Down By The Bay, Where the Mississippi flows...:Arrival and Discovery

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This blog entry consists of two adventures.

1. The voyage of four Montreal students to New Orleans
2. Our group's first exposure to the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

1.
5 of us left Montreal on route for New Orleans with a stop over in Washington.

1 of us made it on the connecting flight and was able to join the rest of the group on time in New Orleans.

The other 4, including myself were not so lucky. We missed our connecting flight, for reasons I do not want to get into and had to fly through Charlotte, NC. In Charlotte, we met a group of Hawaiians who were on their way to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl.

We finally arrived in New Orleans and took a taxi to Kiln, Mississippi where our campsite was. We arrived in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. As we discovered the next day, was a very appropriate description. Kiln is known for one thing - football fans, any guesses? It is the home town of NFL quarterback Brett Favre.

2.
The next morning we went into New Orleans, specifically an area called Lakeview, where the 17th Street Canal is located. The canal divides the parish of New Orleans and the Parish of Jefferson. (New Orleans and the surrounding suburbs/municipalities are divided by parishes). This canal is where one of the levees broke, flooding the area of Lakeview where one of the synagogues was located.

From the pictures you can see how the house located just behind the canal is gutted. The surrounding houses are as well.

We then visited the synagogue. This was when the immensity of the storm hit me.

Standing next to the wall, as you can see in one of my pictures, I realized how even when I stretched my whole body, I was shorter than where the flood line settled for 2 weeks. Its maximum height was about 2 feet higher.

From the pictures you can also see how the interior of the synagogue was destroyed. This includes the Tallit racks which had fallen over and were underwater.

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Photos

Synagogue of New Orleans
I'm am standing fully extended to give you an idea of how high the flood settled.

Charlotte, eh?
An unexpected stop over. Sharon, Orly, Adam, Seth

The Greeter
David, greetting us at 1am.

Next to the 17th Street Canal Levee
The houses in the background are all gutted and empty.

Next to the 17th Street Canal Levee
The houses in the background are all gutted and empty.

Synagogue of New Orleans
The exterior of one of the New Orleans Synagogues. Notice the flood lines on the wall.

Synagogue of New Orleans
Doors were boarded up.

Go Warriors!
This was a plane full of Hawains on their way to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans