Goin' Home

After five weeks of being away we can officially return home. There won't be electricity or potable water so it will not be pleasant. Our goal is to go in and get packed, get everything into storage, then have a moving company pick it up later. Hopefully we can be done in a week and be on our way west. At least we will (finally) be doing something, and not just sitting around feeling helpless.

Lovely Rita

We managed to get to the house on Monday just before they closed New Orleans again. Only minor damage, a few roof tiles off and the fence leaning over. A dent in the car trunk where a roof tile fell most likely. We didn't open the fridge, but could smell it when you stood next to it. We set out a few air fresheners. Amazing the african violets were still alive inside the house after all the time without water.

We grabbed some clothes, the laptops, and a few other things but didn't try to get everything since we thought we were going to be back the next day. Hurricane Rita changed that plan again. Even though it doesn't appear that it will hit New Orleans at the moment, officials are erring on the side of caution.

There wasn't any electricity still and it was exceedingly hot. Since the water is not safe you can't wash your face or hands either. As soon as the power is back on so we can have AC we will go back and try to pack up everything we are taking so we can get the move back on schedule. I hope it is soon.

A glimmer of hope

The Mayor of New Orleans has announced that people in selected areas of the city will probably be allowed back into the city. Luckily we are in one of those areas. If we do get in on Monday it will have been 23 days since we were last home. Even if we don't have full utilities, we will finally be able to access any damage and retrieve a few things. We have a friend across Lake Pontchatrain (who got full utilities back now) we can stay with if needed.

We have been staying with friends and family in Mobile, Daphne and Ft. Walton. We move every few days so we don't wear out our welcome at any one place. They have all been more than kind to shelter us. There really is no place like home though. And if we had any lingering thoughts about moving to Oregon they were washed away. We want to move more than ever now.

UPDATE: The latest info now shows that Uptown will not be allowed back in until Wednesday or Friday of next week. *sigh* Looks like it will be almost a full month that we will have been away from home.

Behind enemy lines

Click here to read a firsthand account from someone who is still in New Orleans, and updating their blog as often as they can. I do not envy them.

From a distance

We managed to find an aerial photo of our house. It looks like we didn't flood. Up 2 blocks we can see water in the streets though. The storage unit also appears to be dry, with water about 6 blocks from it. Now if the water doesn't rise again, we don't get looted or set on fire, maybe we will be okay. Now it's just the wait to get back to it.

News from the frontlines

My friend Keith has started a blog about his experiences during this disaster known as Hurricane Katrina. He is a reporter for the Times Picayune, the newspaper in New Orleans. As he is still on the job, he is a witness to the events in the area we used to call our home. You can view his blog here.

Alive and kicking

Well, we are still alive. However, our sanity is being compromised more with each passing day. Now they are saying it will be 30 or MORE days before residents will be let back into New Orleans. So now the anxiety can be prolonged. We looked at a map of where it flooded and it appears our house should be dry. It could have suffered some other damage still. Now of course, the concern is that looters will break in. It really is a sad commentary on people in these worst of times when you see the news about the rampant looting in the city. As soon as they do allow people to go back we will go and salvage anything left and move it out of the city. We will never live there again. I just hope we can sell the house still so we can relocate to Portland. Here we were about to start a new chapter in our lives and instead we are living the most traumatic times of our lives.