Urban Marina

Urban Marina
Originally uploaded by Gna42.

Fishing anyone? Last night I viewed over 400 photos while trying to get an idea of what has happened to Arabi, LA, the suburb I grew up in. While the photos were interesting (Showing more grusome damage than what is being seen on T.V.), the comments from local officials and the National Guard troops serving in the area were much more helpful. After working in Arabi for the past week one young Guardsman, Curtis, said, "This was a normal town, It looks like a bomb hit it."

On the Official St. Bernard Parish web site residents of Arabi are being urged to return to the neighborhood for a few hours to "See what's left of their homes." Some reports say the water reached 20-25 ft. in some areas. The area is a swarm of mosquitoes, muck-covered, with windows blown out and clothes and worse hanging in the trees. Homes have been washed from their foundations and some , like ours, sit in the middle of the street (I've a feeling the bulldozer has already cleared it from the road).

To gain entry one must... well, take it from the official web site...
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Preparation to Return:

When preparing to return to St. Bernard, the following personal precautions are recommended:

1.     Tetanus inoculation or booster,

2.     Hepatitis A inoculation or booster,

3.     Hepatitis B inoculation or booster,

4.     Wear coveralls – preferably disposable to be thrown away when exiting St. Bernard,

5.     Wear gloves – thick rubber,

6.     Wear boots, and

7.     Wear a respirator – to protect from air-borne contaminants

8.     Wear eye protection

 In addition, it is strongly recommended that you exit St. Bernard before nightfall.  Electrical power, water, and sanitation have not been restored in St. Bernard.  Moreover, presently there is no gasoline, food, water or building material available.  Thus, please plan accordingly.  You should be totally self-sufficient with generators, tools, etc. to enable you to accomplish your planned tasks and sufficient gasoline to exit St. Bernard when you are finished.

 Because St. Bernard Parish Government does not have sufficient life sustaining supplies to support the general public, we encourage you to make arrangements to sleep outside of St. Bernard Parish.
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Sounds fun, huh? Why would anyone want to return to such a place at all, much less to live? Just ask my Dad and older Sister, who plan to do just that.

Oh, and yes, I do plan on trying to talk them out of it.