It's amazing what mechanized tree removal can do for your outlook.
These guys accomplished more in a few hours than what would have taken my Dad and I weeks to do.

Pictures of damage in Slidell, LA from Hurricane Katrina....

September 11 update:

First, answering many questions from the past week. I went to check out my parents' house with my Dad, and I hate to use the term in a situation like this, but they got lucky. There are (were) approximately thirty trees, mostly yellow pine, on their lot. Many of them were snapped or uprooted during the storm. They fell in the front, back, and on both sides, but not a single one penetrated the house.

In their neighborhood, however, the ratio of houses with at least one tree on/through the roof to unscathed houses is at least 3:1. It will take some time to clear all that lumber.

Cleco and Entergy are doing a fantastic job of restoring power, even faster than I expected. In Slidell they appeared to work in waves. The first wave of workers cleared the streets, then came back to tackle the rights-of-way. Those with underground feeds to the house are already coming back on line, while the overhead feeds are taking longer to reconnect. Overall, half the homes and businesses on the Northshore have power.



You can see the progress for Cleco here
http://www.cleco.com/site.php?pageID=284
and for Entergy click here
http://www.entergy.com/corp/default3.asp

St Tammany parish (north of Lake Ponchartrain) is coming back steadily in other ways. Cell phone service is returning, and the school system announced an October 5th projected restart date. Two Catholic schools, Pope John Paul II and St Margaret Mary will reopen September 19. Some parts of the parish are still under orders to boil water before drinking until it can be assured to be safe, however. http://www.wwltv.com/local/northshore/stories/WWL091005sttam.4567489f.html
South of the lake progress is slower. Jefferson Parish announced the same October 5 school reopening date for some schools, and the parish government is asking all business owners to return this Monday.

Louis Armstrong International Airport (New Orleans) will reopen for scheduled passenger air service Tuesday, September 13. The airport has been open for military and commercial relief flights over the past weeks.

Real estate in Baton Rouge has suddenly become a hot commodity. Many businesses have relocated from the N.O. metro area and are setting up expanded satellite offices or are moving operations here permanently.

Also, traffic has become a nightmare here. What took twenty minutes before now is a trip of over an hour. I kid you not.

An interesting interactive map from Google- you can see water levels, both high water marks and current levels. http://mapper.cctechnol.com/floodmap.php

Another side effect of Katrina was the cancellation of the LSU Tigers' home opener last week and the relocation of the game against Arizona State last night to Tempe, Arizona. The Tigers pulled it out 35-31 in an ugly win.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/091105/lsu_lsu001.shtml

Amidst all the progress, however, many wonder to what extent the New Orleans area will recover. Will the tourism industry return? Businesses?

Life has changed in south Louisiana, that much is obvious. Everyday it seems there is another consequence of that change that I previously had not thought of.

Feel free to post comments and questions, my friends. I can't do it all, you know.
More to come later. I hear the hum of the chainsaw calling my name.

The forces of nature, bent on destruction...
===================================================
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA...
...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED
==================================================

I would imagine most of you have not seen the above dire prediction issued by the National Weather Service the day before Katrina struck the gulf coast. It was issued at 4:13 PM Central time, but I didn't see it until late Sunday as I was looking for the latest Katrina info.

I freaked.

I knew the hurricane was headed toward New Orleans, and I knew it had strengthened to a strong category 4 and was threatening to gain to a category 5. From the relative safety of my home in Baton Rouge, I thought I had seen my wife possibly for the last time Friday evening after her shift at West Jefferson Medical Center. She was in the path of a monster.

Read it again.

I decided to call her at the hospital while the phones still worked, even though it was 11:30 PM and I knew she was probably sleeping. She was much stronger than I was- I cried into the phone and my heart beat in my throat. I felt utterly helpless, and the outer bands of rain and wind had already started to buffet the hospital that would be her only protection from such destructive forces.

I did the only thing that I could- I prayed.