Im visiting New orleans for 2 days and have already visited Cameron and Lake Charles. its been some time since the hurricanes hit but there is still an obscene amount of damage about the land. the Casinos in Lake charles and surrounding hotels have alot of wind and water damage. some casinos wont even be open till next year.

In Cameron, which is right on the water, there was about 30'-35' storm surges above sea level. Cameron is one of the wealthiest parishes (counties) in La. almost all of the structures are wiped/washed away. there are boats in the middle of farm fields, houses that were resting across roadways which had to be bulldozed. even houses that were built on steel I-beam stilts still did not survive. there were schools made of cinder blocks that were missing exterior walls. cars and trucks had been washed away and deposited in farm fields or culverts or marshes. and when we started to get closer to ground zero, shore, there was a stench of rotting flesh. there had been approximately 25,000 Cattle that had drowned during the flooding.

Bourbon street and surrounding roadways down here are littered with small debris. the large billboards and business signages are either torn, tattered, broken in half or missing completely. even brick buildings have walls caving in and have For Sale signs posted because property owners have lost everything. even some of the buildings/businesses that have been cleaned up, restored and reopened have hints of hurricane. the work station im sitting at in the New Orleans Public library (FEMA Disaster Recovery Center also), there is sand stuck to the side of this monitor. Crazy eh?

ill post up some pics when i get back into florida.

Pretty crazy, man. It must seem a little like a dream.

I really hope that NOLA gets back on its feet before too long. My wife and I would really like to take a vacation there some time (not during the summer). That whole area is very unique and has its own thing going on when compared to the rest of America.

That is crazy Chris, the pics will be neat to see.

thats stuff is insane...cant mess with mother nature

I saw a dateline last night where someone finally started saying we shouldn't rebuild a certain percentage of Louisianna near the Gulf. They spoke about the fact that they're losing 5 acres of land / day to the Gulf and that by 2025, downtown New Orleans will be an island with the Gulf right at it's edge, and it will require a huge levy all the way around it and it will be 35 feet below sea level.

A lot of people lost everything, those who owned their places outright lost everything. Those who owed the banks a lot, the banks lost tons. I just don't think we should provide the keys for people to potentially go through that again.

Chris.