Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Mack Truck, Lower Ninth Ward


A Mack truck rests on its side in someone's yard in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, on its back lays someone's sofa. Twenty days after this photograph was taken a reporter toured the area by bus, and wrote this:

"I'll admit it. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. And I can only begin to understand what it was like for the people who lived there.

On Thursday, I rode along with residents from the devastated Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans as they toured the area by bus.

For some, it was the first chance to see their homes, their neighbors and their belongings. But they weren't allowed to get off the bus. This angered some; others knew there was simply nothing to salvage.

Officials said this restriction was because the houses aren't structurally sound, and because bodies are still being recovered. We did see at least one K-9 cadaver team during the tour.

Home after home was destroyed by the flooding after the breach in the levee beside the Industrial Canal. Block after block is nearly unrecognizable as a place where people once went about their daily lives.

Even the residents on the bus described it as looking like a movie set." Read More...

3 comments:

Mercury said...

It amazes me that water can do that much damage. Nice photo.
D

Schroeder said...

You were able to walk around the lower Ninth Ward? I just got the bus tour.

Did you sneak in?

Anonymous said...

I have a picture of that truck! I took it just a few weeks ago. It's still there, just lying there getting rusty. I was in Hollygrove for Easter week helping to gut houses. We got to walk around the ninth ward for a bit. Wild...