New Orleans - What Jessica saw...

- - - This is in Chalmette, LA




Hello Friends -

I have safely returned from Louisiana and have recovered somewhat from the travels. I still have not been able to recover from what I saw while I was there. First of all, the news is not even telling half of the story about Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. Like every disaster everyone is affected...the poor, the middle-class, and the wealthy...natural disasters are not discrimitory in their destruction. In the greater New Orleans area water sat inside houses, outside of houses for anywhere from 4-6 weeks! This moves things around inside a house and outside of house - clothes, belongings, dead animals, and even dead bodies. Standing water is not something you want inside your house for any period of time!

I visited several areas...one was Kenner, LA...just west of New Orleans. There were 100,000 homes affected by Hurricane Katrina. You drive up and down the streets of Kenner and see lots of FEMA trailers parked in people's front yards because their homes are unlivable at this time. Most of the stores in the area close by 6 or 7pm because there aren't enough people to work in them.

Then there is Chalmette just east and south of New Orleans. This area sat under water for about 4 weeks! One of the Lutheran churches there had seven feet of water inside their buildings - everything is stripped down to the studs right now. Chalmette is in St. Bernard Parish (county) - this area once had 60,000 residents and now has 1,000 residents from the area. There are about 7,000 new residents who are workers there cleaning the area or hauling trash to one of two dumpsites in the New Orleans area - one is in Chalmette. This area has not be talked about on the news. Chalmette is a middle class, blue-collar, very close-knit community and it is a ghost town right now. Unfortunately most of this area may become 'green space' - which is a nice way of saying everything will get bull-dozed and turned into parks. This was once people's homes and lives!

In the area of Lakeview, an upper-middle class neighborhood with expensive homes was also very devastated by the Hurricane. Part of our group worked on a house in this area and didn't see but one other house being worked on (really gutted out) - it was in ruins. They had the job of pulling out the remainder of the drywall, flooring, and nails from all of the studs so the house could be sanitized from the toxic mold. Everyday they wore disposable painter suits, rubber boots, rubber gloves, breathing masks, and eye goggles just to protect themselves - and it was hard work and really HOT! FYI - the job of "gutting out" a house can cost anywhere from $10,000 - $40,000!! That gives you a glimpse of why volunteers are needed.

The last area we saw was the Lower 9th Ward. This area was right by one of the levee breach's and sat in water for 6 weeks! The 9th Ward looks like a war-torn country - like a bomb was dropped on the area. We saw houses in the middle of the street, houses crammed into other houses, cars flipped over everywhere and areas with nothing - not because the houses were torn down but because the houses floated somewhere else. Completely devastated.

I ask that you keep the people of Louisiana in your prayers - there is so much grieving going on in this area. I ask that you pray for the volunteers who are down there working and "mucking out" homes - they need strength, rest, and energy to continue to work. For long-term volunteers who have been there for months and those who come for just a few days.

Last I ask you to prayerfully consider going to Louisiana and helping in the relief effort. I know that Lutheran Disaster Response is set up in Kenner, and that Habitat for Humanity is in the area also. Both looking for volunteers. Right now no one is building anything - they are just mucking out houses - basically stripping the houses down to the studs so they can be sprayed with bleach water to kill the toxic mold. This is going to be a long process and it will only happen with the work of volunteers.

God's Peace+
Jessica