Looks OK on the outside, but the inside tells a different story.

The water line reaches within 4 feet of our cathedral ceiling, which was 16 feet tall.

You are looking at the stove. Face down on the kitchen floor is our refrigerator.

As is true for most of the house, everything is covered with a layer of insulation and debris that fell from the ceiling when the water rose into the attic.

This house, which is sitting slab-and-all in the middle of our street, probably floated in from Florida Avenue, 2 blocks away.

Despite losing most of its branches and being under salt water for 9 days, this maple tree in our yard was still green.

It is not an optical illusion. This house is tilting about 5 degrees to the right.

Notice that the car trunk is open. For some reason, the rising water short-circuited the power locks in cars so that trunks, hoods, and doors of many flooded vehicles popped open. In my own car, the sun roof opened up.

The storm waters produced cantilevered cars like this all over St. Bernard Parish.