Driving into Slidell, Lake Ponchatrain runs right into the land. Where the docks were there are now just pilings. I just talked to Ju (ed -- my mom, a Louisiana native) and asked her what Slidell looked like before. She said that it sort of was like Jackson where Aunt Joyce and Uncle Walt lived, a nice developed area. Her cousin's widow lived in Slidell and was evacuated. 80 years old and the water was up to the ceiling.

Drove by a house along the highway -- spray-painted along the side just says "Alive." Passed a piece of plywood nailed to a post, Highway 11, "Still No Water." Seems like a boating community, the sense of Pawleys Island (ed. -- in South Carolina). Immense piles of trash everywhere. And you get the sense that the lake is what did this to them... This is just what happened when the lake came over. And the wind came over...My thought here was "my god, I hope you had flood insurance." Or that you can say that this was hurricane damage and not flood damage...If they didn't have flood insurance...will this push them into poverty, bankruptcy at least? People that were doing all right.

All of the supermarkets are closed. All of the stores are closed...Where people are eating, shopping, getting what they need for their kids? A Shell station says "We're open. We have gas. Cash only." One thing you could hope is that you had cash on hand. Behind a Bank of Louisiana building there is just a sea of clothing -- thousands of pieces, piled up. One of the craziest things I've seen.