My parents had a business trip to New Orleans last month. They drove and you as can see in the following pictures, even 6 months later, the devastion from Hurricane Katrina is still very real and far from being cleaned up and rebuilt.
Even though we live fairly close to the areas damaged by the hurricane nothing can prepare you for seeing it in person. My parents were both shocked and in shock after this trip and cannot even really discuss what they saw other than briefly and using words like complete devastation, ground zero, horrifying, unbelievably sad.
These are thoughts and feelings that are not heard much anymore. It is all centered around the political side of what happened and the human error or even in pointing fingers and laying blame. I don't think ANYONE could have foreseen what a hurricane of this strength would actually do and even though I still think anyone that sticks around their home and ignores an evacuation order is a dumbass. I can understand that after all of the false alarms and dozens of lesser hurricanes that the 'cry wolf' effect took hold.
Just small lessons to try to hold onto in the grand scheme of things.
