Today was a long, but fun, day of work work work! We went into the ninth ward and cleared out several yards that were full of dead trees, grass and weeds. This is an important task because the land owners are charged an extra $100 a month if they do not take care of their land, and for the land owners around this area, this is a huge burden that adds on to the loss of their house. We worked all day with another volunteer group from Boston and the weather was beautiful!
The area that we live in now, the Bourbon street area and many of the places we have drove through down here are mostly repaired, but the ninth ward was absolutely ruined and will take years to repair. Houses have their roofs blown off, the streets are completley deserted and trash is scattered around the street. Our supervisor for the day told us that when the levees broke in this area, the houses were completely submerged under water, a concept that was hard for our group to grasp but a very powerful image. The water caused the most damage to the houses and neighborhoods. It is incredible to see how much work still needs to be done here.
Oh, did we mention that we saw Brad Pitt? Okay just kidding but we saw all of his pink-tarp draped houses across the street from our work site.