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Figuring Out What's Next

Muddy waters have caused this arm chair in the McCarthys' New Orleans home to discolor from its original black leather. (Photo courtesy of McCarthy family)

“It’s like a ghost town. There’s no one here. … Everything is dead,” she said.

Speaking on her cell phone from New Orleans where electricity and phone service still hasn’t been restored to her neighborhood, she said: “I cannot believe what water can do to a home. It’s so disgusting.”

Flood water had reached 6 feet high in their home and ruined everything they had on the first floor, Romaine said. High winds also caused part of their ceiling to cave in.

She said she and her husband are trying to salvage what they can.

Much of the heirlooms and antique furniture they had kept on the first floor of their house will never be replaced, Romaine said.

Insurance has been a prickly issue. Their flood coverage was capped at a fixed amount. And their homeowners’ insurance only covers wind damage, Romaine said.

The McCarthys aren’t sure if their house is past the point of repair, and if they will need to raze it and start over. They are waiting on city and federal officials and insurance companies to draw up new building codes, which would dictate what structural requirements all buildings need to meet in order to remain viable for the next disaster.

Meanwhile, money will likely become an issue soon. Mark McCarthy is pulling in far less than what he had earned in his practice before Katrina hit, though ironically, the disaster might bolster the number of patients he sees as a specialist in sleeping disorders, his wife said.

Though the family’s credit card and mortgage companies have put off payment deadlines for them as they recover, the charity can’t last forever, she said.

Romaine wants to return to New Orleans as soon as the move back is feasible.

Right now, “parts of the city are viable,” Romaine said, though her neighborhood still has a 6 p.m. curfew each night.

According to New Orleans' latest situation report, 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfews are in effect for most parts of the city – although the French Quarter’s stretches from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. But 84 food establishments have been inspected and approved for reopening.

And school officials expect to reopen eight public schools in mid-November.

St. George’s Episcopal School in New Orleans – where Romaine worked and her children attended school - reopened Oct. 24. Her old job is still waiting for her, she said, and as an employee, she has a 50 percent discount on her children’s combined tuition of nearly $60,000 a year. School officials will work with her to further reduce the tuition she would have to pay if she returns, she said.

But Romaine said she would not want to commute the one-and-a-half hours from her in-laws’ home in Carriere, Miss. - where her husband has been staying - to New Orleans each day.

And rent for space big enough to accommodate her six-member family could be extremely expensive, she said.

Continued on final page: "They All Want To Be a Family Again"

Banner graphic by April Chan, incorporating photo from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Newsline Web content edited by Chris Harvey.  

Copyright © 2005 University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism