posted on Apr, 23 2013 @ 12:45 PM
It has been nearly 8 years since Katrina. I know that this post is a little late, but I will tell you what has been going on since then. I live in
Gonzales Louisiana, about 50 miles north-east of N.O. Let me tell you, things didnt play out like the doomsayer said that would happen(including
myself). They pumped out the water in a remarkable amout of time. Just after a two year wait, my wife and I went to stay at the Ritz near Boubon
Street. As you make the trip to N.O. coming east on I-10 we didnt really see any significant damage. The Superdome had been repaired and as my own
gauge of how things were, traffic at rush-hour seemed the same as before the storm.
The death toll would have been much higher if not for the "False Alarm" from the year before. I cant remember the name of the storm, but
N.O. was evacuating. We have a system called Contra-Flow where they were supposed to get eveyone out of town by adjusting the outflow of traffic. It
did not work. People were stranded for hours on west bound I-10 and the same for going east to Mississippi. There are only thee ways into and out of
N.O. I-10 west to Baton Rouge, I-10 east to Mississippi, and accross the Lake Ponchatrain Bridge to Mandeville. By the powers that be the storm didnt
really hit us and we got a reprieve. They changed the plan by opening the outflow to BOTH east and west bound traffic and not letting anyone in. That
saved a lot of lives. Our Governer at the time was shell shocked and looked like a deer in the headlights the whole time. Bobby Jindal may have well
as starated putting P.O.D.'s on the Goveners House lawn, because Blanco blew it. G.W. stepped in and helped somewhat. It was General Honere' that
saved the aftermath catatrophy.
Anyway, N.O. has been reborned. I am not sure what the total population is, but traffic is back to being nerve wracking. I am sure that my
rambling has bored you, but I just wanted everyone to know that the City of New Orleans is back in biz, and is as eclectic as always. As for myself, I
would not move there if you promissed me a million bucks. Because it will happen again. But, long live New Orleans