by Damozel | New Orleans is getting back to normal. The main problem is extensive power outages.
Power remained out in 62,000 homes, down from a peak of 107,000, and the loud hum of generators filled some neighborhoods here. But energy company executives, under pressure from Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and hot and weary citizens, promised a speeding-up of repairs. For the first time this week, trucks with the logo of Entergy, the power provider, were visible on city streets. Mayor C. Ray Nagin said “90 to 95 percent” of residents would see their power turned back on by the weekend. (New York Times)
In the meantime, the city is rapidly getting back to normal, according to Mayor Nagin:
“The city is still improving, and improving rapidly,” Mr. Nagin told television interviewers on Thursday morning. “Any business person who’s out there and not open yet,” he said, should return “because you are losing a lot of money.”
It was a change of tone for the mayor, who spent the first several days after Hurricane Gustav discouraging people from returning immediately to a city he insisted was not yet ready for them. But pressure from residents eager to return, even if their homes were hot and dark, proved too great. (NYT)
According to the article, some citizens may have had enough and may be pulling up stakes, even though Gustav was merciful to New Orleans. As Deb Cupples says, the recovery even from this comparatively small amount of damage is clearly going to be hard and stressful. And, of course, recovery from Katrina is still far from complete.
An account of the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, and the harrowing warnings that prompted it, shows just how wasteful of time and money, and how deeply stressful, the constant prospect of a repeat of Katrina must be. And though I can't fault Mayor Nagin for painting a dire picture of the possible outcome if the hurricane had remained as powerful as it originally was, any warning that is later shown to have been exaggerated is going to make subsequent compliance less dependable.
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