baton Rouge and, while there were quite a few downed branches and power lines, there wasn't a great deal of damage. When the power returned we watched the reports filter in about areas in Southwestern Louisiana that had been simply wiped off of the map by Hurricane Rita. LEAN organized a disaster assessment team and we drove throughout the Southern part of the state in the days immediately following Rita. We returned to Jean Lafitte and were horrified to find that the area, which had escaped flooding despite a direct hit from Katrina, was now severely flooded. Although we came back to Jean Lafitte 3 days after Rita had hit, the main road was still impassible beyond the municipal building (almost 4 miles of LA-45). Albert, the sheriff whose demeanor was as robust as his waistline, was solemn and, though he greeted us by name, didn't chat us up in the same manner he had just days earlier. We were shown right in to see the mayor of Jean Lafitte, Tim Kerner. Mayor Tim was a broken man. When we asked him what they needed he said "everything." He told us the only thing they could do was "start all over again." We promised to bring him the things he needed most and headed out to continue our damage assessment.
Over the next few days we traveled through Vermillion and Lafourche Parishes, as well as into the Grand Isle area. The bridge to Grand Isle, a roaring resort community, had been out since Katrina and little to no aid was flowing in. The camps on the mainland had suffered severe to total damage and were essentially unlivable. By far, the worst part of the damage assessment trip was seeing the people return to their homes for the first time since evacuating for Rita. Their homes, which had survived Katrina, simply could not weather the storm.
We also attempted to help the animal rescue efforts in Jefferson, Plaquemines and Vermillion Parish. Initially I was skeptical about assisting animals for, though I am an animal lover, I felt my time and money would be better spent helping people. When I arrived in Louisiana I quickly learned that the animals were extremely important to the people of the region.. For many of the residents, especially the poorer farmers of Southwest Louisiana, cattle was their livelihood - their job, their dinner and their retirement fund. After Hurricane Rita, CNN estimated that up to 90% of the cattle in Cameron and Vermillion Parishes had died during the storm. Beyond the economic impact, dead cows presented a severe public health risk. Thus, we took monetary donations and bought hay and feed from surrounding farms that had not been as affected by the storms. That was transferred to a group of cowboys, led by a self proclaimed "stud muffin," who rode their horses into the flooded areas to round up the starving and dying cattle. Additionally we used LEAN's leverage to secure entry for an animal rescue group into Jefferson Parish, even as Hurricane Rita approached and the area was under a mandatory evacuation. There the group attempted to round up animals, specifically dogs, that were feeding on corpses and spreading disease.
We were able to enter New Orleans on the Friday before we left, when Mayor Nagin lifted the evacuation order and began to allow residents to return. The uptown area in which I lived saw extensive tree and power line damage - even some of the largest trees in the district had been torn up through the sidewalks. While the places I lived were relatively dry, we toured the city and were amazed at the flood damage. The water marks left in even the higher parts of the city were astonishing. I don't quite know what they plan to do, the majority of the homes in the area are ruined. Even in the areas that were barely flooded, water had ruined appliances and left mold and mildew that had been sitting for 5 weeks.
When I left Louisiana at the end of September there was still a great deal of work to be done. Mayor Tim and the people of Jean Lafitte were still drying out and returning to their mildew covered homes. Parts of Vermillion Parish were still underwater. New Orleans was just getting power to parts of the city. I was most struck by three things: the environmental and public health nightmare that faces Louisiana, the complete failure of many national agencies to provide for people in their time of need and the resiliency and spirit of those affected by this horrible tragedy. There are countless years of reconstruction ahead and, while everybody has an opinion on how it should proceed, Southern Louisiana should and will return.
After splitting the 18 hour drive to Baton Rouge with a friend, we immediately got to work distributing supplies and working with people in the disaster areas to assess their needs. Essentially, we served as "middle men" who took donations, both material and monetary, to the people of Southeastern Louisiana. A typical day began with a run to the local Salvation Army warehouse where we loaded pallets of canned goods, snack foods, cleaning supplies, diapers, water and other materials directly onto our truck or trailer. We then traveled to areas that were still attempting to recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Our initial journeys were to a town called Jean Lafitte where the locals had set up a well run operation serving 15,000 local residents. Though it had been almost 3 weeks since Katrina had made landfall, the locals in the area had yet to see FEMA and had minimal interaction with the Red Cross. Many residents of the Jean Lafitte/Barataria/Lafitte areas were fishermen who had their livelihoods crippled by the hurricane. The relief center was thus teaming with out-of-work volunteers who organized the donations that were pouring in from private relief organizations. We brought a truck of canned food, bleach, sponges, toiletries and clothes that had been donated by the employees of a large company in Plaquemine, a city just west of Baton Rouge.
While there was quite a bit of wind and tree damage to the houses in the area, the high school, municipal building and fire house had fared well. The majority of the residents had returned to their houses and had already begun the process of patching their roofs and fixing their broken windows. We spoke with Albert, the gregarious head of police in Jean Lafitte, who, when he wasn't discussing bass fishing, managed to tell us that the people were doing OK on food and really needed tarps and cleaning supplies to combat the mold. I quickly learned that this type of direct contact was and is the cornerstone of effective disaster relief.
When not on runs to places like Jean Lafitte, we attempted to assist the people displaced by Hurricane Katrina in the areas surrounding Baton Rouge. As word leaked out about LEAN's work, people in desperate need began to call LEAN looking for direct assistance. In some cases we arranged for LEAN volunteers to go directly to the houses of those in need and drop off supplies.
By the end of our first week the situation appeared to have stabilized, as the shelters in Baton Rouge began to empty and Mayor Nagin announced plans to reopen New Orleans. Rather selfishly, I was hoping to get into New Orleans and check out my old haunts and see how Tulane, my alma mater, had fared.
Then came Rita.
We rode Hurricane Rita out in the LEAN office in Baton Rouge and, while there were quite a few downed branches and power lines, there wasn't a great deal of damage. When the power returned we watched the reports filter in about areas in Southwestern Louisiana that had been simply wiped off of the map by Hurricane Rita. LEAN organized a disaster assessment team and we drove throughout the Southern part of the state in the days immediately following Rita. We returned to Jean Lafitte and were horrified to find that the area, which had escaped flooding despite a direct hit from Katrina, was now severely flooded. Although we came back to Jean Lafitte 3 days after Rita had hit, the main road was still impassible beyond the municipal building (almost 4 miles of LA-45). Albert, the sheriff whose demeanor was as robust as his waistline, was solemn and, though he greeted us by name, didn't chat us up in the same manner he had just days earlier. We were shown right in to see the mayor of Jean Lafitte, Tim Kerner. Mayor Tim was a broken man. When we asked him what they needed he said "everything." He told us the only thing they could do was "start all over again." We promised to bring him the things he needed most and headed out to continue our damage assessment.
Over the next few days we traveled through Vermillion and Lafourche Parishes, as well as into the Grand Isle area. The bridge to Grand Isle, a roaring resort community, had been out since Katrina and little to no aid was flowing in. The camps on the mainland had suffered severe to total damage and were essentially unlivable. By far, the worst part of the damage assessment trip was seeing the people return to their homes for the first time since evacuating for Rita. Their homes, which had survived Katrina, simply could not weather the storm.
We also attempted to help the animal rescue efforts in Jefferson, Plaquemines and Vermillion Parish. Initially I was skeptical about assisting animals for, though I am an animal lover, I felt my time and money would be better spent helping people. When I arrived in Louisiana I quickly learned that the animals were extremely important to the people of the region.. For many of the residents, especially the poorer farmers of Southwest Louisiana, cattle was their livelihood - their job, their dinner and their retirement fund. After Hurricane Rita, CNN estimated that up to 90% of the cattle in Cameron and Vermillion Parishes had died during the storm. Beyond the economic impact, dead cows presented a severe public health risk. Thus, we took monetary donations and bought hay and feed from surrounding farms that had not been as affected by the storms. That was transferred to a group of cowboys, led by a self proclaimed "stud muffin," who rode their horses into the flooded areas to round up the starving and dying cattle. Additionally we used LEAN's leverage to secure entry for an animal rescue group into Jefferson Parish, even as Hurricane Rita approached and the area was under a mandatory evacuation. There the group attempted to round up animals, specifically dogs, that were feeding on corpses and spreading disease.
We were able to enter New Orleans on the Friday before we left, when Mayor Nagin lifted the evacuation order and began to allow residents to return. The uptown area in which I lived saw extensive tree and power line damage - even some of the largest trees in the district had been torn up through the sidewalks. While the places I lived were relatively dry, we toured the city and were amazed at the flood damage. The water marks left in even the higher parts of the city were astonishing. I don't quite know what they plan to do, the majority of the homes in the area are ruined. Even in the areas that were barely flooded, water had ruined appliances and left mold and mildew that had been sitting for 5 weeks.
When I left Louisiana at the end of September there was still a great deal of work to be done. Mayor Tim and the people of Jean Lafitte were still drying out and returning to their mildew covered homes. Parts of Vermillion Parish were still underwater. New Orleans was just getting power to parts of the city. I was most struck by three things: the environmental and public health nightmare that faces Louisiana, the complete failure of many national agencies to provide for people in their time of need and the resiliency and spirit of those affected by this horrible tragedy. There are countless years of reconstruction ahead and, while everybody has an opinion on how it should proceed, Southern Louisiana should and will return.
posted by Chris at
2:51 PM
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