Good news for my brother

Good news: we were able to make contact with somebody from my brother's neighborhood in Kenner who stayed behind. He'll check out Gary's house (on Champaign Drive just north of the Esplanade Mall) today, but says that most of the other houses in that area are just fine: no structural or flood damage.

Here's a satellite image taken a few days ago and available on Google Earth. I couldn't get an image of Gary's house exactly, but this is only a few blocks south.

I don't see any obvious problems, in contrast to the awful destruction in similar images around downtown New Orleans.

Thanks to several people who helped find more information.

By the way, this is a good time for those who are safe to be extremely thankful, and for all of us to be extra sensitive and generous to the hundreds of thousands who have been devasted. A lot of us are offended by the brutal, insensitive comments of film-maker Michael Moore, for example (I won't link to it), or from anyone on the right or left who tries to make this into a political issue.

More New Orleans blogs

Metroblogging New Orleans has an on-going set of first-person observations of what it's like in the area now. They point to blogs.photoblogs.org as another good source of information.

Also you can listen to an online live police scanner here.

Blog from somebody in Kenner

I saw this entry apparently from an EMT who visited Kenner last week: "The official estimate was that the town of Kenner was
going to get ten more feet of water. The first floor
of the police station would be swamped, the generators
and radios would be knocked out, and the only
transportation would be on the single flatboat. Not to
mention the jail, which would be flooded also. The
Captain assigned a sergeant to get cheap
battery-powered walkie-talkies from Wal-Mart�the kind
you use for hunting or skiing and have a range of a
few hundred yards�because with the power out, the
police radios were going to be useless. A lieutenant
was ordered to come up with a simple system of hand
communication that the officers could learn in a few
minutes. Despite all their preparations, the Kenner
police department was headed back to the Stone Age. "

How do you pay for a house that no longer exists?

Slate's Avi Zenilman answers the question: How do you pay for a house that no longer exists?

FEMA sends you to the Small Business Administration for a disaster recovery loan: up to $200K for your house and $40K for personal property. FEMA can pay if you just can't afford the loan.

Summary of New Orleans and Kenner news

I'm still concerned for my brother and his family, who though safe in Houston, have no idea what happened to their house in Kenner (not far from the Esplanade Mall). Summarizing my search for blogs about Katrina and Kenner:

My favorite info source so far is this map, where people post tags stating whatever information they have about specific neighborhoods.

Babytreese writes about conversations with refugees in Memphis:

Rene Mejia, a waiter at Antoine's who lives in the Lower 9th Ward, said he is on the fence whether he will go back or find work elsewhere. "I'm single, I speak four languages, I've got 27 years in the restaurant biz, I can start over anywhere I want."He's in Memphis with nine family members and said ultimately he will go where his family goes. His sister has a condominium in Chateau Estates in Kenner that may be dry, and if his family goes back to New Orleans, he will probably stay with her. He knows he has no home anymore because he lives in the Lower 9th Ward. "Why go back if there is nothing there?"

A refugee from Kenner, who is now in Memphis posts this.

Karen Quinn has this quote from her friend Brad on the front lines:

...the bricks buried the front of my car and the cab of my sister' truck. (one good thing I GET A NEW CAR!!!!!) my brother threatened suspicious people gathered a few belongings and met my dad in kenner where the business took in 2 inches of water.

Another blog mentions:

Jimmy stayed behind at another location, but inspected the Kenner home before also leaving for Orlando. He said therugs inside were water-logged.

(but I can't see any evidence of exactly which location in Kenner)

I've stayed at a La Quinta, not too far from my brother's house, and there is an announcement that it's closed. Not sure if that's due to any kind of damage. The Marriott near the airport says it is not accepting reservations and has "marginal operations".

A single dad posts this:

Life has changed, hard part is not knowing what is going on at my home. I live in Kenner near the airport and things are not as bad there as what is on the news, Im near the Esplanade Mall. Hoping to just have water damage but who knows, so excuse me for not laughing or having much funny to say.

Bigezbear describes his escape from the French Quarter on Sunday morning and says:

We saw the city of Kenner under water. The mayor says the damage there is 100%.

Lots of pictures on this Hurricane Watch site, including this one of the Backyard Barbecue on Veteran's Boulevard.


Anybody else have information about Kenner? Better yet, do you know of a blog or other source of regularly-updated information?

Katrina Information Map

Katrina Information Map is a great site where people post information on a big map. The sparse info about my brother's neighborhood seems to indicate flooding there is not too bad. (the road near the Kenner hospital is dry, for example).

Katrina blog summary

Oh dear, my brother and his family are devastated.

Here are some more links I found:

Wizbang is a long summary of other blogs, most of them filed by locals.

Bunch of photos on FlickR, interesting because they are all taken by amateurs, many of whom are roaming the city in ways the new media doesn't.