Hi all,

I am the president of the Greater New Orleans chapter and one of the lucky
ones that has a place to stay with power.  The house I am staying at is
between the power  substation and the hospital in Covington, LA north of
Lake Pontchartrain.  My own house had 5 trees fall on it.  Where to begin?
I think I will tell a little of my story to get an idea of what others are
going through and it is nothing compared to what is going on in New Orleans.

Everyone here thought this storm was going to go to the panhandle of
Florida.  We were not even in the cone of possibility early on.  So it was
not until late Friday or Saturday when the storm track shifted that people
began to put their plans into action.  I also own a records storage company
and had calls Friday from people requesting boxes who were non-chalantly
saying - "See ya Monday".

We made sure the records storage facility was secure, boarded up the house
and left for Texas.  They wouldn't let anyone back into our parish.  We were
not able to reach anyone by telephone in the area.  We were able to return
on Wednesday and brought gasoline, water and food with us.    Only about 50%
of the roads were passable at this time with passable meaning one lane open
on smaller roads.  You had to dodge trees, power lines and poles, and other
debris.  We didn't have any flooding where I am just wind damage.  Closer to
Lake Pontchartrain, there was flood damage from the storm surge.  There was
not enough rain to flood the rivers here.

Our neighborhood lost about 40% of the trees and we don't expect power there
for several more weeks.  Schools may open in October.  The house I am
staying at had two trees down but both missed the house.  The records center
had minor damage with only about 20 boxes getting wet - all salvageable.
The front doors let rain in and the carpet in the offices had to be removed.
We were able to call out sporadically on one of our 5 cell phones, but could
not receive any calls.  Land lines were not working.

We spent 3 nights without power working on cleaning up everything.  Phone
service gets better each day and I now have email and internet.  The power
is slowly coming back on and gas lines are down to 1 block.  A couple of
food stores are open and as the power spreads things will continue to get
better.

We had it pretty good over here.  From Wednesday on they were passing out
water, ice, and military rations.  New Orleans is a totally different story.
They have still not let people in.  Jefferson Parish began to let home
owners and business owners in Monday at 6:00am.  That is where some of Iron
Mountain's warehouses are and they should have more knowledge of their
situation now.  I believe Iron Mountain also has a facility in Orleans
Parish which is not accessible.  We also have a facility in Orleans Parish
which we have not been able to gather complete information on.

As far as contacting clients, you just keep trying to call them.  But since
no one is at their job and the phones don't work anyway, it is pretty
futile.  I have about 60 clients and only 2 have called and left a message.
The Bell South Voice mail has been working off and on.  I plan on going out
today to try and reach some of my clients to see what kind of help they may
need.

I want to thank all of the ARMA chapters that have sent messages to us with
their wishes and offers of support.  I do not know much about our other ARMA
members.  I have heard from 5 out of 60 so far.  I sent out an email
yesterday and did not get much news back.  Any businesses in New Orleans or
Metairie are not in business right now and our members are disbursed
throughout the country.  If I hear of any needs from anyone, I will pass
them along.

Even though the damage here is significant, the people to the south and east
of where I am have it much worse.  Please keep us in your thoughts and
prayers.

Rob Perry, CRM
GNO-ARMA
985-875-7397
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