Utahns searching in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — Trees uprooted. Boats abandoned like cars on the streets. The water line of the flooding level still visible on the homes.

On Monday, Utah Task Force One saw firsthand the destruction caused predominantly by Hurricane Katrina and somewhat by Hurricane Rita.

Utah's Urban Search and Rescue Team was sent to an evacuated neighborhood just outside downtown New Orleans. Although Katrina ravaged the area four weeks ago, team members were told to go in with a positive attitude.

"This is still a rescue operation," said Task Force Safety Officer Royce Haakenson.

If survivors were found inside homes, the goal Monday was not to make them leave but make sure they were OK.

A convoy of searchers from Virginia, California and south Florida joined the Utahns as they made their way to the command post. Many of the freeway offramps were still blocked off to the general public by police. In fact, most of the vehicles on the freeway Monday were either military, government or power company trucks.

As the group got closer to the neighborhood it would be searching, team members gazed in amazement at the widespread destruction. But a New Orleans police officer who was with them noted, "This ain't nothin'." He said damage in other parts of the city was even worse.

That was little consolation, however, for the few residents who had managed to travel back to their homes to see what they could salvage. To them, there wasn't much difference between suffering severe damage and being outright flattened. Most assumed Monday that all the houses in the neighborhood would have to be torn down.

"I'm not going to live here until either they build (the homes) up higher or the levees get fixed or something," said Paul Poche. "(A hurricane) is going to happen again."

Even though Poche's house was flooded with only 18 inches of water, he now has 7 feet of mold growing on every wall of his house, as do most of his neighbors. He believes his home, which he's lived in for 41 years, will have to be torn down.

Eric Coleman tried to salvage what he could out of his mother-in-law's house, especially any pictures he could find because that's what she wanted.

"Salvage whatever we can to make our mom feel better. We're trying to get some closure. People need closure so they can move forward," he said. "She really thinks she's coming home, but she's not."

Ironically, Coleman said his mother-in-law was away at a wedding the night Katrina hit. The name of the bride at the wedding? Katrina.