Ang's Journal

It's been at least a few weeks since our last reorganization here in FEMAland, so we were way overdue for some bureaucratic reshuffling. My group has been assigned to Hazard Mitigation, which I'm actually quite pleased about. The purpose of Hazard Mitigation is to rebuild damaged structures in such a way that they are less prone to future damage (stronger roofs, higher floor elevations, burying power lines instead of restringing them on poles, etc.). This is an intelligent approach to disaster recovery & is therefore terribly underutilized.

But what to call our new group? "Group" is too easy, for some reason. There's a lot of bad feeling about "teams" due to the ineptitude of previous teams (who have been dissolved in this current reorganization). "Committee"? Too bureaucratic. "Division"? Too militaristic. So what did they settle on? Oh yeah - we're being called a "cell".

Hello? Do you people follow current events? You've decided to follow al-Qaeda's nomenclature? Awesome. I propose to name our group "al-NOLA".

As an aside, I had waaaaaaaaaaay too much Dr. Pepper at lunch today. Wheee, caffeine high!!!

First, the good advice (courtesy of the eminently practical people at the Stennis Space Center, east of New Orleans in Mississippi):



There's a 14-foot long alligator who lives in this pond. His name is George.

Second, the sign of hope:



I took this photo on my commute route from the office back to the hotel, which passes through NOLA Zombieland, the dead zones where there are still no utilities or residents. This particular intersection is about three blocks past the National Guard checkpoint where courteous young men wielding M-16s ask to see your identification before letting you enter the city (this checkpoint was actually abandoned this morning – maybe they're getting ready to open the neighborhood?). Anyway, the hopeful part of this photo is that the traffic signal has power!! True, it's still laying on the ground where Katrina dumped it nearly two months ago, & there's no power running to the houses down the block, but … baby steps, people. Baby steps.

FEMA news: I finally have work to do, & I am therefore happier.

Still rather be home though.

Other news: The five-question meme continues to roll along. I'm still asking - & answering - questions.

Writing to you from Harahan, LA, just outside of NOLA. My hunch last week was right - I have been deployed to just outside New Orleans - I am working in St. John the Baptist Parish (in Louisiana, parish = county; it's a legislative designation, not a Catholic one). My hotel is right in New Orleans - in fact, I can see the infamous Convention Center from my window. It's a very strange place to be - most of the city does not have electricity (although our hotel does). There is a citywide curfew from 8 PM to 6 AM, although it gets ignored in the French Quarter. There are armed guards at the door of our hotel. The streets are littered with rubble & vegetative debris. Many traffic signals & signs are out of order, so driving in the city streets can be hair-raising (my first night here, I ended up going the wrong way down a one-way street - how fast can YOU do a three-point turn??). The water at our hotel is not drinkable, although we've been told it's OK for showering (the environmental scientist in me is a bit doubtful but the alternative is not showering, so I just wash quickly & try not to think about it). Cell phone coverage is spotty but generally available. The city stinks of garbage, but strangely, I haven't spotted a single rat. Maybe they flee sinking cities as well as ships.

I only arrived at this field office yesterday, & so far it's been a slow start. FEMA is a giant bureaucracy, & because of that, it tends to move .... well, ponderously. Hopefully I will have some work to do soon so I can start feeling like I'm helping this area to get on the road to recovery.

I'm trying to find a PCUSA church in the area but (at least around my hotel) they've all been abandoned. I'll keep looking. This Sunday, I might go to Mass (!!!) at St. Louis Cathedral - that's the only church I've heard of in NOLA that's open.

I've done a bit of driving around the area. This landscape is incredibly alien to me. It is completely & utterly flat. The only topographical relief is anthropogenic - either levees or roads. There is standing water everywhere - I'm not sure if that's unusual or not. Almost all construction practices have been modified to accommodate the water - cemetaries are full of above-ground tombs (groundwater is too shallow to dig graves); all state roads are required to be built seven feet above grade (to prevent flooding); levies & associated pumping stations are giant edifices....

... & despite all this, the river & the ocean are devouring the land. One parish located south of NOLA has lost half its land mass. Driving around & seeing the standing water everywhere, I realized that it's not gonna be California that falls into the sea first.

Edit: interdictor posted a photo of a burned van a while back. This is ~5 blocks from my hotel.