First they have to pump the flooded city dry, and that will take a minimum of 30 days. Then they will have to flush the drinking water system, making sure they don't recycle the contaminants. Figure another month for that.
The electricians will have to watch out for snakes in the water, wild animals and feral dogs. It will be a good idea to wear hip boots and take care of cuts and scrapes before the toxic slush turns them into festering sores. The power grid might be up in a few weeks, but many months will elapse before everybody's lights come back on.
By that time, a lot of people won't care because they will have taken the insurance money and moved away -- forever. Home rebuilding, as opposed to repairs, won't start for a year and will last for years after that
No time for recriminations:
In the future, we may wonder how it is that a city like New Orleans, below sea level, surrounded by water on three sides, could have tempted fate for as long as it did. The answer to that question doesn't much matter right now--except to say, perhaps, that it was this combination of elements that helped create a city we love, and that it is with love that we will save and restore this city.
Search and rescue on hold as police try to control looting:
Tempers also were starting to flare. Police said a man in Hattiesburg, Miss., fatally shot his sister in the head over a bag of ice. Dozens of carjackings were reported, including a nursing home bus and a truck carrying medical supplies for a hospital. Some police officers said they had been shot at.
An environmental history of New Orleans:
New Orleans' dysfunctional relationship with its environment may make it the nation's most improbable metropolis. It is flood prone. It is cursed with a fertile disease environment. It is located along a well-worn pathway that tropical storms travel from the Atlantic to the nation's interior. From this perspective, New Orleans has earned all the scorn being heaped upon it—the city is a misguided urban project, a fool's errand, a disaster waiting to happen.
First evacuees arrive in Houston: "Renegade" bus is first to arrive.
Jabbar Gibson, 20, said he drove the bus from the flooded Crescent City, picking up stranded people along the way. After arriving at the Astrodome at about 10:30 p.m., they initially were refused entry by Reliant officials who said the aging landmark was reserved for the 23,000 people being evacuated from the Louisiana Superdome.
"Now, we don't have nowhere to go," Gibson said. "We heard the Astrodome was open for people from New Orleans. We ain't ate right, we ain't slept right. They don't want to give us no help. They don't want to let us in."
Gibson said police in New Orleans told him and others to take the school bus and try to get out of the flooded city. Some of those on board had been in the Superdome, but Gibson said he stopped and picked up people stranded on roadways.
Technorati Tags: flood aid, Hurricane Katrina
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