Shot of the Day – 17 – Another Katrina Anniversary

As noted earlier, I hope to use this space to remember New Orleans in the month of August and Hurricane Katrina on this date. Twelve years ago today, the storm and government incompetence nearly destroyed this amazing city.

A year later, I returned to what was our home for fifteen years to see how it was faring. The impact of that visit prompted the essay that started this blog. It was another five years before the second story appeared but in 2006, I was more interested in making a statement than producing a (semi-) regular publication.

Lakefront Marina a Year Later (10 August 2006)

On the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, in the West End neighborhood, is a yacht club and marina. This is what it looked like one year after the storm. Not having gone through such devastation yourself, you might ask, “Why is the place still a mess? Why has no one cleaned it up?” Maybe the meager government funds we anti-tax patriots have allocated for such things was better spent on food, shelter, medicine and infrastructure. Maybe insurance issues still needed to be resolved. Maybe the marina went bankrupt. Maybe the boat owners lost everything and, with nothing left to come home to, have started all over where they were evacuated. Maybe the boat owners died. This wasn’t called a disaster for nothing.

On one side of the marina was a collection of seafood restaurants…all on pilings over the water. The right table could get you a great view of sunsets over the lake. The oldest of the eateries was Bruning’s. In one building or another, the family sold meals there since 1859. My meal of choice was almost always the seafood platter. Why have a shrimp dinner or a crab dinner or a fish dinner or an oyster dinner when you can have all of them on one plate?

All That’s Left of Bruning’s (10 August 2006)

Eighty percent of the city was flooded. Many houses were flooded and needed extensive restoration though their basic structures were intact. Many houses were ruined and the only thing to do was tear them down and rebuild. Because Bruning’s and all the other restaurants were OVER the water and the storm surge came from the Gulf into the lake, the buildings were battered from many directions.

They just disappeared.

Here we are twelve years later on the same day, hoping the people of Houston will come through their ordeal better. If you can spare a few bucks, organizations participating in hurricane relief efforts include:

• American Red Cross. To donate visit redcross.org, call 1- 800-RED CROSS or text the word HARVEY to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

• The Salvation Army: To donate visit www.helpsalvationarmy.org or call 1-800-725-2769.

• Catholic Charities USA: Visit catholiccharitiesusa.org to donate.