Finally returned home after 3 weeks of evacuation from Katrina!!!

[jaguar75]

Hi all. My friends and I arrived home in New Orleans this morning after just over 23 hours of continuous driving. We covered over 1400 miles and got into the city just after 0500 in the morning. We went to everyones house in the group and the folks that had power got to sleep in their house and those of us that did not slept a friends house. I saw my house and confirmed that my neighbors tree fell across my driveway and banged up my car pretty good and it ripped the power and cable lines right out of the circut box and then deposited the circut box in the drive way... An electrician is coming on Tuesday to basically re-wire my house and then I have to have it inspected before the electric company will come hook me up to the grid. This morning I drove to my office with my business partner and confirmed that the interior of our office was destroyed. I spent the better half of the morning getting the computers and important paperwork out. The computer are soaked but they were not hooked up to power when they got wet so if anyone here (MountainPro) knows of the bet way to clean and dry out a CPU I am all ears.

My fridge is going to take some work but I don't think I need to scrap it. All over my neighborhood There are Fridges on the curb that are taped shut...All I could do was laugh. The most important thing, however, was my bike was untouched. All of my gear laid aroud it exactly the way I left it the lst time I rode.

Well the long road of repair and rebuilding must begin. It is times like this that you find out who you relly are and who your frineds really are. I know both!!!

 

[davidmc]

Hi all. My friends and I arrived home in New Orleans this morning after just over 23 hours of continuous driving. We covered over 1400 miles and got into the city just after 0500 in the morning. We went to everyones house in the group and the folks that had power got to sleep in their house and those of us that did not slept a friends house. I saw my house and confirmed that my neighbors tree fell across my driveway and banged up my car pretty good and it ripped the power and cable lines right out of the circut box and then deposited the circut box in the drive way... An electrician is coming on Tuesday to basically re-wire my house and then I have to have it inspected before the electric company will come hook me up to the grid. This morning I drove to my office with my business partner and confirmed that the interior of our office was destroyed. I spent the better half of the morning getting the computers and important paperwork out. The computer are soaked but they were not hooked up to power when they got wet so if anyone here (MountainPro) knows of the bet way to clean and dry out a CPU I am all ears.

My fridge is going to take some work but I don't think I need to scrap it. All over my neighborhood There are Fridges on the curb that are taped shut...All I could do was laugh. The most important thing, however, was my bike was untouched. All of my gear laid aroud it exactly the way I left it the lst time I rode.

Well the long road of repair and rebuilding must begin. It is times like this that you find out who you relly are and who your frineds really are. I know both!!!

Glad you made it back. Seems that it took the "powers that be" less time than anticipated to get alot of the water out. Heard there is contention as to how many residents will return. This will determine the pace of reconstruction, no Potable water is another serious concern.

 

[EoinC]

Good to hear that you got back, Jag. It's going to take some time for you all to pick up the pieces, but maintain that positive attitude as you work your way through. Helping each other now will make your community stronger afterwards. i hope it goes well.

 

[lwedge]

Nice to hear you and family are okay. I hope rebuilding and getting back on your feet will be a swift process for you.

MY wife and I went to a wedding for a friend of ours this past weekend, he and his wife have taken in several family members from NO and Jefferson Parish . They all plan to go back to Louisiana shortly to assess the damage.

Good Luck Jags.

 

[jhuskey]

I find that an air compressor works well for drying out electronics.
Either way, good luck with the rebuild.

 

[MountainPro]

The computer are soaked but they were not hooked up to power when they got wet so if anyone here (MountainPro) knows of the bet way to clean and dry out a CPU I am all ears.

good to see you are back mate..

a wet computer, hmmm. traditionally electricity and water make for a dangerous combination....however..

i have dried out electronic equipment that has been completely submerged in water and go it to work. Indeed, my first job when i left school was a civilian ships electrical engineer. We pulled up a fishing trawler that had been sunk by a submarine from the bottom of the sea. It was down there for several days yet we managed to get the navigation and radars dried out and working again.

With a PC, you could try opening it up and drying it with a towel then leave it in a hot dry place for a few days. Make sure you dry off any connectors where water may still lurk such as RAM and interface cards. Make absulutely sure you power supply module is completely dry. This can fry your motherboard with over 400v.

If all else fails then your hard drive should still be functional when its dried off. They are hermetically sealed and wont even let in air particles never mind water. All your data should still be in tact.

Jag, where do you stand with the insurance companies...are they stayin well clear?

 

[jhuskey]

Good question about the insurance Pro. Doing what I do I deal with insurance claims on a regular basis.
I can predict insurance companies denying these claims on the basis of calling it flood damage rather then hurricane damage. A lot of people do not carry individual flood policies.
I will be interesting to see if this happens and if they can make the denials stand on such a basis.
Proximate cause,concurrent causation or forseeability?

 

[zapper]

Hi all. My friends and I arrived home in New Orleans this morning after just over 23 hours of continuous driving. We covered over 1400 miles and got into the city just after 0500 in the morning. We went to everyones house in the group and the folks that had power got to sleep in their house and those of us that did not slept a friends house. I saw my house and confirmed that my neighbors tree fell across my driveway and banged up my car pretty good and it ripped the power and cable lines right out of the circut box and then deposited the circut box in the drive way... An electrician is coming on Tuesday to basically re-wire my house and then I have to have it inspected before the electric company will come hook me up to the grid. This morning I drove to my office with my business partner and confirmed that the interior of our office was destroyed. I spent the better half of the morning getting the computers and important paperwork out. The computer are soaked but they were not hooked up to power when they got wet so if anyone here (MountainPro) knows of the bet way to clean and dry out a CPU I am all ears.

My fridge is going to take some work but I don't think I need to scrap it. All over my neighborhood There are Fridges on the curb that are taped shut...All I could do was laugh. The most important thing, however, was my bike was untouched. All of my gear laid aroud it exactly the way I left it the lst time I rode.

Well the long road of repair and rebuilding must begin. It is times like this that you find out who you relly are and who your frineds really are. I know both!!!

Hey crawdaddy, glad to see you back and glad to see that you are safe...good luck with getting back up and running.

 

[rule62]

Good luck getting back on your feet!

 

[jaguar75]

good to see you are back mate..

a wet computer, hmmm. traditionally electricity and water make for a dangerous combination....however..

i have dried out electronic equipment that has been completely submerged in water and go it to work. Indeed, my first job when i left school was a civilian ships electrical engineer. We pulled up a fishing trawler that had been sunk by a submarine from the bottom of the sea. It was down there for several days yet we managed to get the navigation and radars dried out and working again.

With a PC, you could try opening it up and drying it with a towel then leave it in a hot dry place for a few days. Make sure you dry off any connectors where water may still lurk such as RAM and interface cards. Make absulutely sure you power supply module is completely dry. This can fry your motherboard with over 400v.

If all else fails then your hard drive should still be functional when its dried off. They are hermetically sealed and wont even let in air particles never mind water. All your data should still be in tact.

Jag, where do you stand with the insurance companies...are they stayin well clear?

Thanks everyone for your words. In the evenings coming to this site and reading ya'lls comments has been good for many laughs.

Pro, thanks fot the heads up on the connectors, I would not have thought about small stuff like that. When I opened the cases on all of the computers They did not look that bad, in fact, I really could not find any debris that would indicate standing water inside the machines. Other than just humidity I don't think any water got in them at all. The outsides, on the other hand, look like hell. My office was on the second floor and while the first floor was flooded , the second floor just got rained on.

As for the insurance. Homeowners and Flood Insurance companies have been great. Renters insurance on the other hand is worthless. My sister and brother-in-law got several inches of water into their house and all of the furniture, clothes, etc...are ruined and the adjusters came out to the house yesterday and basically told her that if the stuff was not directly damaged by the water then there was nothing they could do. They are really bumed.

I finally got my frig cleaned yesterday and it is going to need a round 2. It has been soaking with bleach since yesterday. I spent all of this morning cutting trees at my brother's house.

The city has shut down again as Hurricane Rita has her sights set on Texas/Louisiana. The crappy thing is that there is still 2 full months of hurricane season left.

Zap, I don't think the Crawfish are going to be good this season. All of the water is very contaminated.

 

[jhuskey]

Pro I think that Zap might be winning his debate on the most severe weather in the world without posting a word.

 

[lwedge]

The city has shut down again as Hurricane Rita has her sights set on Texas/Louisiana. The crappy thing is that there is still 2 full months of hurricane season left.

Zap, I don't think the Crawfish are going to be good this season. All of the water is very contaminated.

Well, let's hope they are all Cat1's or less and they don't make their way into the Gulf.

Mama, mama turn and twist,
iko iko hey !
Bet five dollars can't do this,
jockomo feena nay

Talk about

Hey now! (hey now) Hey now! (hey now)

iko iko one day
Jockomo feeno ah na nay

Jockomo fee na nay


LW

 

[zapper]

Zap, I don't think the Crawfish are going to be good this season. All of the water is very contaminated.

Yeah, I hear that the Crawfish are just the tip of the iceberg...Having said that, fine nawlins cuisine is replaceable, people are not...I guess, I'll just have to have some sausage jambalaya. I just hope our donations and prayers get to the people who really need and appreciate them...

 

[zapper]

Pro I think that Zap might be winning his debate on the most severe weather in the world without posting a word.

I'm not saying a word...

 

[jaguar75]

I just hope our donations and prayers get to the people who really need and appreciate them...

They have been. I personally have received money/asistance and it has been greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone who has donated...You have no idea how much help it has been.

 

[EoinC]

Hang in there, Jag. What about the houses around yours? Is everybody moving back in now? How about the utilities, are they back up and functioning?

 

[jaguar75]

Hang in there, Jag. What about the houses around yours? Is everybody moving back in now? How about the utilities, are they back up and functioning?

The houses in my area were fine...in terms of flooding. I did not take any water. The only damage I sustained was when the tree fell and ripped the power lines out of the house. It cost me a bottle of Havana Club rum from Cuba to have my name moved up on the list of a frind of mine who is an electrician to come and install a new breaker box and hook me back up to the grid. Now I have power and I did the finale Clorox wipe down of my fridge today. I will be back in my place by weeks end.

A lot of my friends have lost everything. I drove to the 17th street bridge yesterday and walked up to it...Man you just can not imagine the devestation.

There are oak trees that are hundreds of years old that were just simply blown over. There entire root structure ripped out of the ground. The holes left behind could conceal a small truck. Some of the patches of grass that came up with the trees are several yards wide beyond the bases of the tree. It is facinating as well as sobering.

 

[MountainPro]

Pro I think that Zap might be winning his debate on the most severe weather in the world without posting a word.

50,000 homeless in India today because of storm flooding..

never even hit the the news headlines....

mind you, Katrina wasnt exactly average now was it?

 

[jhuskey]

50,000 homeless in India today because of storm flooding..

never even hit the the news headlines....

mind you, Katrina wasnt exactly average now was it?

Look out for Rita!

 

[MountainPro]

Look out for Rita!

Thats all they need now. Now Orleans have been issued with more evacuation orders according to BBC news this morning. This is terrible.

Yea, about the bad weather record and the USA, perhaps Zap has a point.