Tropical Storm Karen and New Orleans Visit

[brunota2003]

I figured I would pass these two links along. These are images that were taken with my camera over the course of the last 3 days. Another S2K member and I arrived late Friday night. Saturday we helped Mark and Mike out in Gulfport setting up a couple of cameras. A nice, gusty shower came in during set up, which then led to a spectacular sunset! One of the clouds had virga streaking out of it, and we got to watch it almost completely dissipate.

Yesterday (Sunday) we got a tour through New Orleans, from one of my Army friends that lives there (he grew up there). I have to say, anyone who wishcasts for a strong tropical cyclone to hit, you should drive through the city of New Orleans and Gulfport. The first thing we saw, damage wise, was the abandoned 6 Flags (no, we did not enter it or get near it, we were on the interstate the whole time). The company just shut the park down, put "Closed For The Storm" on the entrance sign, and left everything there. Even the computers are still there, and everything got flooded by 1 to 8 ft of water. Once we entered the area around the city, it was just random empty lot after empty lot. There were also a lot of buildings (both businesses and homes) along the road we took that probably looked almost exactly the same as they did right after the water receded. The extremely faded plywood was still covering the windows and doors, standing ready to protect the building against a hurricane that took place over 8 years in the past. Extremely sad to see, and think those once had people going in and out of them.

I also have a photo of a stop light, where the water was above the lights, themselves. The boats had to be careful maneuvering around the lights and poles, because otherwise they would damage the props on the poles. It was eerie, sitting at the red light and looking up, thinking that boats were passing well over where I was sitting. Just trying to picture THAT much water in the spot, even having seen all the footage and photos of it happening. In Gulfport, we did not drive around...but being out with Mark & Mike, just driving to the water, we passed a foundation where a small building once stood a little over 8 years ago. There were also a few empty lots here and there.

Note:
Log into FB if you want to be able to click on the photos and enlarge them.

Tropical Storm Karen album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... f06363dbde

New Orleans album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 40114502fa

The New Orleans album doesn't have empty lots (only posted 1) or boarded up buildings...by the time I realized the lots or buildings were there, we were in the process of driving by them, not enough time to get a photo.

[brunota2003]

I had an idea for the abandoned 6 Flags - New Orleans. Use the land next to the old park and rebuild/reopen there. Realistically, you could use the old parking lot for both the old and new parks...but I would prefer the sign reading "Closed For The Storm" be left in place (assuming it has not been torn down already).

For the old park: Have a team come in and assess the coasters, and do any repairs necessary to prevent them from collapsing. Rename the coasters the names of towns/cities devastated by Katrina, place a big plaque under the new signs, listing the names of those lost in each of those towns/cities. In the middle of the memorial, have a grand fountain, and on the outer walls of the fountain, etch in the names of all of those who lost their lives during the storm. For the buildings, close them off and put up big windows so people can look in. Leave the prizes hanging up, the computers, etc in place. People can look in and see the water lines, the ruined equipment, etc and see how everything can be normal one day and turned upside down the next. Also, open up a section, in the old park, that is dedicated to hurricane safety information of some type (perhaps in conjuncture with the NWS office in Slidell).

The memorial can be open from 6 am to 10 am, and have the new park open at 10 am. That way, the memorial is quiet and reflective (like they are supposed to be), instead of hearing roller coasters running and people screaming, etc.