HURRICANE KATRINA POST FROM ROBERT FROM 2005

I Found this old post and thought it appropriate - I am praying for everyone down there. TOPIC FROM SEPTEMBER 17TH - NEW ORLEANS

ROBERT Took the grand tour today. Magazine Street, The French Quarter, The Superdome, under the I-10 overpass, 9th Ward, New Orleans East and then Slidell. It is really unreal to be in it. The water is gone and so are any signs of life besides the military and Bell South. My contractor’s permit gained me access to some scary looking places. The soldiers are using city buses to block highway ramps. You start off with roof and some structure damage, and then flood damage. In Slidell the buildings are just wiped out.

REPLY’S

OLD SCHOOL We are all just one hurricane away from the whole thing happening all over again. It would make me leery. How can they consider rebuilding a city in the idle of a lake? Beats me all to heck!

DARRYL Robert, the way that it looks to me is that there is much work to be accomplished before the majority of roofing starts. Have they figured out what they will be doing with the land and houses when the water level drops to zero, with all of the toxins floating around in the wet earth? Eventually they will dry up and then start to blow and disburse through the wind, also known as drift. I would imagine a fellow with a D-5 and some excavating equipment is next in line following a critical path, but when are these decisions coming and who will make them, the Mayor or the Government? I think that there is more to this thing, than slapping on some shingles. They will have to, or are supposed to clean up everything before the construction starts. Also does anyone know what they are planning to do? Complete destruction, re-do the land then start to rebuild or renovate what they have? The renovation will not take care of the toxins. I can see it now, a brand new shingle on a waterlogged toxin filled structure.

ROBERT A large area never received the floodwaters. We are roofing in these areas already. They will rebuild. They have already started in a lot of areas. We roofed a house in old Metaire yesterday. The neighbors flooded, he didn’t. But he lost his flat roof and had very little water damage. We got the roof back on before the rain. The flood damage and the storm is scattered. A reporter with European news agencies came and found us working. Took pictures of us working. Told me he had been there for two weeks and we were the first roofers he had seen. The photos go to USA Today, Time, Washington Post, etc. National Distribution. You may see us on the cover of Rolling Stone.

ROBERT It is just eerie to drive through New Orleans East. No people at all. The doors to vehicles just left open as they rushed to get out. Miles and miles of flooded houses and cars. When we’re working down there, there is no food or water and if you are even able to find a place open it takes two hours to get anything. FEMA has every available room for miles around. We are driving 4 to 6 hours a day.

JSC Robert: If you are going to be doing a lot of work in that area would it make sense to buy a travel trailer or RV?

ROBERT It will be the only way to stay. Right now they are hauling in thousands of trailers.

DARRLY Robert, the mass confusion will be there for a while, what disturbs me is what are they going to do with all of that toxic stuff. When they make that decision then the construction including roofing business will explode in the city.

ROBERT They are saying that it’s not as bad as predicted. Test results are much better than expected. We will soon be sun tanning at Ponchatrain Beach and boogie boarding in the lake.

ROBERT I will drive back and forth but the crew will stay. I might stay a couple of nights.

MIKE NZ Hi Robert, great to hear that you are working the roofs already. Out of interest what did you put on that flat roof? You should get yourself a digital camera, take photos around the areas where you are working and post them here. I am sure everyone would be most interested, I know I would.

ROBERT Two ply modified torch, your favorite. I do have a digital camera and I took some pictures yesterday. I don’t know how to post pictures yet. I can get my bookkeeper to go though them and let him show me how. All I need is 4 more hours in the day. Going back to old Metaire tomorrow. Taking off American traditional asbestos slate on a three story and putting down some titanium felt. Just got off the phone with the owner, he is in Dallas. We are in a very wealthy area. These are not people waiting on insurance. They are finding me on referrals. I am about to buy two or three new one tons. The roofing supply’s are just opening back up ad they don’t have any drivers. One yard has one man in it; you have to pick everything up yourself.

BTW Just bulldoze that sin city.

ROBERT New Orleans could be taken back by the Mississippi River any time, but till then I will keep roofing.

REBECCA This is a Robert’s wife. To the person that said bulldoze Sin City. Hell No! New Orleans has more to it that Bourbon Street. (Sin Street). That city is very old and beautiful. Robert is from Canada and I am the true Cajun in this house. My family lives in New Orleans so my memories go deep. Bulldoze your own hometown!

CIAK I knew that today would be a day of reflection simply because it’s Monday. What I didn’t know was how contemplative I’d become. After a weekend dinner with family friends of many years and the conversation was following the same line of reasoning “Why don’t they just bulldoze the city”? Rebecca’s post is welcome as a fresh reminder of our own communities and how precious that history is. Rebuild is going to be my theme, thank you Rebecca and Robert keep the post’s coming.

TWILL Rebecca, most people wouldn’t know there was anything beyond Bourbon Street if all they ever saw from New Orleans was from what they got to see on the BOOB Tube! Pardon the Pun!

TEXAS PAUL Robert, we were in Algiers on Saturday. Pretty much the neighborhoods are a ghost town. We did do quite a bit of bidding, but only the people that had emailed us. I assume it was National Guardsmen that were in the neighborhoods, but they didn’t stop or ask us anything. We also found that when on the highway; if it says emergency vehicles only, get in that lane. We were able to fly into New Orleans, right past the roadblocks with no problem. Algiers didn’t receive any flooding that we saw. These homes are ready for roofing immediately. The only thing we saw was a Dominoes Pizza that was open. You have to have a health inspection to reopen. We came in 10 to 310 to 90 to Alpalco. Lots of devastation. My wife asked me if I took lots of video. I told her, I started videoing, but stopped after about 3 minutes. You just can’t get the whole scope of damage through a lens. It was unbelievable. We saw a few grocery stores that had been looted. It looked like you took the store and turned it upside down in the parking lot. Trash was everywhere. And the smell, wow, it’s horrible. Just about every home had the fridge sitting out by the road. Everywhere you went; you could smell rotting food. It smelled like the dump. Funny thing was, Home Depot WAS open. So was Lowes. Crazy thing about that, we priced decking and found it to be OBS 8.99, CDX 11.99. That’s 5 dollars cheaper than Southeast Texas. Gas, we paid 2.36 at pay at the pump Wal-Mart. Go Figure. Glad to be home. No place to sty there.

CMR HOUSTON Yeah, I was able to drive all over Slidell. It looks like if you have logos on the side of your truck you are just expected to be there. The police were out in force. Stopped into a Target to use their restroom and the police were sitting at a table just inside the front door. Wal-Mart was completely stocked with everything and people were buying food. FEMA tents were in the parking lots as well as all the insurance companies. It seems the adjusters are taking claims on the spot, but nobody was in line. I parked there and waited for my buddy, so I got a chance to watch what they were doing. I don’t think any of them had a single person come up to file a claim in the hour I was there. Red Cross is in town handing out food and clothing. That line was really long. There are strategic locations in town that have HUGE piles of clothing that people have donated… people were sifting through the piles to find clothes. The military is driving down the streets tossing MREs and water to anyone they see. Even the contractors I talked to haven’t had to buy food while they were there. The local churches and other establishments are giving away ice, water, and food to anyone who shows up. The kicker is that I heard on the radio that FEMA is NOT recommending that these people do any major repairs to their home until this hurricane season is over. They are urging homeowners to dry-in their property and secure it, but leave major stuff (roofing and siding, etc) until November.

Dont know how bad it is this time, will not be no katrina i assume.