Our daughter and grandson (who had evacuated to a place northwest of Baton Rouge) moved into Perilloux Place with us for two weeks because her house in Metairie had suffered much damage. There was no water or electricity in Metairie so officials banned people at the Parish (county) line. Along with my daughter were her four cats and Caiteri is shown here with Christopher.
No food stores were open; the gasoline pumps were empty and for about two weeks things were difficult. New Orleans and all points east were still flooded with depths of eight to twenty feet of water. Many areas stayed under water for three weeks. THIS WATER WAS NOT FROM HURRICANE KATRINA DIRECTLY BUT FROM BREAKS IN THE LEVEES THAT PROTECT THE AREA FROM LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN AND THE INDUSTRIAL CANAL. These breaks were due solely to poor maintenance and constuction by the Corps of Engineers and the city fathers of the past 40 years who had been warned constantly by the experts that one day "the big one" would come and do exactly the devestation predicted.
Our grandson, who is a senior at Holy Cross School in New Orleans, is now commuting 160 miles roundtrip daily to classes in Baton Rouge from 4 to 9 p.m. because Holy Cross suffered 8 feet of water which remained for two weeks. Most of the schools in New Orleans were damaged and there are none open as of this writing on October 2.