Day Ten

Meridian, MS to New Orleans, LA

200 Miles

Mississippi may not be that pretty of a state, but the fragrance of jasmine fills your car. It is  a beautiful, warm floral scent. Before we knew it, we were in New Orleans and our adventure began.

This afternoon we took a tour of the city. We find tours are helpful to get a layout of the city and establish points of interest for the next day(s). 

The tour focused a lot of attention on the damage of Hurricane Katrina. Now Hurricane Katrina did not hit New Orleans, it hit Mississippi. The floodwalls in New Orleans broke. The guide explained it was only a matter of time before the walls broke as they were not built as promised. For example, sheet metal went 17 feet down into peat moss, instead of 70ft pilings. And the list goes on.

There are signs of the flood damages everywhere here. Nine years later and the city is still trying to rebuild.

Here are symbols that were spray painted on every house. The numbers at the top are the date entered, to the left means no survivors found, the bottom circle means no bodies found, 7FW is the height of the water, NE identified what crew searched the house.

The streets are scattered with new renovations and construction as well as destruction.

The Musicians Village is a Habitat for Humanity project, 70% of the people living there are musicians. All the homes are shotgun homes (long and narrow) and are under $75,000. The local banks gave loans at 0% interest for the cost. After the loan is paid back, you must live in the house for three years before selling.

This is an example of a flood gate.

Here is a pump station with 24 diesel Caterpillar engines to pump water out of the city.

These are the canal floodwalls at 17^th Street. Approximately ½ mile of this wall on the left broke causing water to pour into the city. The city saw 11 feet of water at its highest. 80% of the city was flooded.

There are waterlines on most light colored buildings and on the back of signs such as stop signs.

My first impression is New Orleans is a whole other world in its own right. We will do more exploring of the culture tomorrow.

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