"Water lines" (by Jenn Onofrio)

It seemed that every day we went out to volunteer, we journeyed through neighborhoods marked with water lines. These orange lines were the stains left on the sides of buildings, the result of standing water that had stood unbearably long after the infamous levees had broken.

The lines were sometimes four feet high, but sometimes they were higher than a person is able to stand. In some desperate cases, the lines are not terribly visible because the water rose all the way to the level of the roof. In these cases, the "x" mark of the rescue team who came searching for victims is marked on the roof of the houses instead of the exterior walls. The walls were entirely submerged.

It is a profound, chilling experience to stand beneath the mark of a water line and look up to see that, when standing 5'7" tall, the waterline still has at least a foot on you. What's more, we were told that the flood waters actually crested higher than this. The water line was only left where it was because it was standing for long enough to leave a stain.