Mayor aims to reopen parts of New Orleans
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-26 19:32

Kappa Horn, owner of the Slim Goodies diner in the city's Garden District, eagerly drummed up business a day after Hurricane Rita caused more flooding in New Orleans, AP reported.

Susan Dunlap, right, serves jambalaya to fellow French Quarter resident Mondrell Crawford on the sidewalk of Alex Patout's restaurant Sunday, Sept. 25, 2005, in the French Quarter district of New Orleans . The mammoth tasks of restoring power to much of New Orleans and removing heaps of debris, interrupted when Hurricane Rita rammed the Gulf Coast, resumed Sunday as the mayor pushed his plan to reopen parts of the city this week. [AP]

"You wanna burger?" Horn called out to a steady stream of police and others who came by.

Visible signs of renewed life Sunday included the reopening of restaurants and ubiquitous utility crews working to restore electricity. Mayor Ray Nagin's plans to repopulate the city were back in motion, too: Nagin wants to start allowing residents into dry parts of the city starting Monday or Tuesday.

Areas newly flooded this weekend by Rita could be pumped dry within a week after levee damage is repaired, far sooner than initially predicted, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman said.

"All indications are all operations are getting back to normal," said Ted Monette, deputy federal coordinating officer for Katrina recovery.

Monette said federal officials had been coordinating with Nagin's effort to begin allowing evacuated residents to return and were supportive of his plan.

Horn's diner doesn't have electricity, but she's been using supplies driven in from Baton Rouge and New Orleans' West Bank to serve pancakes and burgers for more than a week. She closed for two days when Rita came through.

"The city is not going to survive unless it's got people in it," Horn said. "I want to be part of rebuilding my city."

Nagin on Saturday renewed his plans to allow some residents to return to drier parts of the city where utilities have already been restored. Dry districts will eventually support a population of between 250,000 and 300,000, he said.

Residents of the Algiers neighborhood, which has working power, water and sewer services, could be allowed to return Monday or Tuesday, followed by people in other ZIP codes, Nagin said.

Nagin has suggested that only people who are mobile — not families responsible for children or senior citizens — come back. "That's going to be the reality of New Orleans moving forward."

However, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who is in charge of the federal disaster effort in the city, sounded a cautionary note, although he agreed that the city can continue allowing business operators to return to unaffected areas and letting residents return to the West Bank and Algiers.

"Where the mayor needs some thoughtful approach to is the areas that have been reflooded and the areas that may remain uninhabitable for safety, health and other reasons," the admiral said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "And I think a timetable associated with that still needs to be worked out."

A handful of evacuees returned to the city aboard a flight from Cincinnati.

"You go from joy to disbelief to sadness to just being tired, to just wanting to go home," said Paul Jordan. "Our goal is to help rebuild the city, and we're going to do whatever we can."

But not everyone headed back to New Orleans plans to stay.

Haney Joudeh has resettled in Chicago and was coming to take photos of his clothing store, which he heard was looted, for the insurance company.

"It's like starting a life all over. That's it for me. There's nothing left," Joudeh said.

Most of the city was spared significant new damage when Rita struck near the Texas-Louisiana line, but the hurricane's rain and storm surge partially breached levees along the Industrial Canal, causing renewed flooding in the Ninth Ward. That is the section of east New Orleans that was submerged by Katrina and pumped dry just days before the second big storm.

The Army Corps of Engineers worked through the night to pile rocks and sandbags in the breaks. Workers believe that once the breaches are closed, the Ninth Ward can be pumped dry in a week, said Mitch Frazier, a spokesman for the corps.

Entergy, the state's biggest power company, was assessing new damage in hard-hit southwestern Louisiana. More than 200,000 customers still lack power in the New Orleans area.

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