How was your Labor Day? Consider my neighbors post Isaac

Labor Day, another day off from work, a 3-day weekend, the end of summer bliss and the ushering in of the back to school routine.  Labor Day, in some communities, includes big parades and celebrations.  For others, it may be a simple time of hanging with family or friends.  I hope your Labor Day was a good day for you and your families.

My neighbors to the south and west spent the day cleaning up and recovering from Hurricane Isaac.  In rural Plaquemines Parish an entire community returned to see the complete and utter devestation of their homes, businesses and even the local Catholic Church, flooded to it's rafters.  Others in far southern Plaquemines Parish were allowed to drive home, only they had to detour up onto the top of a Mississippi River levee to get there.  You see for several miles the main road, Highway 23, is still inaccessible.  For those in Plaquemines Parish who returned home, almost all encountere flooded homes, rotten and spoiled food, swamp grass and mud combining to fill the air with a foul nasty odor.  To the west, in Laplace, La. the waters receeded so homeowners went about the task of ripping out carpet, cutting out baseboards and sheetrock, doing all they can do to salvage their homes.  Just up the road in St. James Parish, many were doing the same, except for those who still can make it home because water is still high.  Here in my own civil parish, St. Tammany Parish, far to the south the scene in Laplace was being duplicated in communities of Mandeville and Madisonville.  As a friend commented today, our Mayberry is not the same. 

Consider that all this hard work and heartbreaking emotion is being played out in 100 degree heat index.  The weather, just a few days ago, so stormy is now clear but so very hot.

In Marrero today authorities found an elderly man dead in his home, still without power, felled by the excessive heat and humidity.  In that same Marrero my own sister-in-law is dealing with day 6 with no power. 

For those living to our east in St. Tammany Parish the clean up was probably not as intense but the wait and worry continue as the swollen Pearl River continues to crest and flood along it's route to the lake.  Even as late as tomorrow many are still concerned that their homes still could flood.

New Orleans is getting back to normal but not all schools and businesses are up and running although that should improve with each passing day.

So while we all enjoyed our Labor Day, this was the reality for so many of my neighbors today.  Continue to pray for the good people of southeast Louisiana as we deal with our latest hurricane disaster.  By the way, we are a resilient, strong people.  We survived far worse, we will survive this and we will persevere; with the help of God!