I was around New Orleans after Katrina for a month and the biggest obstacle for us was finding a safe place to stay. All the parks were full, no houses available to rent and all the apartments were full or damaged. There was not even a place to pitch a tent. We ended up staying in our cars in a church parking lot which worked out ok because they had bathrooms and coffee in the morning, but it wasn't nearly as comfortable as it could have been if we could have just camped out. Everything was total chaos, even the wal-mart parking lot was full all the time. Everyone looked like zombies and we were all on edge. It was very disorienting. It's one thing to say I'll just camp out but it's another thing when there is no place to put a tent. People were guarding their land and there wasn't a trusting person to be found and you can't set up a tent just anywhere. Alligators and snakes were turning up in places they don't normally frequent. It was an eye opening experience for sure. We were lucky, at least we had cars to sleep in and a safe place to park at night.

Nomad,

That was probably the best, most useful post ever made to ETS.

Thank you very, very much.

-Blast

In a situation like Katrina. Everyone is on edge and a suspect. There was a curfew so it wasn't a good thing to be driving around at night. I was very lucky I was able to stay at the church parking lot. It was uncomfortable, hot and the mosquitoes were terrible, but I don't think I've ever appreciated a parking space more. The church was feeding hundreds of people during the day. After about the second week their stove broke down so I gave them the money I would have used for a motel room so they could get it fixed. There was alot of hard working people there from all over. It was an experience i'll never forget.