This was the view returning to the city. Unbelievably surreal to see this fixture of the city looking this way. Even seeing it on television...well, it's just not the same.

Having passed the 'Dome, the first thing we saw upon arriving home was a Humvee with three National Guardsmen, complete with AK-47s. They smiled and waved, but seeing the armed forces on your street was unimaginable only a month before.

Wonder which way the wind was blowing?

Lots of people's boarded up homes carried messages of hope.

Some of those messages were long, detailed and hysterical!

While Katrina's winds did enough damage, there was a whole wave of fires that came afterward. Busted gas lines were the biggest issue, and once the fire was started it was hard to access the scene because of all the debris, and there was almost no water pressure to put them out.

Firemen were reduced to trying to contain the fires and not allowing them to spread- see the char marks on the house next door.

Close to the lake, there were boats everywhere. Most were washed ashore and stranded (note the truck in front of the boat for an idea of how huge it was), but some were smaller craft used by citizens to rescue the trapped.

Although it got much less coverage than other areas of town, Lakeview was/is in rough shape. There was no power, and no running water- all of the gutting was done by hand, and debris piled in front of the homes. Trucks scooped it up and brought it here- this 15ft high pile was several miles long.

With no power, the lights would've been useless anyway...

That waterline was on the 2nd floor.

Aside from debris, there were many many trees down. Additionally, everywhere it flooded was brown. Drab, drab brown, because the water that came in was salt water and killed the low lying vegitation.

Each house was individually searched, and marked with this cross. Each section had a different meaning- the date searched, who preformed the search, how many dead were found inside, and any hazards any future searchers should be on the lookout for.

To prevent further damage to structures, a temprorary blue tarp was placed on damaged homes. The only issue is that if you have a small area of damage, you'll still need a whole new roof if you accepted the tarp because of the way they were affixed.

If you had a small crack between your siding/bricks and studs, the wind got between them and ripped them apart. It happened to many houses and businesses, including Commander's Palace in the Garden District. Their wall didn't cave outside- it caved inside. letting the wind and water destroy it while leaving the outer structure looking almost normal.

And of course, a small but visible number of people took advantage. When the homes were searched, there were several that had so much merchandise inside that you couldn't move. They were marked appropriately and to embarrass as much as possible for later arrest.

Ug. Let's not get into specifics. It was bad bad bad...but people still found the humor to mark them up.