Return to New Orleans
Oct 14, 2005 | 5:09 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Rochester, MN
Programs: UA GS, AA PLT, HH Diamond
Posts: 1,448
Return to New Orleans
Well it has been nearly five weeks since Hurricane Katrina struck the City of New Orleans, and our business was starting the process of getting itself back on its feet. To help in that process, my family asked that I come down to New Orleans and help out where I could.
So with that in mind I set off to book a flight down to MSY. Of course they asked me to come down to New Orleans on October 5, 2005, which was the first day that the Mayor had decided to allow the citizens of the city to return to their homes under a look and leave policy. The policy applied to all areas except Uptown, the Garden District, the CBD, the French Quarter and the lower 9th ward. You could stay in any of the areas except the 9th ward. The 9th ward is still considered too hazardous to enter. The problem with trying to book a ticket down to MSY on this date, is that everyone who hadnt returned to New Orleans was trying to do so on this date. However, I was able to secure a seat on one of the non-stop NW flights from MSP. The price wasnt great, but then again the point was to get down there.
On Wednesday October 5, 2005 I start the trek over to MSP. The problem was that it had been raining like mad for the past 16 hours. At my house I had gotten well over 7 inches of rain. It had been raining so hard, that I honestly thought that a hurricane had come the MSP. There was a lot of flooding in the area and many roads were washed out or closed. So the usual 20 minute trip to the airport took well over an hour. But at least I had planned for it.
Arrived at the airport for my 10:05am flight down to MSY. I went to the kiosk by the skyway checkpoint and got my boarding pass. I had been upgraded to F on NW, but truth be told, I didnt care where I was sitting. This is the one flight were I couldnt have cared less about points, miles or upgrades. I just needed to get down to the city to help out my family.
After clearing a relatively long security line, well for that checkpoint at least, it was off to the World Club so that I could do some work before the flight. Basically my work consisted of a conference call to Denmark, and then damage control of the situation after that. Once I finished that I walked to the gate. Had to make one stop to get a newspaper, as mine had been soaked by the recent rain. Arrived at the gate about 20 minutes prior to departure to find them towards the end of the boarding process.
Boarded the aircraft took my seat and readied myself for the trip back to MSY. The flight down to MSY was fairly uneventful. They served a meal, which was ok , but nothing special. Most of the people on the flight were either returning residents or people involved in the insurance or restoration business.
I had prepared myself for what I was going to see, but to tell you the truth nothing would prepare me for what I would soon see. The approach into MSY was the typical approach in from the west. As you looked down you couldnt really tell that a storm had been through the area, until you came across some of the camps in the bayou. The first camp looked like it had been run over by a truck. The others were totally destroyed. Landing was uneventful, and we pulled up to the usual NW gates as MSY. Up to this point nothing seemed unusual about the whole experience. Grabbed my bag and was off to the rental car location to get a truck.
Entering the terminal was like entering another world. The only shops that were open were the restaurant in A and the newsstand outside of security. Other than that nothing was open. The baggage claim area was like a ghost town. However, there were a line of taxis waiting to take people wherever they needed to go. Made my way to the National/Alamo shuttle and proceeded to get my truck.
I had decided to rent an SUV because we still werent sure how much driving we would be doing over the neutral ground and how clear the roads were in the areas that we were going into.
As I pulled out of the rental car lot, I began to notice the damage. There were a lot of billboards bent over and twisted metal all over the place. There was also a large pile of debris being erected at the foot of the runway across Airline Highway. As I drove down I-10 towards the CBD and the French Quarter, you could clearly see the damage. The Galleria looked like a bomb went off in front of it. In fact if I had to hazard a guess I would say it had more windows blown out than it had left intact. There was a furniture store that had its entire front section collapse into the store. I wish I could remember the name of the place, but I cannot. So far all of the damage I had seen was in JP and Metarie.
I crossed the 17th Street Canal into the city, and it was like night and day. Metarie was a Garden of Eden compared to New Orleans proper. The bridge from Pontchartrain BLVD to I-10 was wiped out. The grass was brown, and the trees were dead or dying. Debris was everywhere. Looking over at the cemeteries you could see the damage. There were a number of coffins laying near the entrance. I can only assume these were coffins that had been found and were being returned to their proper resting place. Every so often you would see a car or two in a location that there shouldnt be a car. You could also see the various waterlines on buildings and cars.
Drove by the Superdome on the West Bank Expressway. You could see the areas where the roof had pealed off. It was at this time that I realized the large numbers of folks who had stayed in that small island for such a long time. I dont know if I could have done that, but thankfully the stories we had originally heard were not true. Drove to my friends apartment that I was going to stay at. It is near the convention center and was relatively undamaged. The only problem that they all had was the smell coming from the rotting refrigerators. That smell is a smell that permeated all throughout the city and one that I hopefully never will smell again.
Anyway, turns out that my friends place was not really habitable. I realized that I was better off trying to find a hotel room. Which due to running into the right folks I was able to get a place. Turns out one of my friends neighbors is good friends with the General Manager at the Ambassador Hotel. Through her I was able to get a room, and not get gouged. Out of appreciation for that single act of kindness (which is now the spirit of New Orleans) I most likely will stay at that hotel any time I am back in New Orleans and needing to use a hotel. I will also try and send as many people there as I can. It is not a Ritz or a 4 Seasons or even a Marriot, but it is a clean hotel with decent rooms.
By this time it was around 3pm and I headed over to our store in the French Quarter. Today was the first day we had opened for business and most of the day was being spent trying to recover what we had been doing over a month and half before. I sat down to work and started going over insurance policies. The policies were quite detailed and often times I had to read them several times before I really understood what was going on with them. However, eventually I figured them out and it looks like we have some strong positions against some of the insurers to recover our merchandise losses due to flooding.
I then went with one of our employees to check on the conditions of our buildings in the French Quarter. We had some substantial roof damage, but nothing that was too bad. Mostly some flashing pulled back, some tiles lifted up to a point where it looks like the roof has failed, but it is just the tiles, and one section of the roof where it was pulled back from the other parts. Also the building two down from ours partially collapsed so we had that worry as well. I have provided some of those pictures below of our roofs.
(due to my incompetence, the photos below won't open properly, but for now here is a link to the entire album just find the photo in the album you want)
Finished the day and went back to the hotel. The bar was open and so I decided to have a beer or two. Ended up talking to some firefighters who were staying there and working for FEMA. When last call was announced, we just moved to another bar, curfew be damned. Went to bed and slept like a rock. Of course I did not know what the next day was going to bring.
The next morning I got up and went down to the store. We had several meetings with insurance adjusters today and we wanted to make sure that we were prepared for them. The first stop was our warehouse. It is in an area near the Orleans Parish Prison. We had several feet of water enter into the warehouse, and it has a funny smell. Looking at various areas around the warehouse it looks like the water was between 6 and 8 feet deep in the area. All of our merchandise on the main level was damaged or destroyed. It looks like we will have to gut the warehouse and rebuild the inside. We have started some of the work, but arent yet done with it. I have included some of the photos from the warehouse here.
Next, it was off to see the family homes. If I thought the warehouse was bad, things were going to get a lot worse. Driving down Canal you could see the damage. Waterlines everywhere, and lots of orange Xs everywhere. Only saw one or two homes that had had bodies found in them. We got to the underpass by the plantation coffee house and found that area still flooded, so we had to go over to Orleans Ave and enter the neighborhood over one of the canals.
Crossing over the canal brought a site that cannot be believed. The level of damage is far worse than you can see on TV and in the photos. The smell is unbelievable. When we got to my Aunt and Uncles home you really could tell the damage. For the most part I am not going to describe the damage, I am going to let the pictures do the job. Prior to entering we joked with the adjuster that he really didnt need to go any further. He agreed that it was a complete write off, but he needed to go in and get pictures.
neighbors pool
view of the waterline
I donned a respirator prior to entering the home. Actually the Insurance adjuster tried to buy it off of me, because it blocked the stench. Entering into the home one was walking on insulation and other ceiling materials that were now on the ground. Most of the stuff had the consistency of paste. My hiking boots were ruined after this, but at least my feet were safe.
The rest of the day was spent trying to inventory every thing we had. I did a few other odds and ends around.
I will add more to this as I get time, but I wanted to get this up for you all to see.
So with that in mind I set off to book a flight down to MSY. Of course they asked me to come down to New Orleans on October 5, 2005, which was the first day that the Mayor had decided to allow the citizens of the city to return to their homes under a look and leave policy. The policy applied to all areas except Uptown, the Garden District, the CBD, the French Quarter and the lower 9th ward. You could stay in any of the areas except the 9th ward. The 9th ward is still considered too hazardous to enter. The problem with trying to book a ticket down to MSY on this date, is that everyone who hadnt returned to New Orleans was trying to do so on this date. However, I was able to secure a seat on one of the non-stop NW flights from MSP. The price wasnt great, but then again the point was to get down there.
On Wednesday October 5, 2005 I start the trek over to MSP. The problem was that it had been raining like mad for the past 16 hours. At my house I had gotten well over 7 inches of rain. It had been raining so hard, that I honestly thought that a hurricane had come the MSP. There was a lot of flooding in the area and many roads were washed out or closed. So the usual 20 minute trip to the airport took well over an hour. But at least I had planned for it.
Arrived at the airport for my 10:05am flight down to MSY. I went to the kiosk by the skyway checkpoint and got my boarding pass. I had been upgraded to F on NW, but truth be told, I didnt care where I was sitting. This is the one flight were I couldnt have cared less about points, miles or upgrades. I just needed to get down to the city to help out my family.
After clearing a relatively long security line, well for that checkpoint at least, it was off to the World Club so that I could do some work before the flight. Basically my work consisted of a conference call to Denmark, and then damage control of the situation after that. Once I finished that I walked to the gate. Had to make one stop to get a newspaper, as mine had been soaked by the recent rain. Arrived at the gate about 20 minutes prior to departure to find them towards the end of the boarding process.
Boarded the aircraft took my seat and readied myself for the trip back to MSY. The flight down to MSY was fairly uneventful. They served a meal, which was ok , but nothing special. Most of the people on the flight were either returning residents or people involved in the insurance or restoration business.
I had prepared myself for what I was going to see, but to tell you the truth nothing would prepare me for what I would soon see. The approach into MSY was the typical approach in from the west. As you looked down you couldnt really tell that a storm had been through the area, until you came across some of the camps in the bayou. The first camp looked like it had been run over by a truck. The others were totally destroyed. Landing was uneventful, and we pulled up to the usual NW gates as MSY. Up to this point nothing seemed unusual about the whole experience. Grabbed my bag and was off to the rental car location to get a truck.
Entering the terminal was like entering another world. The only shops that were open were the restaurant in A and the newsstand outside of security. Other than that nothing was open. The baggage claim area was like a ghost town. However, there were a line of taxis waiting to take people wherever they needed to go. Made my way to the National/Alamo shuttle and proceeded to get my truck.
I had decided to rent an SUV because we still werent sure how much driving we would be doing over the neutral ground and how clear the roads were in the areas that we were going into.
As I pulled out of the rental car lot, I began to notice the damage. There were a lot of billboards bent over and twisted metal all over the place. There was also a large pile of debris being erected at the foot of the runway across Airline Highway. As I drove down I-10 towards the CBD and the French Quarter, you could clearly see the damage. The Galleria looked like a bomb went off in front of it. In fact if I had to hazard a guess I would say it had more windows blown out than it had left intact. There was a furniture store that had its entire front section collapse into the store. I wish I could remember the name of the place, but I cannot. So far all of the damage I had seen was in JP and Metarie.
I crossed the 17th Street Canal into the city, and it was like night and day. Metarie was a Garden of Eden compared to New Orleans proper. The bridge from Pontchartrain BLVD to I-10 was wiped out. The grass was brown, and the trees were dead or dying. Debris was everywhere. Looking over at the cemeteries you could see the damage. There were a number of coffins laying near the entrance. I can only assume these were coffins that had been found and were being returned to their proper resting place. Every so often you would see a car or two in a location that there shouldnt be a car. You could also see the various waterlines on buildings and cars.
Drove by the Superdome on the West Bank Expressway. You could see the areas where the roof had pealed off. It was at this time that I realized the large numbers of folks who had stayed in that small island for such a long time. I dont know if I could have done that, but thankfully the stories we had originally heard were not true. Drove to my friends apartment that I was going to stay at. It is near the convention center and was relatively undamaged. The only problem that they all had was the smell coming from the rotting refrigerators. That smell is a smell that permeated all throughout the city and one that I hopefully never will smell again.
Anyway, turns out that my friends place was not really habitable. I realized that I was better off trying to find a hotel room. Which due to running into the right folks I was able to get a place. Turns out one of my friends neighbors is good friends with the General Manager at the Ambassador Hotel. Through her I was able to get a room, and not get gouged. Out of appreciation for that single act of kindness (which is now the spirit of New Orleans) I most likely will stay at that hotel any time I am back in New Orleans and needing to use a hotel. I will also try and send as many people there as I can. It is not a Ritz or a 4 Seasons or even a Marriot, but it is a clean hotel with decent rooms.
By this time it was around 3pm and I headed over to our store in the French Quarter. Today was the first day we had opened for business and most of the day was being spent trying to recover what we had been doing over a month and half before. I sat down to work and started going over insurance policies. The policies were quite detailed and often times I had to read them several times before I really understood what was going on with them. However, eventually I figured them out and it looks like we have some strong positions against some of the insurers to recover our merchandise losses due to flooding.
I then went with one of our employees to check on the conditions of our buildings in the French Quarter. We had some substantial roof damage, but nothing that was too bad. Mostly some flashing pulled back, some tiles lifted up to a point where it looks like the roof has failed, but it is just the tiles, and one section of the roof where it was pulled back from the other parts. Also the building two down from ours partially collapsed so we had that worry as well. I have provided some of those pictures below of our roofs.
(due to my incompetence, the photos below won't open properly, but for now here is a link to the entire album just find the photo in the album you want)
Finished the day and went back to the hotel. The bar was open and so I decided to have a beer or two. Ended up talking to some firefighters who were staying there and working for FEMA. When last call was announced, we just moved to another bar, curfew be damned. Went to bed and slept like a rock. Of course I did not know what the next day was going to bring.
The next morning I got up and went down to the store. We had several meetings with insurance adjusters today and we wanted to make sure that we were prepared for them. The first stop was our warehouse. It is in an area near the Orleans Parish Prison. We had several feet of water enter into the warehouse, and it has a funny smell. Looking at various areas around the warehouse it looks like the water was between 6 and 8 feet deep in the area. All of our merchandise on the main level was damaged or destroyed. It looks like we will have to gut the warehouse and rebuild the inside. We have started some of the work, but arent yet done with it. I have included some of the photos from the warehouse here.
Next, it was off to see the family homes. If I thought the warehouse was bad, things were going to get a lot worse. Driving down Canal you could see the damage. Waterlines everywhere, and lots of orange Xs everywhere. Only saw one or two homes that had had bodies found in them. We got to the underpass by the plantation coffee house and found that area still flooded, so we had to go over to Orleans Ave and enter the neighborhood over one of the canals.
Crossing over the canal brought a site that cannot be believed. The level of damage is far worse than you can see on TV and in the photos. The smell is unbelievable. When we got to my Aunt and Uncles home you really could tell the damage. For the most part I am not going to describe the damage, I am going to let the pictures do the job. Prior to entering we joked with the adjuster that he really didnt need to go any further. He agreed that it was a complete write off, but he needed to go in and get pictures.
neighbors pool
view of the waterline
I donned a respirator prior to entering the home. Actually the Insurance adjuster tried to buy it off of me, because it blocked the stench. Entering into the home one was walking on insulation and other ceiling materials that were now on the ground. Most of the stuff had the consistency of paste. My hiking boots were ruined after this, but at least my feet were safe.
The rest of the day was spent trying to inventory every thing we had. I did a few other odds and ends around.
I will add more to this as I get time, but I wanted to get this up for you all to see.
Last edited by MSY-MSP; Oct 14, 2005 at 5:57 pm Reason: Add link to all photos, because I didn't do the links correctly
Oct 14, 2005 | 5:20 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: IAH
Posts: 2,674
Thanks for posting this. NOLA has been a frequent destination for me, and about 30% of my business there got washed away with Katrina, to include one major contract that is on indefinite hold.
I hope the city recovers, not for my business' sake, but so that we don't loose the charm and culture that has always been NOLA.
Cheers,
M8
I hope the city recovers, not for my business' sake, but so that we don't loose the charm and culture that has always been NOLA.
Cheers,
M8
Oct 14, 2005 | 6:27 pm
#3
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Burlingame, CA
Programs: TK Miles & Smiles, AF Flying Blue, AA Advantage, AS Mileage Plan
Posts: 2,159
Thank you MSY-MSP for this eye opening and detailed report. I hope your family is doing fine. In times of tragedy it always amaze me to see the resilience of the human spirit. I have seen it at an early age after going through an earthquake, war and hurricane.