Posted on 09/06/2005 10:37:03 AM PDT by Our_Man_In_Gough_Island
When the water is finally drained from New Orleans and the other areas struck by Hurricane Katrina, it can then be determined just how many homes and other buildings can be saved. Damage recovery experts are surveying the scenes before bringing in their salvaging equipment.
David Liebl is vice-president of the Atlanta-based firm Disaster Services, Incorporated. His workers have been to the damaged areas in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
"The first problem is the issue of logistics, from our standpoint. The logistics of food, fuel, lodging and of course merely getting to our locations. That has been a critical issue. At some points we’re having to cut our way in. Others we’re having to rely upon the local governmental agencies to make the access for our large equipment to come into the damaged areas," he says.
Mr. Liebl says their work is focusing on salvaging official and crucial infrastructures, not homes.
"Our focus is on governmental buildings and agencies, places of employment, places where food distribution can take place," he says.
He says unless the government is able to provide essential services, such as water and electricity, there’s little reason for the people to return to their homes.
But whether it’s a government building or a residence, Mr. Liebl says the same rules apply when determining whether the building can be saved.
"It depends upon the duration that the facility was under water. Of course, in this case, the water that was involved is all contaminated. It’s contaminated with biologicals, with chemicals, the salt water itself. So that has a slight change on what would normally be a residential loss if it was just a pipe that broke and clean water filled up. So, we have to examine the nature of the building, it’s construction, and how long that water has been exposed to the material," he says.
Workers from Disaster Services, Incorporated, and similar firms, will generally remove carpeting and dry wall. If the beams and the two by fours, a common form of lumber, are not damaged, they can be cleaned and sprayed with a chemical bactericide. That prevents bacteria and mold from growing on the wood.
Mr. Liebl says, "Actually, believe it or not, even though a facility may have been underwater for an extended period of time, they can be recovered."
Often, though, the buildings are shells and most of the interior must be redone. Depending on the work, this could take a few days or a few weeks.
Asked whether the flood damage from Hurricane Katrina is the worst he’s ever dealt with, he replies:
"Yes, by far. The information that I’m receiving now from our insurance sources state that the estimated total loss that Katrina will have contributed from a damaged environment, damaged structures and property is going to exceed a hundred billion dollars now. Unfortunately, they’re only thinking about a third of it is going to be covered by insurance. So a substantial amount of this is going to be uninsured," he says.
Some believe that damage estimate will continue to rise.
Does anyone know what the preliminary plans are for getting rid of the water? Clearly the pumps have to be working and the levee repaired.... but there is that niggly problem of the water being so totally polluted. Will it not all have to be totally treated? I can't imagine that it can just be pumped out into the gulf in its present condition.
You will never get the stink, mold and mildew out of the wood, no matter how hard you work. Once the wood sits in water for three days or more, burn it.
The houses in Florida are concrete block walls, so the way to save them is to gut them and rebuild from the walls in. A lot, most? of the homes in New Orleans are all wood -- Fix with bulldozer.
I heard they were trying to separate the really bad water, some sensors or something, the rest goes in the Lake -- poor fish.
"The houses in Florida are concrete block walls, so the way to save them is to gut them and rebuild from the walls in. A lot, most? of the homes in New Orleans are all wood -- Fix with bulldozer."
Just a question (fwiw), New Orleans used to be the worst city in the US for termite infestation. Would that be true now?
I agree it's a big task but we are also talking oil slicks and so on in the lake let alone the polluted water in the city. I tell ya, I sure wouldn't want to be owning any coastal property within a hundred miles of NOLA, even if it came through the hurricane unscathed.
"If the beams and the two by fours, a common form of lumber.."
Gee... Thanks for deciphering the technical jargon for me.
Kinda tells you something about the writer's perspective and life experiences when he feels compelled to tell us what a 2x4 is.
I'm sure that's exactly what they will do with most of N.O. as long as the US taxpayer is picking up the tab (not to mention they want us to pay the paltry sum of a couple of million bucks to everyone who survived and probably more to those who didn't as per 9/11.) If they had bulldozed every wooden structure on Wheeling Island because of sitting in polluted water more than 3 days, there wouldn't be anything there except the concrete grandstand of the race track and the 3 ft. wall that surrounds the grounds. I couldn't even begin to count the number of times the Ohio has flooded this place since 1900 bringing with it the contents of chemical plants, oil and gas, sewage and who knows what else. Almost all the houses are the wooden "summer" homes Victorians built from approx. 1850's to 1930's and some have even been moved to higher spots on the island to avoid every single flood or to make way for new bridges, etc.
I was wondering about that. How viable (time and cost wise) it would be to take care of the mold and other stuff once the water was out. I just pray for the people involved.
As for the people affected in this crisis ...goodness, my heart just goes out to them. What they are going through is just immense. Even the ones who did not lose loved ones still lost their homes and businesses. Words cannot express what can be seen clearly in their faces. God bless them.
Have never lived in one and wouldn't stay beyond one flood if I were dumb enough to have bought a house that was flooded because of the mess. All I know is there are thousands of wood homes on the banks of the Ohio River from P'burgh on down (and that's not even counting the ones on the creeks that feed the Ohio because the water is for the most part much cleaner than the river used to be.) I took piano lessons once per week for 14 long years in one of the monstrous wooden Victorian behemoths on Wheeling Island except for the times it was under water and the clean-up, and when they moved it to make way for a bridge, and I don't recall any strange sights or smells except for the new furniture, carpeting, etc. after every flood that taxpayers bought!
There has to be something that makes it different. I doubt it is humidity, could be the heat, but I'd have to guess it is the saltwater. This is one of the most humid areas of the country, like a jungle in summer, hot and usually lots of rain, steamy and green; plenty of rain and snow with very little sunshine the rest of the year. It takes about 3 yrs. for a solid old (antique, one plank wooden bench or chair to disentegrate enough to fall apart at the joints if it is left outside all year round with no paint or treatment, no roof or cover. About the same to turn the bottoms of the legs black and completely rotten if they sit someplace where the water doesn't drain and has to wait for evaporation. Bugs may or may not be as bad here as in the south. I don't know. People who have wooden houses have to treat for termites here too.
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