New Orleans Mayor Tells Residents to Pack Up Again

[Guest]

LA Times

quote:

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With Tropical Storm Rita heading toward the Gulf of Mexico, he halts the city's reopening.

By Scott Gold, Susannah Rosenblatt and Ralph Vartabedian, Times Staff Writers

NEW ORLEANS ÔÇö Facing pressure from Washington and another storm system on the way, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin halted his campaign to repopulate his city Monday and ordered the few residents and business owners who had returned to leave again.

Three weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, flooding New Orleans, Tropical Storm Rita was expected to bear down today on the Florida Keys ÔÇö where all 80,000 residents had been told to evacuate. Rita then is likely to move over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where officials said it could strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane.

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Rita could make landfall on the Gulf Coast as early as Thursday, although Friday or Saturday is more likely.

According to government forecasts Monday night, the storm could land anywhere from northern Mexico to Mississippi. But Nagin said his advisors had determined that Rita probably would pass to the west of New Orleans or strike near the island community of Galveston, Texas ÔÇö where authorities were planning evacuations starting today.

If Rita makes landfall anywhere near New Orleans and its damaged levee system, it could send water cascading again into a city just starting to dry out after Katrina.

Nagin said that a 3-foot storm surge, which can be kicked up by even a moderate tropical storm, would leave as much as 4 feet of water in New Orleans. Rita was expected to rake the Keys with a storm surge of up to 9 feet. Louisiana emergency officials said that even if Rita's eye hit Texas, it could still send a 3-foot surge to New Orleans.

"I'd rather err on the side of conservatism," Nagin said when ordering residents back out of the city. "Today, there is a significant threat of this thing turning north. Any type of storm that heads this way and hits us will put Orleans Parish in a very vulnerable position."

Nagin said he considered the threat from Rita equal to that posed by Katrina, but he called it "a different event" because a significant number of people no longer lived in the city.

As Katrina approached New Orleans, authorities issued a mandatory evacuation. And with the city underwater after the storm, they threatened to use force to remove stragglers from their homes. But many refused to leave, and city officials backed down. Residents since have trickled back to parts of the city despite roadblocks, a collapsed infrastructure and the threat of toxic sludge.

Last weekend, Nagin allowed some business owners to return. On Monday, he opened the Algiers section ÔÇö across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter ÔÇö to residents, and thousands of cars streamed back into the city. Then the mayor announced that everyone needed to be out again by Wednesday.

"I am hopeful that people have seen the threat of Katrina and that they understand the threat," he said.

Asked whether he expected that some people would refuse to leave, Nagin said: "We're all adults.

"All I can do is tell you exactly what I'm seeing," he said. "If anybody wants to sit this out  God bless them."

Meanwhile, energy prices surged in New York futures trading Monday over worries that Rita would deliver another blow to the Gulf Coast, the nation's key oil and natural gas production region.

Oil futures jumped $4.39 to close at $67.39 a barrel. Natural gas surged to a record $12.663 per million British thermal units, up $1.519.

As oil companies began evacuating workers Monday from production platforms and drilling rigs in the gulf, experts predicted the recent decline in retail gasoline prices could come to a halt.

In New Orleans in recent days, Nagin clashed with federal officials over his proposal to bring 180,000 residents back into the city by the end of the month.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, head of the federal government's relief effort, had encouraged Nagin to slow down ÔÇö citing lingering environmental threats and the dearth of potable water, the lack of a 911 system and inoperable sewer pipes, among other problems.

While calling Allen "a good man," Nagin said that he was attempting to repopulate only the safest portions of the city; he reminded Allen on Monday that "there is only one mayor of New Orleans."

President Bush jumped into the debate earlier Monday, citing a "deep concern" about Rita. Bush said he disagreed with Nagin's efforts to allow residents to return to parts of New Orleans this soon.

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Why does this Mayor have his so far up his nether regions?

Why is it that with the Fed's there, they are ACTUALLY implementing the evacuation plan that HE should have implemented for Katrina?

Why is it that it takes the Federal Government to take this idiot by his little hand and show him what needs to be done in an emergency such as a hurricane?

Why is it that the Federal Government took the blame for Katrina, when in fact it was this idiot and his governor playing politics that caused the loss of life that Katrina caused?

If he had ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTED his evacuation plan BEFORE Katrina hit, we would not be having this moronic debate.

Another thing, WHY are the Federal government and the Federal authorities covering for this IDIOT?

[Soback]

I am still wondering why THIS

www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org

has ANYTHING to do with Clinton. I mean COME ON, what ex President has hung around so much. It's at the point where not only is it embarassing to even look at Bush, but Clinton is just a freak now. Bush has NO backbone. If he was a real man, he should have told Clinton to get out of his sight, and have NOTHING to do with him after taking office. Run things HIS way. Seriously, WHY is clinton still involved in federal government, WHAT IS THIS? I don't know why Republicans even bother voting for Bush. As far as I am concerned, the above link just proves that it's a one party country now.

Third party that refuses to be bought, Buchanan was it that refused to join either party during the nominees, is the ONLY viable option for 2008.