Howard Ave. area, New Orleans
Monday, 3 p.m.
Reporters didn't have to travel far from The Times-Picayune offices on Howard Ave., to witness the storm's destructive force.
Within four blocks of the office, the storm scenes were still raw and astonishing. A handful of cars in the parking lot had their windows and sky roofs blown out. One sportscar had its hatchback glass blown out, the back-seat head rest protruding from the back window like a shark's fin.
Several concrete light poles along I-10 were snapped in half. Billboard signs were shredded and flailing in the wind. Dozens of sheets of aluminum siding were twisted around tree trunks and fences. Street signs were bent at 45-degree angles. Several trees were uprooted. Several large tree branches littered both lanes of Howard Ave. Windows at a General Electric maintenance building were blown out on both the first and second floors.
Dozens of buses and vans at the New Orleans Tours depot appeared to be in good shape, their windows intact thanks to owners who left the front doors and side doors open to reduce the pressure on the glass.
The wind was still gusting to tropical storm strength, churning the flood water to white caps along open roads.
The flood water was as deep as four feet in some places, rendering roads in and and out of the area impassible to all but the highest-riding trucks and SUVs.
The flood water was knee-deep under the Jeff Davis overpass near Xavier University.
A middle-aged Mid-City couple who had evacuated to Baton Rouge was stranded in their Honda Envoy under the overpass. The couple had evacuated to Baton Rouge for the night but could not reach their house because more than 5 feet of water surrounded it. Fortunately, the house was raised above the water level and appeared dry, the man said. The couple had chosen to wait out the storm in the relative safety of the overpass.
Looting
New Orleans, 2:15 p.m.
Returning from a fact-finding expedition from the newspaper's Howard Avenue headquarters, a group of reporters and photographers stumbled on a parade of looters streaming from Coleman's Retail Store, located at 4001 Earhart Blvd., about two blocks away from The Times-Picayune offices.
The looters, who were men and women who appeared to be in their early teens to mid-40s, braved a steady rain and infrequent tropical storm wind gusts to tote boxes of clothing and shoes from the store. Some had garbage bags stuffed with goods. Others lugged wardrobe-sized boxes or carried them on their heads.
The line going to and from the store along Earhart Boulevard numbered into the dozens and appeared to be growing.
Some looters were seen smiling and greeting each other with pleasantries as they passed. Another group was seen riding in the back of a pickup truck, honking the horn and cheering.
The scene also attracted a handful of curious bystanders, who left the safety of their homes to watch the heist.
No police were present in the area, which is flooded heavily with standing water two to four feet deep on all sides of Earhart Blvd.