Thoughts from an old lady...

[MomH]

Thoughts from an old lady--

I checked last night. In the City of NO alone, not the whole metro area (ie… Chalmette, Jefferson , etc) there were 87,535 owner occupied housing units as of the 2000 Census. That does not include rental homes, apartments, or businesses.

If the city is under water for much longer (days not weeks) the integrity of these homes is compromised. They may not be reclaimable. The toxic soup will have impregnated the structures to the point that no amount of “cleaning” will be possible. No building type will be exempt. Mortar in brick and block homes will most likely fail, wall board (sheet rock) will disintegrate, insulation will fill with toxic chemicals and fail, studding will begin to rot, and stucco may release from inside and outside walls. Black mold will be a real danger.

If even 1/3 of the above homes could be reclaimed we are still talking better than 59,000 homes to replace. IF 1000 contractors could rebuild these homes at the rate of one a week (an impossibility) --IT WOULD TAKE BETTER THAN A YEAR TO REBUILD JUST THE OWNER OCCUPIED HOMES IN THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS.

Remember this is only owner occupied homes, not businesses, rental homes, apartment buildings, hospitals, libraries, hotels, etc.

And:
How long will clean up take before contractors can even get to building sites?

Where would contractors and workers live while rebuilding, even if they left their families home?

Where are the building supplies coming from? Homes in Florida are still waiting on shingles.

Will businesses hurry to rebuild before they know what the economy will bear?

We have to face it folks -- people may be allowed into NO to retrieve what they can from their homes in 16 weeks but -- it is going to take many, many years before NO is NO again.

Now multiply this scenario by Metro NO, Gulfport, Biloxi, Mobile and all the little towns in between. I went to bed crying last night!

[Mello1]

Ah so true. I hate to say this, but the longer those buildings stay underwater, the more likely they will become structurally unsound or untenible to live in.

One year? No. This is a 10-15 YEAR development project at best. Once they deal with the immediate problems of stopping that breech and then pumping all that water out, then comes the real fun.

To rebuild or not? That will be the question.

Yes, it's very sad.

[ericinmia]

I also hope that the building code will be updated.

I can still not believe that new homes can be built with gable roofs, wood frames, weak attatchment to foundations, weak attatchment to roofs, etc anywhere in a zone that could get a hurricane.

That is purely rediculous.
-Eric

[blueeyes_austin]

I'm 35. I don't think NO as I remember it, IF IT EVER RETURNS, will be restored before I'm 50. I think that many of the little things I loved about the City are gone forever, under any scenario.

This puts such a huge pit in my stomach that I can hardly bear it, and I am only tied to it as a grandchild who visited it frequently. I can't even imagine what it is like for my mother and father who grew up there,,,and at some level I am glad my grandmother didn't live to see this disaster; every hurricane season we feared she would be stuck, alone, in something like this.

[scogor]

And don't forget how quickly (less than three days) it takes for mold to begin growing in homes with water intrusion that have not been dried out and protected from the elements. This becomes more tragic and overwhelming by the minute...