New crepe myrtle and live oak trees planted in City Park in front of the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Overgrown yard.
A post-Katrina city ordinance requires that yards be maintained, but many residents lack the wherewithall to keep them tidy if they aren't living in the city. Vegetation grows very rapidly in New Orleans hot humid climate, and now there are two years of growth on many lots.
Moving on.
No backyard barbecue here.
Messages left for neighbors or inquiring purchasers.
New levee wall construction at one of the breaches.
Empty lots across the street from a levee wall breach.
In the shadow of the London Avenue Canal wall.
The London Avenue Canal, looking toward Lake Pontchartrain.
The London Avenue Canal, looking toward downtown and the Mississippi River.
A connection between old and repaired sections of the London Avenue Canal.
New construction in the shadow of the London Avenue Canal.
Many lots have simply been bulldozed clear of flooded property.
A raised house. Many other residents are rebuilding without shoring up their houses, notwithstanding the risk of future flooding. The cost can be prohibitive, and assistance for raising homes is either far too inadequate, or nonexistant.
The new surge barrier at the London Avenue Canal outflow to Lake Pontchartrain. This is intended to keep the Gulf from surging into the canal, but it also may prevent surface rain water from being pumped out of New Orleans into the canal. What's needed are pumps at Lake Pontchartrain like the the massive Wood pumps which empty water from New Orleans streets into the outflow canals.
A pioneering homestead.
A program to keep down mosquito populations from standing water -- especially in open swimming pools.
The remnants of St. Cabrini Church, being demolished by the Archdiocese of New Orleans to make way for a new Holy Cross campus.
A road crossing the London Avenue Canal, and a recently raised house, provides a sense of the topography around the canal.
A 4th of July barbecue on St. Anthony Street.
Rebuilding activity on St. Anthony Street below Filmore Street appears more robust than in other parts of the Gentilly neighborhood. Maps of flooding suggest that this area wasn't flooded quite as much as other areas, but whether it was two feet, six feet, or ten feet, it's all relative. There must be another explanation. Incidentally, the Dartmouth survey appears not to have recorded the rebuilding activity here.
Another house being raised.
Fireworks.
