Slidell isn't what is used to be, not by a long shot.
The city of 30,000 just across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans got clobbered by Katrina's 140 mph sustained winds and a tsunami-like 15-foot high wall of water.
"The conservative estimate on the number of trees downed is somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000. Personally, I have three in my house. It's one of the worst things I've ever seen," Slidell Mayor Ben Morris said.
Morris is a local legend with no power, no phones, no electricity and no hope things will be fixed soon.
He has become a town crier, spreading news face-to-face and door-to-door.
"Electricity is six to eight weeks away," Morris said.
Or maybe even up to 12 weeks. There are so many trees and lines down, it boggles the mind.
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Slidell hammered
CNN's Miles O'Brien tells how residents of the small town are coming together to help their neighbors and try to move forward.
 
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Some folks rode out the storm at home. Trees fell, water rose and they got ready to go to the attic. Fortunately, the surge leveled off at ankle depth. Relatively speaking, they were lucky.
"We really didn't have an option. We don't have finances to leave," resident Bob Watson said.
Slidell is a place where people know your name, your parents and who you dated in high school; in short, an extended family.
The mayor stopped to look at a park that frequently hosted concerts which is now inundated with water.
"By October, we will have concerts in the park again. This is just a bump in road, a very bad bump in road," Morris said.
