All photographs were taken by Ralph Hartwell.
A wind-snapped pine tree stands in front of a flooded house.
Uprooted by the hurricane winds, this tree leans against a home flooded above the rooftop by the storm surge.
A "typical" residential neighborhood street.
A thick coating of dried mud covers everything.
Yes; that's an airplane in between the houses.
Yes, that's a refrigerator on top of someone's home, along with someones water heater.
Many homeowners parked cars in their driveways, hoping to avoid having them flooded, but they never imagined ten feet of flood waters.
Someone's utility building.
A boat sitting atop a carport. Look at the left of the picture - there's a telephone pole through an auto tire.
A better view of the pole and tire. The storm surge came through here directly towards the camera position.
A storm oddity - a pressurized can of expanding foam was burst against this pole and flowed around it before it hardened.
The storm surge flattened this carport and overturned the storage shed. Notice the hole chopped in the roof. Hopefully, everyone inside survived.
A sad homecoming.
Crushed and flooded, this vehicle is a total loss.
The storm surge caused this damage.
A telephone pole with a tire around it. Another storm oddity.
About two blocks from where the storm surge overtopped the levee, the damage is worse.
Another refrigerator on a roof. The power of a flood is incredible.
These houses are close to the levee, and took the full force of the storm surge as it overtopped the levee. All the windows and doors are blasted out...
...and all the contents are destroyed.
Power poles were ripped from the earth.
This is still someone's home, but can they ever return?
The combination of wind and water leave little to come home to.
Everything the salt water touches turns to rust and corrosion.
The storm surge hit this house, and caused severe damage. Still, it fared better than some others did.
This phone line, broken though it is, is still on the pole. Most of the phone lines are on the ground in a tangled mess.
This is what the storm surge does to houses.
And this.
And this.
There were two houses here. Now, there are only two flattened roofs, dumped in a jumbled heap against their back yard neighbors damaged houses.
Another total loss caused by storm surge.
A now homeless family used to live here.
The winds stripped the roof down to the plywood and the storm surge destroyed the rest of this home.
