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Metairie and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina - 10.23.05

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A brick one-story house at 1337 Melody Dr. in Metairie with a blue tarp covering storm-damaged roof sections, surrounded by broken tree limbs and debris on the lawn.

This is a photo tour my father and I made of Metairie and New Orleans, taken 10/24/2005.…

Tall pine and oak trees with broken, splintered branches and sparse foliage stand against a clear blue sky above a house roof partially covered with a blue tarp.

Tree damage in Metairie - 1300 block of Melody Dr. Many trees in this neighborhood were…

A single-story house with a brick chimney and basketball hoop stands beside large trees with sparse, damaged branches against a clear blue sky, power lines crossing overhead.

1300 block of Melody Dr. - Where once you saw mostly trees in this neighborhood when you…

A brick house with a blue tarp covering storm-damaged roof sections, with a discarded refrigerator and debris on the front lawn near a stop sign at a residential street corner.

Blue roofs are everywhere. This is the corner of Poplar St. and Helois Ave. in Metairie.

Damaged appliances including a water heater, stove, and refrigerators sit curbside along a residential street, with a tarp-covered roof and storm debris visible among nearby houses.

1200 block of Helois Ave - Appliances line the streets.

A brick house with a blue tarp covering its storm-damaged roof, piles of debris and black trash bags along the curb and front yard, with an American flag by the doorway.

200 block of Bonnabel Blvd. - The neutral ground is used for overflow trash that's pulled…

Damaged wooden furniture, including dressers and a roll-top desk, piled along a curbside grass strip, with a blue-tarped roof visible on a house in the background.

Bonnabel Blvd. looks like a used furniture lot.

Tree-lined residential street with debris piles—appliances, furniture, and a large metal drum—stacked along the curb on the grassy median, with parked vehicles and a clear blue sky overhead.

View from the second block of Bonnabel Blvd. from the levee.

Two discarded refrigerators, one marked with an "8," sit curbside on a grassy lawn alongside black trash bags and debris piles, with brick houses, trucks, and trees lining the street behind.

Refrigerators and trash bags on Bonnabel.

A large fallen tree leans across a backyard against a wooden fence, with a handwritten sign taped to the trunk reading "NO TREE CUTTERS NEEDED, Don't bother to ask," a shovel and branches lying in the grass nearby.

Trees were blown down everywhere in our old neighborhood. This sign is on Poplar St. and…

A residential street shaded by a large oak tree, with power lines overhead, parked cars along the roadside, and a red stop sign visible near the intersection ahead.

Having had difficulty believing what we saw a few minutes ago, Dad and I went back to…

A paved road curves past a grassy, debris-strewn slope with a stop sign, scattered storm wreckage, trees, and small guardhouse-like structures near a levee entrance.

Take a look at this photo and think about it. We're at the Bonnabel boat launch and Lake…

Residential street lined with storm debris—furniture, refrigerators, and tree branches—piled at curbs, with a blue-tarped roof, parked vehicles, and an excavator in the distance near the levee.

The previous photo showed how high the water was on the lake side of the levee. This is…

Brick ranch house with a tarp-patched roof sits behind a large pile of storm debris on the curb, including insulation, drywall, wood scraps, and a discarded dresser.

Metairie Heights Ave. - Scenes like this were visible everywhere in Metairie and New…

A large uprooted tree trunk lies on a suburban lawn, while a nearby house's roof is partially covered with blue tarps, with another damaged, leaning tree visible in the background.

Many trees and roofs met their match against Katrina. This is still Metairie near the…

Storm-damaged trees with snapped trunks and bare branches stand near a brick ranch house, with debris piles, a yellow "Pot-O-Gold" portable toilet, and a parked camper trailer along the street.

This was shot on Poplar St. and the cross street was near Ocean. Again, seeing this much…

A large pine tree lies diagonally across the roof of a single-story brick house, with its trunk severed nearby and debris scattered amid the surrounding shrubs.

Pine trees weren't much match for Katrina.

A plywood-boarded storefront entrance with a handwritten sign reading "CLOSED DUE TO FIRE, THANKS FOR 15 YEARS!! HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!! Mr. Ed" and a smaller note stating "We Will Be Back."

Mr. Ed's, a favorite restaurant of my wife and I on Live Oak St. in Metairie, not only had…

A weathered wooden sign mounted on a brick wall reads "Mr. Ed's Seafood & Italian Restaurant" in raised gold lettering against a textured brown background.

For those of you who are touristss, who we hope will return to the area, Mr. Ed's is the…

A barren, debris-strewn lot stripped of former homes, with scattered rubble, a toppled container, and a steel beam in the foreground; damaged houses and bare trees line the background.

This is near the breach from the Old Hammond Hwy. We just crossed the 17th St. Canal from…

A tall concrete floodwall runs alongside the 17th St. Canal, with damaged homes, debris, and bare trees visible on the opposite bank under a hazy sky.

This is the 17th St. Canal. New fortifications added by the levee breach can be seen…

Orange excavator beside a large pile of debris from a demolished building near a waterway, with damaged trees, a seawall, and pedestrians in the background.

I'm looking back into Metairie to the Bucktown area. The ruble is what used to be Sid…

A wide canal with small fishing boats docked along the left shore, an orange floating containment boom stretched across the water, and jets of water spraying up in the background near utility poles and trees.

I'm still looking toward Bucktown by the section that ended by the Lake. You'll notice in…

A storm-damaged house with a partially collapsed roof and downed trees leans against its side, surrounded by a debris-littered, barren yard and a wrecked pickup truck.

Dad and I drove down some of the streets in the breach neighborhood. We began to notice…

Damaged white house with boarded window marked in orange spray paint "9-21" and "NE 1 0" inside an X, surrounded by a large pile of dead branches and debris.

Every house we passed, everywhere we went, had the hieroglyphic type markings left by…

A severely damaged house with its foundation collapsed, brick piers crumbled, and siding torn away, marked with orange spray-painted search-and-rescue symbols; debris and rubble surround the structure.

Quite often we kept saying, \"There's no way this can be repaired.\" How many homes will…

Storm-damaged brick house with collapsed siding and a leaning facade, surrounded by debris, rusted metal panels, and a crane visible in the background under a clear blue sky.

Water lines tell the story.

A debris-cleared residential street lined with large mounds of dried mud and storm debris piled along the curbs, with houses, trees, and a few parked vehicles visible in the background.

It was very easy for us to drive through most neighborhoods because the streets had been…

A broken acoustic guitar, snapped at the neck with loose strings dangling, lies atop a cracked layer of dried mud coating a lawn—residue left by Hurricane Katrina floodwaters.

\"Guitar from the breach neighborhood\" - While driving down Fleur de Lis Blvd., I caught…

Storm-wrecked lot along a flooded street, strewn with scattered debris, a rusted metal drum, and twisted pipes, with a white metal building on stilts and a pedestrian bridge in the background.

We're on West End Blvd. and are looking back closer to where the white camp with the tin…

A white Mack dump truck with its bed raised empties debris onto a massive pile of tree limbs and branches along a roadside collection site.

The neutral grounds along Pontchartrain Blvd. are being used to collect the tons of debris…

A yellow Kobelco excavator with a grapple claw works beside a massive pile of storm debris—branches, logs, and uprooted trees—stacked high against the sky.

I would imagine that debris will be collected for six months or longer.

A large uprooted tree lies across the roof of a brick house, with two dust-covered, debris-strewn vehicles parked in the yard amid scattered branches and dried mud.

The water in the breach area was well above these cars. Everything was gray, brown and…

Hand-painted plywood signs propped against debris in a yard read "LIKE A BAD NEIGHBOR, STATE FARM IS NOWHERE," with storm-damaged trees and a wooden fence in the background.

Stressful times produce different results for people. Sometimes it's good to write out…

A handwritten cardboard sign propped on the ground reads "House Gutting Service 504.913.5126 Insured," with vehicles, concrete steps, and debris visible in the background.

The other thing that really sticks out about a visit back to this area are all the signs…

A dust- and debris-covered garage with a thick layer of dried silt on the floor, shelves of tools and supplies along the walls, and an old coupe caked in grime parked inside.

Here's another home in the breach neighborhood. All doors and windows to the house and…

A flood-damaged garage coated in dried gray silt, with a dust-covered car, motorcycle, scattered tools, boxes, and debris strewn across the floor and shelves.

These photos, I hope, will explain a lot to you about how devastating all of this has been…

Debris pile of broken wooden chairs with turned legs, caked in dried mud and white residue, surrounded by scattered paper, metal pipes, and a discarded soda bottle.

Not long ago, this furniture was part of a home. It, like everything else destroyed by…

Two storm-damaged houses with boarded windows and orange "SR" spray-paint markings stand behind bare, salt-damaged trees, with cut tree trunks and debris scattered across a barren, muddy yard.

We're in Lakeview now. I went to grammar school not far from here. Lakeview is another…

Weathered wooden Windsor-style dining chairs with spindle backs lined up outdoors amid other discarded furniture, their finish stripped and surfaces grimy from exposure.

Ethan Allen furniture tossed in front of a house along Canal Blvd.

Stucco two-story house with visible horizontal water stain lines across its exterior, broken windows, spray-painted "SR" marking, and debris including furniture and lumber piled in the yard.

Water lines tell an ugly story. Will this house have to be bulldozed?

Debris-strewn street lined with bare and damaged trees, a damaged house in the background, cardboard boxes and branches scattered on the roadside, and signs reading "Got Water" and "We Buy Damaged Properties."

A view down Aviators St. - No one else was seen or heard in this neighborhood. We still…

Flood-damaged brick house at 1416 with a search-and-rescue marking "9-16 CAG" spray-painted on the front window; the porch holds mismatched chairs, an American flag, and debris-covered ground.

The waterline in this neighborhood was more than 10 feet!

A single-story brick house with storm-damaged, broken trees in the yard, and piles of debris, mattresses, and furniture discarded on the lawn near the sidewalk.

Joey Puglia, a school friend of mine, used to live in this home at the corner of Robert E.…

Storm-damaged brick house with broken, leafless trees and fallen branches scattered across the yard, a dark sedan parked in the driveway under a clear blue sky.

Joey's old house.

Storm-damaged storefront of Ferrara's Super Market with collapsed awning, boarded windows, and scattered debris behind caution tape in an empty parking lot.

Ferrara's Super Market was a favorite store of mine. The flood map said 9 feet, 9 inches…

Abandoned single-story brick house with broken windows, bare winter trees, and downed branches scattered across the overgrown yard under a clear blue sky.

Prentiss Ave. in Gentilly took a major hit from floodwaters that reached 10 feet, 7 inches…

A storm-damaged single-story house with boarded windows and a spray-painted X marking on its facade, surrounded by broken, leafless tree branches scattered across the yard.

The people to the right of this house were visiting their house for the first time since…

Two large storm-damaged trees with broken branches and dried leaves lean between a brick house and a pale yellow house, debris scattered across the yard below.

Two enormous trees fell between these two houses.

Collapsed brick wall lies in a scattered pile between two houses, with bare trees and debris surrounding it and a damaged roof visible in the background.

Most of the brick wall between these houses collapsed.