Posted Tuesday, September 20 at 09:30 pm CT
by Miguel Llanos.
LITTLE WOODS, La. -- While we weren’t able to get into the refinery spill site in Meraux, there’s no shortage of neighborhoods that are accessible and still covered in grime left by the floodwaters. Little Woods, an area east of New Orleans between Interstate 10 and Lake Pontchartrain, is one of those.
Driving through a large apartment complex, the grit on the roads and cars made it seem like a dusty Wild West town where the townsfolk had scattered just ahead of the gunslinger’s arrival.
CONTINUED »
Posted Tuesday, September 20 at 07:02 pm CT
by Miguel Llanos.
CHALMETTE, La. -- Blame it on Rita. That’s what the law enforcement officer for St. Bernard Parish told us and flooded out homeowners as he turned back car after car trying to pass a checkpoint into this town, where a nearby refinery has unleashed a major oil spill.
Glen Gendusa, one of the locals trying to get back in, was happy to relieve his anger with us, trashing parish officials for reclosing the area even though the new storm was several days from the Gulf Coast.
CONTINUED »
Posted Tuesday, September 20 at 09:49 am CT
by Miguel Llanos.
EPA contractors Mark Niedert of Mitchell, Ill., and Vandell Griffin of Germantown, Wis., take samples from containers in St. Tammany Parish, La. Click "play" to hear Niedert and Griffin describe their uncomfortable working conditions. (David Friedman / MSNBC.com)
ABITA SPRINGS, La. -- It’s a sweaty job but someone has to do it. On this shift, Mark Niedert and Vandell Griffin are dressed head to toe in airtight, waterproof protective gear and face masks, breathing from an air tank on their backs.
It’s probably 90 degrees and plenty humid – and that’s before they dress for their job. Once suited up, they’ve got no more than 30 minutes before they overheat. In that time, they’ll take samples from six containers picked up by hazardous waste cleanup teams in St. Tammany Parish just north of New Orleans.
CONTINUED »
Posted Monday, September 19 at 06:15 pm CT
by Miguel Llanos.
Contractors working with the Army Corps of Engineers chip up vegetative debris at Lafreniere Park in Kenner, La. (David Friedman / MSNBC.com)
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- At Lefrenier Park in suburban New Orleans, several hundred contract crew members are literally chipping away at some of the debris left by Katrina. Their job is to remove, haul, grind and pile up thousands of tons of downed trees and branches from east Jefferson Parish.
It's another example of how Katrina has changed the face of the region. In the two weeks since the work started, 200,000 cubic yards of organic material have been brought in. oOne of the typical giant trucks used here hauls 30 cubic yards, so you get the picture. And this is serving just one community.
CONTINUED »
Posted Monday, September 19 at 11:50 am CT
by Miguel Llanos.
NORCO, La. -– The most direct route into New Orleans from Baton Rouge is via Interstate 10. But the alternate route along Highway 61 was just too tempting to pass up. The towns along this drive, Norco among them, are part of what environmentalists call Cancer Alley because several petrochemical plants and ports share the banks of the Mississippi River with hundreds of homes.
Had Katrina hammered these petrochemical areas as well? We got up close, taking a look from a berm at the Valero refinery only to have plant security guards block our car and notify us that a Homeland Security directive bars taking photographs of sensitive energy facilities.
CONTINUED »
Posted Monday, September 19 at 02:21 am CT
by Miguel Llanos.
BATON ROUGE, La. -- It’s about as nondescript as you can get: a (formerly) vacant furniture store in the warehouse section of town. But Hurricane Katrina brought it back to life and now it’s home to several dozen government and Red Cross officials handling media calls and interview requests.
It's an obvious stop for us when we fly into Baton Rouge, the third team of MSNBC.com reporters to blog from the region. We have just arrived with a new assignment: Assess the health and environmental fallout from Katrina.
CONTINUED »
Posted Saturday, September 17 at 12:15 am CT
by Kari Huus.
Maxine Harris and her grandson Charles Harris, are staying at a Red Cross shelter located in the Community Chapel Church of God in Natchez, Miss. Natchez is about 200 miles away from the family’s hometown of Westwego, La.
NATCHEZ, Miss. — If every family had a Maxine Harris at times of crisis, it seems like things would go a lot more smoothly.
It is the last day of our trip through the region when we visit the Community Chapel Church of God, a shelter just outside of town. After we introduce ourselves, volunteers and other evacuees immediately direct us to Maxine.
CONTINUED »
Posted Friday, September 16 at 11:34 pm CT
by Kari Huus.
Senior Jared Burkhardt, who evacuated from Chalmette, La. walks through the halls of his new high school in Natchez, Miss. (JimSeida / MSNBC.com)
Natchez, Miss. -- In his final year of high school, Jerad Burkhardt is starting over. He’s from Chalmette, a devastated area close to New Orleans that we visited a few days ago. Not only is his house in an area heavily hit by flooding, but he thinks it’s probably also in the area hit by an oil spill caused by the storm.
Jerad’s family came to Natchez because his grandfather was building a house here. They moved in even though it is still just a shell, no appliances. About the only thing he was able to bring with him, aside from clothes, was his set of golf clubs, which he recently bought himself.
CONTINUED »
Posted Friday, September 16 at 06:32 pm CT
by Kari Huus.
NATCHEZ, Miss. -- They’ve had five long days in this little river town, but Red Cross volunteers are proud of their operation, and rightly so.
In fact, the operation designed to distribute checks to an estimated 10,000 evacuees in the area worked so well that, as word got out, others started arriving from Baton Rouge, 80 miles to the south, and beyond. By closing time Friday, the fifth and last day of the check distribution in the Natchez Convention Center, the Red Cross had delivered emergency money to about 50,000 evacuees -- assistance worth more than $10 million.
CONTINUED »
Posted Friday, September 16 at 04:48 pm CT
by Kari Huus.
PONCHATOULA, La. — On the road we often find ourselves listening to United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans, an operation thrown together by more than a dozen city radio stations during the disaster. I imagine this is the case for thousands of evacuees who now, to a great extent, live out of their cars. The signal reaches well beyond the city limits and provides a 24-hour-a-day stream of Katrina news, discussion and announcements about areas that are closed or opening, where the water is drinkable, where power is being restored, where curfews are in place, etc.
It’s a glimpse into just how fluid the situation is as people move around the region seeking help and begin returning to stricken areas to assess the damage. It is also a reminder of how critical radio remains during disasters that make other kinds of communication impossible or impractical. Click here for a listen to the United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans.
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