Despite what People Think... Not Ok

Not too long ago a friend and I were trying to find a certain wine store. We were traveling down a road we normally travel on, yet we just weren't seeing the store. Everything was normal, or at least about as normal as things get around here. There was a small bridge that went over a canal or something to that effect and then we were in no man's land. I am guessing eight feet of water or maybe even 12 to 15 feet of murky orange-ish brown water once sat for an unknown amount of time in this area. The difference between this area and the area I live in is how long the water sat. The four to five feet of water was gone within a day in my area, but this water just sat. You can tell by the water line on the houses and even on the road sign. Note that there is a sign above the sign I took a picture of and it has water lines all the way to the top as well. In this area there are random houses that look like they emploded or randomly one house had two trees fall from different directions on it. I rolled down my windows and I can't even begin to explain the smell of the area that was only accentuated by the 80 degree heat. I think that my apartment has some of that same smell. I am probably getting sick all the time because there is mold everywhere, even though the downstairs apartments were being torn up virtually right after tht storm. My rats are getting sick too. Many people think that New Orleans is ok... My prediction for the next 20 years would be, "not ok."