entering into the fray

So I finally was able to get into New Orleans this morning. Lawrence and I drove in with minimal problems (via our secret way that is available to those helping to restore the city). Our main objective was to scope out the area to prepare for our work teams coming in tomorrow and Saturday. With that at mind, we started out at church. I took a ton of pictures of the damage to the church facility that I hopefully will have posted at the Berean blog in an hour or so. It looks like we will have more than enough work to do there to keep us busy for at least tomorrow all day. If I counted correctly, there are six trees that are completely down on the main property.

We then headed over to my house, and the neighbors had left some nice signs out to greet us:


Well, at least I know my house has been kept safe!

On to the damage....

The major issue is a tree that fell from my neighbor's yard unto our roof. Man, it was really close to taking out my Jeep! No damage to the car...but it needed a jump
after sitting for two weeks.

Here is a closer look:


We walked inside and promptly climbed the attic steps to access the damage to the roof. The good news is that the structure of the roof is intact and the tree did not break through the roof anywhere. BUT, it did pull of enough shingles and tar paper to spring a couple of leaks. Nothing major, but we definitely will need to at least throw a tarp up there ASAP.

The second major issue is another tree that fell on our back overhang. Here is the best angle I could find to give you an idea of what it looks like:


And here is a picture of where you can see how we lost maybe two feet off of the edge of the overhang:


Yeah, that doesn't concern me in the least. I'm not a fan of that overhang anyway. The inside of the house was fine. All of the windows are intact, the only evidence of any water damage is one small spot in the ceiling right below where the tree is on the roof. We had electricity, water and sewerage. No cable, phone or internet (all provided by Cox Communications). We cleaned out the freezer and fridge (I figured you didn't want to see pictures of that). Yeah, that wasn't fun. We were worried about the trash sitting on the curb for days and days...and lo and behold the garbage men picked it up before we left!

Our house is definitely okay for us to move right back in. Right now, my concern is enough of the surrounding infrastructure being in place. I think we will probably wait another week so that the grocery stores, gas stations and other stores will be up and running.

Overall, the city didn't look as bad as I expected. It seems like they have done a good job of the initial cleanup, clearing the roads, restoring power, etc. I am beginning to believe that everyone will be amazed at how quickly life will be restored to New Orleans. Don't get me wrong, we will be repairing homes and buildings for well over a year...but much of the city should be operational in the next month or two.

So I drove my Jeep out of the city. Oh, it felt good to be behind the wheel of that car again...