Day 2 - New Orleans continued...



The houses in red on this map are no longer there after Katrina!

Many people abandoned their homes and never came back!

Dozens of Marked Houses

Only thing left on many of these lots is the front porch.

Marked House

This afternoon we took a tour of the 9th Ward in the lower part of New Orleans.  As many of you know, Hurricane Katrina devastated much of New Orleans almost 6 years ago. The 9th Ward was one of the hardest hit areas once the levee broke and a path of destruction ensued.  Driving through this area, we saw where houses once stood, now only the front steps remain.  On other homes, there is an X spray painted on the front of houses.  The top number in the X represented the date the house was checked, the right side represented animals found deceased, the bottom number represents deceased individuals found and the letters on the left is the organization that inspected the house.  There is some progress in rebuilding the area, but still very far from what any of us would consider normal.  There was a quiet reverence as we walked the area as we encountered remaining residents sitting on porches, visiting with each other, working in their yards and just living life as normal as they can. No pictures or news footage could ever compare to actually seeing this devastation first hand!  We are all very blessed!