Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Photograph: Larry Fink
Johnny Moore eyes what's left of the Sheetrock in his living room. He cut off the bottom section at the line where Katrina's floodwaters had stagnated. Sons Chip (middle) and Troy bring in sheathing for the new roof they are building.
Johnny's youngest son, Nigel, steadies himself on ceiling joists while he secures a roof rafter to the ridge beam.
Many of New Orleans's 19th-century homes were built on raised pier foundations, which helped them
stay dry during the flood. By contrast, the postwar slab-on-grade construction of the Moore house allowed water to flow freely into living areas, causing catastrophic damage.
Nigel (left) and Chip survey their work on the new roof.
Firefighters for the NOFD, Troy, Chip, and Nigel work 24-hour shifts, then come to their dad's house on their off days to help him rebuild.
Johnny wants to repay his boys for their labor with some of the aid money he’s waiting on. It’s doubtful they'll accept his offer.
Rather than cram into this FEMA trailer, Johnny's wife, Venus, has been living in Baton Rouge while the house is under construction.
Balancing on the top plate, Nigel measures the roof framing to make sure it's square.
Johnny calls down for more fasteners to finish nailing down a rafter.
During breaks from working on his own house, Calvin Collins, 79, helps the Moores. "If we have a question, he sets us straight," Troy says of the retired carpenter. "Mr. Calvin has been building houses for 60 years."
Chip recalls first entering his own flooded home: "It was like a river had run through. My bed had a mold blanket. It looked like a quilt."
Chip and Nigel install framing for a "cricket," a ramp between the new and old roofs to divert rainwater. Nigel's shirt was a gift from New York City firefighters who helped rebuild his company's engine house.
After a day of backbreaking work at Johnny's place, Troy and his wife, Wendy (seated), invite family and friends over for a celebratory crawfish boil at their home in the Holy Cross section of New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward.
Troy installs a header for a new window opening.
Using a template made from a piece of scrap lumber, Calvin and Johnny lay out their cuts for the "cricket" rafters.
Troy and Chip show their cousin Christian Rhodes (left) snapshots of their post-Katrina rescue efforts. "All our emergency plans were out the window," Troy says. "If we hadn't bought our own boat, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything."
