Today marks the 2 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the 3rd strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States history. It was also one of the most deadliest disasters with 1836 lives lost. Neighboring Louisiana, we Texans saw a lot of refugees and hurricane victims within our state, towns and shared our homes, clothing and food. Christopher, however, was fortunate to volunteer his time and service and went down to New Orleans (5 hour drive) with a group from our church to work for the American Red Cross in helping cleaning up, etc...whatever was needed. Here are a few pictures from his trip:
Christopher and his volunteer group were met with this sight on their way down to New Orleans. EVERYONE in grid-lock getting out, with just his caravan going in.
First look of New Orleans from a highway overpass. If you look closely in the left hand side, you will notice the levees for the river are not in place.
A first look at some of the damage on the out skirts of town.
A home in the ninth ward.
Another sight from the streets.
This picture gives a good reference with water marks on the columns of the house as to the depths the waters reached in this particular neighborhood.
This is the first home that Christopher and his group were assigned to work on. They cleaned out the home of basically everything, gutting it all out.
The inside of the house they were to gut out. The black on the floor was mud and soot from the flooding.
More of the flooding disaster on the house he was working on. Can you imagine if this were your house? Yikes!
After cleaning out the house of all debris, they hauled it to the dump and boarded up the house.
Then it was time for some shut-eye and Christopher slept in the back of his friend Aaron's truck in the parking lot of one of our church buildings in New Orleans. Fortunately it was in a fairly safe area, as there was still violence from rioting all around.
Once morning came, they were assigned a new house. This house had minimal flood damage and they worked with the owners of the house in trying to remove debris and drywall, in hopes of being able to salvage their home so they could continue to live in it someday. None of these people had flood insurance!
Removing the debris.
Christopher and his volunteer group were met with this sight on their way down to New Orleans. EVERYONE in grid-lock getting out, with just his caravan going in.First look of New Orleans from a highway overpass. If you look closely in the left hand side, you will notice the levees for the river are not in place.
A first look at some of the damage on the out skirts of town. A home in the ninth ward.Another sight from the streets. This picture gives a good reference with water marks on the columns of the house as to the depths the waters reached in this particular neighborhood. This is the first home that Christopher and his group were assigned to work on. They cleaned out the home of basically everything, gutting it all out.
The inside of the house they were to gut out. The black on the floor was mud and soot from the flooding.
More of the flooding disaster on the house he was working on. Can you imagine if this were your house? Yikes!After cleaning out the house of all debris, they hauled it to the dump and boarded up the house.Then it was time for some shut-eye and Christopher slept in the back of his friend Aaron's truck in the parking lot of one of our church buildings in New Orleans. Fortunately it was in a fairly safe area, as there was still violence from rioting all around.Once morning came, they were assigned a new house. This house had minimal flood damage and they worked with the owners of the house in trying to remove debris and drywall, in hopes of being able to salvage their home so they could continue to live in it someday. None of these people had flood insurance!Removing the debris.
Removing drywall and gunk.
Cutting out drywall that was wet and/or molding.
They did a pretty good job cleaning out the carpets, flooring and drywall, didn't they?!?! Almost looking like a brand new house in the making.
New Orleans still needs much work and there is much to be said in done in that department, however, I won't go there. We are all thankful for the opportunity Christopher had to serve the people of New Orleans and is an experience he has never forgotten.
3 comments:
Wow what a blessing to be able to help those in need. It gave me chills to see those pictures. Thanks for the reminder of what those people went through. Sure makes you appreciate what you have doesn't it?
Wow! It sure hits home when you see the destruction in person. How long ago was this from when the hurricane hit?
He went down about maybe a month after the disaster.
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