September 27, 2005

Touring New Orleans

This is a tough blog to write. I'm in New Orleans this week reporting on the scene down here. As I traveled outside the city of New Orleans, I saw damaged buildings and signs. But then I went in to New Orleans with photographer Chris Sullivan and what we saw is really indescribable. It's a war zone. I saw the Ninth ward up close. That's the area most affected. Everything is torn apart. In rubble, mud and water. It will take your breath away. Besides media, there's nobody there. It's eerily quite. And it smells. Smells like death, a smell I will never forget. We saw some animal rescue volunteers there saving animals. It was nice to see. I'll never forget this day. I won't be able to get it out of my mind. Next to the 9th ward destruction is a memorial to the dead. It says "Lower 9th ward R.I.P.", then it shows makeshift graves.

We also went to the French Quarter and the downtown area. It smells nasty. There's garbage everywhere that hasn't been picked up for a month.I can't imagine that with all the filth some people won't get terribly sick. I'm staying with the photographer and his family in Baton Rouge and when we got home, we made sure to take showers and wash our clothes. We smelled like Katrina. It's a day I'll never forget. Never.

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