Are they Going Back too Early??? I'm assuming city/state officials know better than I do. But I was listening to NPR earlier and there was a guy in the French Quarter saying he didn't understand how they were going to be allowing people back in. He said they were still telling him that he shouldn't use the water to clean any cuts he might have in his skin. That there were dumpsters filled with carcasses of dead animals that had been there for a couple of weeks. That they were surrounded by environmental/health hazards.
Or if they do drink the water I'm sure the Hurricanes and Hand Grenades will help sanitize their stomachs.
I wish I'd have said this. The Mayor has them going back in early because he knows no area can survive that many months with zero commerce. He'll be without a town to govern. But who knows what we're subjecting these folks to by letting them in back early. False hope, from my viewpoint. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/17/D8CM8FC00.html Relief Head Questions New Orleans Timeline Sep 17 5:16 PM US/Eastern By BRETT MARTEL Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS The mayor of New Orleans has set up an "extremely problematic" timeline for allowing residents to return to the evacuated city, which is still threatened by a weakened levee system, a lack of drinkable water and heavily polluted floodwaters, the head of the federal relief effort said Saturday. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen said federal officials have worked with Mayor Ray Nagin and support his vision for repopulating the city, but he called Nagin's idea to return up to 180,000 people to New Orleans in the next week both "extremely ambitious" and "extremely problematic." "Our intention is to work with the mayor ... in a very frank, open and unvarnished manner," Allen told The Associated Press in an interview at Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Baton Rouge. Nagin has announced that the city's Algiers section, the Garden District and the French Quarter would reopen over the next week and a half, bringing back more than one-third of the city's half-million inhabitants. All the areas to be reopened were spared Katrina's flooding. Electricity and clean water have been restored to some sections. Allen said a prime public health concern is the tap water, which in most of the city remains unfit for drinking and bathing. He said he was concerned about the difficulties of communicating the risk of using that water to people who return and might run out of the bottled water they brought along. "The water that's there is only good for firefighting and flushing," he said. Another concern, Allen said, was the risk of another storm hitting the region, threatening an already delicate levee system and possibly requiring residents to be evacuated again. "Something less than a Category 4 storm is going to present significant issues that might require the evacuation of the general population. You want to make sure you have your arms around how you will do that," he said. Allen called on the mayor to be "mindful of the risks" and said he would inform Nagin of his concerns when they meet on Monday. Allen was not the only official with doubts about the mayor's plans. The mayor's homeland security director, Terry Ebbert, backed away from Nagin's promise on Friday, saying only that the city would assess the situation in the French Quarter from "day to day." Asked repeatedly whether that meant it could open sooner or later than Sept. 26, he declined to elaborate. Ebbert said the city's recovery depends on getting businesses reopened, but he said the repopulation of the city was being done "in a progressive manner" to ensure the safety and health of residents. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was planned. Meanwhile, some business owners were being allowed back into the city Saturday to get a head start on opening the rollicking bars, stores and restaurants that keep the good times rolling in New Orleans. Margaret Richmond stood watching, tears streaming down her face, as members of the 82nd Airborne Division used a crowbar to try to pry open the door of her looted antiques shop on the edge of the city's upscale Garden District. The store, Decor Splendide, had been looted in the chaotic days after Katrina struck. Antique jewelry, a cement angel with one wing broken off and lamps were lying scattered on the floor. Someone had wedged a piece of metal in the door to jam it closed, hoping to deter other looters. "What they didn't steal they trashed," Richmond said, gazing through a window of her shop, before the soldiers were able to break open the door. "They got what they could and ruined what they left." Business owners, facing damage that could take months to repair, said hopes for a quick recovery may be little more than a political dream. "I don't know why they said people could come back and open their businesses," said Richmond, whose insurance policy will cover the lost merchandise. "You can't reopen this. And even if you could, there are no customers here." The Wal-Mart store in uptown New Orleans, built within the last year, survived the storm but was destroyed by looters. "They took everything _ all the electronics, the food, the bikes," said John Stonaker, a Wal-Mart security officer. "People left their old clothes on the floor when they took new ones. The only thing left are the country-and-western CDs. You can still get a Shania Twain album." If the store had not been looted, it could be open in two weeks, Stonaker said. Now he doubts it will be open by January. "They'll have to gut it and start over," he said. Many residents, from the cast-iron balconies of the French Quarter to the white-columned mansions of the Garden District, said it will be weeks, if not months, before they are ready again for partying until dawn. "We don't want a bunch of tourists in here while we're trying to get our homes together, get our businesses together," said Sandra Cimini, whose family owns a bar on Chartres Street. "It's not going to be walking down the street with a hurricane glass in your hand until we can get everything together." Traffic was already heavy at checkpoints leading into Orleans Parish, where many were turned away if they had not managed to acquire the special business permits the city was issuing by fax in recent days. The city was relaxing requirements over the weekend so that anyone with documentation showing they had businesses in specified ZIP codes could enter. Those areas, for now, are limited to Algiers, the French Quarter, the central business district and Uptown, which includes the Garden District. Residents who return Monday to Algiers on the west bank of the Mississippi River will return to relative normalcy. While debris from trees and roofs still litters many neighborhoods, the area never flooded, the water is clean and electricity has been restored to most places. But on the east side, home to the sections most tourists know best, it is unclear when the water will be safe for drinking or bathing. Until then, the bars and restaurants from Uptown to the French Quarter will have to have ice delivered. That is, if they decide to open during daylight hours. "We stay open until 4 o'clock in the morning, so it would be a little bit weird" having to close at dusk, said Steve Bartley, who works at the Tropical Isle bar on Bourbon Street. "We'll have to adjust the hours to how business is." Some business owners in the French Quarter, which suffered only cosmetic damage, threw an impromptu street party Saturday, complete with a traditional feast of red beans and rice. Donald Link, the chef and co-owner of Herbsaint, an upscale restaurant in the city's arts district in New Orleans, evacuated to Lake Charles, La., leaving his house beneath 20 feet of flood water. He considered a number of job offers before deciding to return. "I wasn't sure there was any reason to try to go back," Link said. "I really thought about starting somewhere else, but then I thought, 'This is my restaurant, this is my city.'" The storm did not damage the restaurant, but the ensuing power failure spoiled his store of food. "I looked at the lost food _ the pig heads in brine were the worst," said Link, who is famous for his earthy dishes. "And I thought I can't do this. I can't take it." Using a commercial gas mask he obtained from the oil refineries in Lake Charles, Link was able to empty the five coolers and freezers of their rotting food, enough to fill almost 70 garbage bags. "Now we have to decontaminate the restaurant, probably get all new coolers and freezers," Link said. "Once we open, it will be all new food, all new equipment." Link hopes to be doing business within three weeks. Some of the larger hotels already have been operating, hoping to generate income even as they repair damage. The Hyatt was severely damaged, but some hotels along Canal Street on the edge of the French Quarter had less recovery work ahead. The Sheraton had damage to the top floors and to a huge ballroom where a retractable skylight and massive window were smashed. The hotel also had a solid disaster plan in place that included bringing in portable toilets, stockpiling water and sheltering the guests. They began renting rooms two weeks after the storm. By Saturday, 100 rooms were taken at $249 each, mostly by FEMA workers and journalists. They had air conditioning and working bathrooms, thanks to water the company trucked in and treated. Twice-weekly maid service would start next week. "We haven't had any complaints," General Manager Don King said. But even its quick return to business won't prevent the Sheraton from suffering big losses. "We have insurance for the damage and for the interruption of business," King said. "But the policies have huge deductibles, millions of dollars in deductibles. These neighborhoods were the lucky ones. They never flooded. Still, nearly three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, about 40 percent of the Big Easy was under water. But that is down from 80 percent after the storm, and engineers say water is dropping rapidly. While water in some low-lying areas had been as deep as 20 feet, the deepest water in the city Friday was 5 feet, exposing still more of the dead. The death toll along the Gulf Coast rose to 816, including 579 in Louisiana. Security will be tight in the reopened neighborhoods, with Nagin and others vowing never again to let New Orleans slip into the lawlessness that gripped the city in the days after the storm. This week, he warned potential looters that soldiers carry M-16 rifles "and they might have a few bazookas we're saving for spec people."
"Are they Going Back to Early???" Max, do you mean Early the character played by Brad Pitt in the film Kalifornia, or do you mean the town of Early? I can't tell to where or to whom you have them going. People in this thread are assuming New Orleans... is it sometimes called "The Big Early?"
ya know...i edited it so the to would be too....but for some reason it's not showing up. but, even still..yes..i meant the brad pitt character.
Way too early to start letting all these people return ~ don't blow it again Nagin... ____________ Feds, locals clash on return to N.Orleans NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Federal and local authorities clashed on Sunday over whether New Orleans was ready for residents to return, putting in doubt efforts to quickly resettle the devastated city. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, head of the federal recovery efforts in New Orleans, said the city lacked most basic services -- such as drinkable water, sewage and electricity. Its protective levees remained vulnerable, and the city lacked a plan to respond to any new emergency. Tens of thousands of New Orleans' residents ravaged by Hurricane Katrina nearly three weeks ago remain housed in temporary shelters across the United States, with many poised to return home when officials permit. Mayor Ray Nagin has been encouraging many to return this week, but Allen said he was far more cautious after consulting with the heads of the Environmental Protection Administration and the Centers for Disease Control. "If you bring significant amounts of people into New Orleans, you need an evacuation plan," Allen said during a round of TV appearances on Sunday. It also needed safe water to drink, working telephones, and a storm-warning system. "The announcement to move the repopulation ahead of any of those completed tasks in our view puts the city at risk," he said. Allen said he and the mayor planned to meet on Monday. But Nagin has strenuously defended his call for many citizens to return, saying reoccupying the city was vital to New Orleans' revival. "We believe our re-entry plan properly balances safety concerns and the needs of our citizens to begin rebuilding their lives," Nagin said on Saturday. LOW TRAFFIC Despite Nagin's invitation, there were few signs people were rushing to get back into the Big Easy. "Traffic is extremely light going into the city," said Sgt. Cathy Flinchum of the Louisiana State Police. State homeland security officials said the relief effort was improving, after weeks of chaos blamed on a disorganized federal recovery effort and a lack of coordination among local, state and federal agencies. "What we're more focused on is continuing to get the aid and necessary supplies to those in need," said Mark Smith, spokesman for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Just one week ago, the state was charging FEMA with moving too slowly on a host of issues, especially housing, but in the last few days it has sharply toned down its criticism of the federal government in favor of building a warmer relationship to ensure relief dollars continue flowing. But Smith said it remained unclear whether it would be possible to meet a goal of moving all evacuees out of shelters within a month. Katrina's death toll so far stands at 883, with 646 of those in Louisiana, 218 in Mississippi and a total of 19 in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. Floodwaters continued to recede in New Orleans and appeared confined to the eastern end of the city. Yet medical experts in New Orleans said they still feared a "second disaster" as returning residents suffered injuries amid the rubble, toppled trees and dangling power lines. BACK TO BUSINESS Despite those fears, Nagin has asked business owners in the historic French Quarter, the downtown business district and parts of the Uptown neighborhoods to return to the city that only days ago was nearly entirely underwater after levees along Lake Pontchartrain gave way. "Promoting the return of commerce to New Orleans and the region is key if we are going to realize our common objective: to bring New Orleans back," Nagin said. Saturday night, many lights were back on downtown and in the French Quarter as electricity was restored in some sections. "If you're here for the next Mardi Gras, you'd never think there was a hurricane. The streets will be full again," vowed Chellie Smith, who owns four bars in the French Quarter. But his wife Tricia was less optimistic. "I'd say two years before we're back to the way it was," she said. Across the Mississippi River, residents of the Algiers neighborhood were relieved to find their homes largely undamaged by the worst-ever natural disaster to hit the United States. "We're very thankful," said Gene Harris, 64, as he and his wife and son inspected their 19th century house. Harris was surprised to find both electricity and running water in the home he fled nearly three weeks ago. "I may use this opportunity to buy some properties," he added, surveying the neighborhood. "Because (Algiers) did not sustain any damage, property values will go up even higher." link
Completely irresponsible to bring people back. You have a freaking wasteland...with no health care infrastructure. But come on back, ya'll. Irresponsible. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3358913 Hospital official: New Orleans health care infrastructure 'does not exist' Coast Guard official to meet with Nagin Monday, hopes to delay start of repopulation program By DAVID CRARY Associated Press HURRICANE KATRINA NEW ORLEANS -- This city's health care facilities have been shattered to an extent unmatched in U.S. history, and its hospital system faces grave challenges as residents begin returning, the vice president of the national hospital accreditation organization said today. The official, Joe Cappiello, said several hospitals were probably damaged beyond repair by Hurricane Katrina, while some may try to rush back into business before conditions are safe. Others, while rebuilding, may lose doctors and nurses to communities elsewhere. He also recounted harrowing details of how doctors and nurses felt compelled — against the fundamentals of their training — to make triage-style choices during the flood. They were forced to aid some patients at the expense of others with less chance of survival. "Essentially the health care infrastructure of New Orleans is gone — it no longer exists," said Cappiello, who just completed a three-day mission to the city along with a colleague from the Illinois-based Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Although the city has more than a dozen hospitals, none have resumed normal operations. Officials at Children's Hospital, which Mayor Ray Nagin had hoped would be ready when residents are allowed to return to the Uptown neighborhood this week, said they may need 10 more days to prepare. RETURNING TO NEW ORLEANS Mayor's plan: New Orleans' C. Ray Nagin announced the city would open in stages, starting this weekend. Nagin's plan is to start repopulating the city neighborhood by neighborhood, starting Monday with the Algiers section, across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans. Over the next week and a half, the Garden District and the French Quarter, the city's historic heart, are due to open to residents and businesses. All are areas that didn't flood, but Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, head of the federal government's hurricane response, has urged Nagin not to rush people back in. He didn't want to set a timeline on Sunday, but he said the information he was getting from administrators at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency suggested it still wasn't safe enough. Cappiello expressed concern that some hospitals, desperate to get back into business for competitive as well as public-service reasons, might move too quickly, before all mold and contaminants from the flooding are removed. "I hope there's someone looking at all the health care assets and making sound decisions as the mayor faces overwhelming political pressure to let people back in," Cappiello said. "The federal government needs to go in there and make sure the hospitals are a safe environment before they're reopened." Many local doctors and nurses are without paychecks, he said: "There's a nationwide shortage of nurses. People will try to recruit them and many may never come back." He cited Charity Hospital, where floodwaters continue to be pumped out, as one that seemed beyond repair. The hospitals seemed to have been well-prepared for Katrina's howling winds, but not for the disastrous flooding that followed, Cappiello said. That foiled plans to evacuate critically ill patients and knocked out backup generators that would keep air conditioning and lifesaving equipment on. At Memorial Medical Center, doctors and staff worked valiantly during the worst of the flood to evacuate more than 200 patients by boat and helicopter, but 45 patients — most of them critically ill — died at the hospital. "We're going to hear of a thousand more acts of heroism," Cappiello said. "But the bottom line is that having a response plan that relies on heroism is not tenable." At a couple of hospitals, he said, officials ordered a lockdown of pharmaceutical supplies, wanting to protect them from looters when their hospitals emptied. They later learned that staff were unable to gain access to the drugs to aid ailing patients after flooding thwarted evacuation plans. "Doctors and nurses who stayed behind were scrambling to find drugs for their critically ill patients," he said. "They had to make choices that we ordinarily don't make in America, to help those with the greatest chance of survival. ... That's not the way we practice medicine." Cappiello also said he had heard unconfirmed reports that some doctors may have euthanized some critically ill patients who could not be evacuated, rather than leaving them to die from the flooding or from neglect. "There was a whisper about that when we were down there," he said. "It may prove to have some viability to it. Sometimes horrible decisions like that have to be made." The flooded areas of New Orleans continued shrinking, but crews were still searching by boat on Sunday for the dead. The state Department of Health and Hospitals said the hurricane death toll in Louisiana had risen to 646. The toll across the Gulf Coast was 883, and that number was still expected to rise.
But I think part of the problem is that there were a lot of people criticizing Nagin for forcing people who wanted to stay in undamaged areas out. Many were criticizing him for using heavy handed tactics. At the same time there have been many people from the President on down saying NO will be quickly rebuilt and several refugees who've been clamoring to get back. Nagin is in a no win situation. I personally think he is letting people back too soon but I also get the feeling that he's under quite a bit of political pressure to do so and don't think this is a unilateral decision.
Max, sorry about my dumb, smart-ass post. But I really like the Early character in that film, and I love how Juliet my fav actress ever says "Earrrrrly, I don't luv you anymooooore!" Anyway, what is Nagin thinking here? I think he's thinking that if he doesn't start the town back up soon some people with the big picture are going to say they should move half of that city into Lake P. The more he gets people back, the more the city has to be rebuilt, in some sort of twisted logic at least. Just my take. I have relatives moving back in now, and I wish to hell they would wait. They are in their 80's! Think they need running water?
Further proof Nagin is a complete idiot. It doesn't matter if the people want to move back right away, he needs to think of their safety first, even if it further hurts his already ruined career. Personally, I think he's afraid these people will eventually settle down where the are currently and not move back. I suppose moving your half a million people back to retain their residency is more important than sickness, disease, lack of food, healthcare, law enformcement, ect ..
I could not disagree more...I think going back early is a great motivator for getting crap working again. Otherwise, people would not be motivated enough to get electricity, water and other services up and running. Go now, and put some pressure to get things working. DD
Getting people back in though isn't going to make the water levels drop any faster and the city is still 40% flooded.
you don't tell families to come back to town when there are no basic support services. no potable water. no functioning emergency rooms. water still being pumped out. contamination hazards that haven't even been deciphered yet.
Nagin is officially an idiot. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory2/3359659 Bush questions mayor's plan to reopen New Orleans so soon Associated Press HURRICANE KATRINA NEW ORLEANS — Residents began streaming back today as part of a plan by the mayor to reopen New Orleans one neighborhood at a time, despite repeated warnings from the top federal official on the scene — and President Bush himself — that the city is unsafe. Mayor Ray Nagin, under mounting pressure to rescind his decision to let people in, defended the move and complained that the federal official in charge in New Orleans, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, had made himself "the new crowned federal mayor of New Orleans." Around midday, however, Nagin spokeswoman Sally Foreman said the mayor was reassessing the timetable for bringing people back into the city because of "external factors," such as a tropical storm headed for the Gulf of Mexico. The dispute underscored the lack of coordination between federal and local officials that has marked the disaster practically from the start.
I got this email from a friend of mine who recently went back to New Orleans. ************************************************************************** Just wanted to let everybody know what's up. I went back into New Orleans yesterday. Me and Jack (step dad) drove down late Friday nite and stayed at the only hotel I could find in Opelousas, it was called the Town House Motel, and it was a negative 4 star hotel. The only other hotel that had a room was in Port Arthur Texas, some 200 miles out of the way. But that allowed us get on the road earlier Sat morning and get into town. Traffic on I-10 is being diverted to Hwy 61, Airline Hwy at LaPlace. We got in early enough to avoid all the traffic and made it right on in to Kenner. Geico met me at my car across from the airport. The official estimate on my car is $2,109 in damages, all from debri. Many cars in the lot were completely destroyed, the covered parking area structure had collapsed and flattened many many cars, I was parked about 30 yds from the structure. My car was completely covered in nuts and bolts that had flown out of the aluminum siding that was used in most of the covered areas and buildings nearby, it was bizarre. There were large pieces of metal that landed inches from some cars, and directly on top of others right next to them. I was pretty lucky, actually the Geico guy pretty much wrote my estimate for every scratch, ding, and dent he could find. Geico is a really class act and has been cool the whole way, even renting me an Impala to drive down to NOLA. So after we got the car issue solved, we decided to make our way Uptown to see the house. If you have seen the news during the occupation of Baghdad, same thing. Hummers with 60s mounted on top, large tent cities of troops in every large parking lot and field all through Kenner. The airport, the Saints practice facility and the Zephyrs baseball stadium all look like HQ for relief efforts. Tons of wind and structural damage to numerous businesses. We made our way up Clearview and to the River Rd and then encountered Check Point no.1. Three nice soldiers from the 82nd Airborne, checking to see if I had a re-entry pass, which I got from my boss before I left, and proof of Hep A , Hep B, and Tetnis shots, which I got on Thursday and got sick from (another story all together). So we made our way to the foot of St. Charles where it hits River Rd and then up St. Charles, the place looks like Iraq, military vehicles, tents, troops on patrol. The dorms across from Loyola are barracks for the soldiers. The streetcar line is completely blocked with down trees for miles. I saw a few families here and there working in their yards doing cleanup, but mostly a ghost town. Check Point #2 more soldiers wanting to see my driver's license, but friendly. Finally get to my street, nobody around. My street took 4 feet of water, but all had receded. As most of you know my house sits up high on a hill, so no water damage inside. Thank God. The wind fu**ed up the street pretty bad. One of the windows on the side of my house had been blown off the hinges, and another was shattered. There was still a flashlight, and coffee mug sitting in the window sill, which is bizarre too, since the wind blew the window off the hinges. But is was also a sign that nobody had been through my window, cause they wouldnt have put those items back in place. Helicopters kept flying over head and military vehicles passed by on adjacent streets. We wanted to get some **** out of the house, and get the hell out of there. The .38 revolver we brought with us may have been an issue if we got messed with by police. I crawled through the window and the stench of the refrigarator was like nothing I have ever experienced. I opened the doors and the stench dropped me to my knees, on the verge of vomiting. The thing was completely full of rotted groceries, flies, and thousands of maggots crawling all over the food that had been in there for almost three weeks now. I used some rubber gloves and filled two trash cans with the contents and put them outside, I had to cover my mouth and nose with a towel to accomplish this. No power or running water still. Grabbed some shirts, ties, and some extras shoes, a dvd player, and my xbox., some stuff for Amber and bounced. We got stopped three more times by military leaving the area, headed back up River Rd. By then it was close to 10am and the lines getting back in were getting longer and the check points going in were tougher. We timed it perfect. We swung back by the airport to pick up my car and drove both out of town on Airline to LaPlace. By that time it was bumper to bumper traffic from St Charles ave all the way to Laplace trying to get in to New Orleans. Thank God we were going out instead of in. Traffic was heavy on the freeways all the way to back to Shreveport, they were all heading down, mobile homes, tractor trailers, military trucks, citizens wanting to see their homes. Sad stuff. Just from what I saw, the place looks like hell and i dont even live near the ninth ward of or st bernard parish where the heaviest of flooding occurred. Imagine the pollution, why would anyone want to go back!? The EPA says that over 10% of the soil samples right now are petroleum and waste. New Orleans has been known for super clean drinking water for many years now, but not anymore. Also, Imaging 1 million rotted refrigerators putting off God knows what kind of bacteria and germs. Add that to the dead bodies, fuel spills, toxic wast, and exploding chemical plants and think about what kind of air you'll be breathing if you go back. Jefferson parish is asking residents and businesses to return this weekend, Mayor Nagin is asking many residents of Orleans parish to return next week.. The Army says these are ambitious and impratical expectations. Why would these officials want people coming back and getting in the way...greedy bastards want revenue rolling through the city asap and dont want residents to be gone forever to other cities. Be careful ya'll cause that city aint safe. I am not going to return until the EPA, CDC, and etc. say you can safely breath the air and drink the water. And I aint going back until my landlord buys me a new fridge and fumigates my house. So I am still in Shreveport through October and will probably put a few weeks in Houston and Dallas while I am this way. I also left my freaking cell phone in the house in New Orleans, so please reply with your phone numbers so I can go buy a new one and put them all back in the new phone. Kinda lengthy letter I know, but it was very shocking. And I wanted some of you to hear a view that didnt come from FOX, or CNN. Cause according to them, everybody in New Orleans is either black, dying, or needs to be rescued. They dont talk about the over 1 million others, both black and white, that were smart enough to leave. Most of whom have no closure or peace of mind, because they cannot return. I didnt feel like I was in New Orleans, or the U.S. for that matter. It really felt like I was in Iraq. Sad Sad Sad. Keep in touch ya'll.
Mayor halts return to New Orleans http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/19/katrina.impact/index.html Nagin cites concern over Tropical Storm Rita Monday, September 19, 2005; Posted: 5:13 p.m. EDT (21:13 GMT) NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Mayor Ray Nagin halted New Orleans residents' return to the city Monday, citing the threat from the strengthening Tropical Storm Rita. "Now we have conditions that have changed," he said. Nagin said one projection he had been shown had Rita becoming a Category 3 hurricane, hitting Louisiana and passing near New Orleans toward the end of the week. Another projection, he said, had the storm possibly hitting Galveston, Texas. (Watch Tropical Storm Rita sweep toward Gulf) Lt. Col. Bill Doran, Operations Division chief for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said earlier Monday he was worried about Rita and said the city would have to be evacuated 72 hours before landfall. Thousands of emergency workers and residents in the city would need to be rushed out, he said. City, state, and federal officials were coordinating on evacuation plans. As of 2 p.m., Rita was speeding over the central Bahamas at nearly 14 mph, its sustained winds of 70 mph just 4 mph shy of hurricane strength, the National Hurricane Center said in a statement. Residents had begun trickling back into one neighborhood Monday as part of Nagin's plan to repopulate the city, a plan state and federal officials -- including President Bush -- had questioned. "We share the goal of the mayor, but we have got concerns," Bush said in Washington. The Algiers neighborhood, which was relatively unscathed by Hurricane Katrina, was opened to residents Monday, and other areas were scheduled to follow suit. Nagin's plan called for about 180,000 people -- about a third of the city's population -- to return within the week. Bush said one of the many concerns is that the city could face flooding again if another storm were to come along. The levees that broke during Katrina could break again. "The mayor -- you know, he's got this dream about having a city up and running, and we share that dream," Bush said. "But we also want to be realistic about some of the hurdles and obstacles that we all confront in repopulating New Orleans." Vice Adm. Thad Allen of the U.S. Coast Guard, overseeing federal relief efforts, called on New Orleans residents to avoid returning to many areas, citing health concerns, a lack of city services and security risks. He planned to meet with Nagin later Monday and offer what he told CNN would be a "frank, unvarnished assessment." City Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson told CNN the Algiers neighborhood was up and ready. She said Algiers and nearby areas that are also accessible have grocery stores, a drug store, phone service, potable drinking water, and plenty of military officials around to keep order. "Most importantly, we have a bunch of eager citizens that are ready to build New Orleans," she said. "The French Quarter -- it will be next, as well as the CBD [central business district]. We will bring home the heart of our tourism and our economy, our business economy." Allen urged against such optimistic predictions -- and cautioned people not to rush into repopulating the city. He said that while Algiers, on the west bank, is prepared for the influx, the east bank -- which includes the central business district and French Quarter -- is not. Nagin announced the plan to repopulate New Orleans on Thursday, offering the optimistic prediction that about 180,000 residents -- about a third of the city's population -- could return by the end of this week. Allen wrote off that prediction Monday in a CNN interview. "It's pretty problematic," he said, noting the need for drinkable water, an operating 9-1-1 system, and other services. A two-page announcement from the city government handed to returning residents told them there was a 6 p.m.-to-8 a.m. curfew, they may not leave their designated ZIP codes, and numerous city services don't exist. It reads, "Welcome home!" But it cautions, "You are entering at your own risk. The city of New Orleans remains a hazardous site, and ongoing health and safety issues are being assessed."
