Thank you from a Louisiana abstractor.  It still is difficult to fully understand the implications of the extreme conditions, particularly in the New Orleans area.  Rather than trying to get people back to their homes (which is the stage where we would usually be in the days following a hurricane) we are, instead, still trying to get the survivors out.

There are people trapped on their rooftops, inside hotels and on higher patches of ground.  Many of these people are the poor and the elderly that did not have the means to evacuate.  The water is not drinkable as the water main is broken, there is no power, there is no food  (as all businesses are closed), there is flooding which is sometimes as deep as twenty feet of river/gulf/sewer water complete with alligators, snakes and other animals trying to survive.  The levee is crumbling so the water is getting higher rather than lower.  To top it all off the temperatures are in the high 90's and humid. 

If you have seen the video that shows cars floating like boats in front of a large building with very wide front steps - that is the Orleans Criminal Courthouse.  The buildings that house property records are several blocks closer to the river, and much deeper under water.  St. Bernard parish and Jefferson are equally flooded and there is no news at all coming out of St. Tammany which is north of Lake Pontchatrain.  The word is that it will likely be at least a month before the infrastructure is back in place to allow people to go home and to allow businesses to re-open in Orleans and Jefferson parishes.

Although our main office is a few parishes away from the most severe damage, our community is overflowing with people who cannot go home and cannot afford to stay in a hotel for a month so we are opening shelters to house as many as we can. 

Your prayers are appreciated.