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1/3 of New Orleans residents could return
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-30 20:38
Mayor Ray Nagin invited residents of some of the city's
most popular neighborhoods to return at their own risk beginning Friday, a move
that could bring back about one-third of New Orleans' half-million inhabitants.
With warnings to looters still on his
business, Bob Rue folds a wet oriental rug outside his shop in New Orleans
Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005. Business owners in much of the city were allowed
back into the city today one month after Hurricane Katrina hit. Rue said
he had already received about 30 flood-damaged rugs from customers wanting
him to salvage them. [AP] |
The newly opened areas, including the French Quarter and Garden District, all
escaped major flooding in a city that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina a
month ago before receiving a second blow from Hurricane Rita last week.
Business owners began showing up Thursday, some saying they were pulling out
and others vowing to rebuild.
"We are lucky. I was expecting much worse than this," said Germame Kassa,
whose Ethiopian grocery and deli was relatively unscathed, although the stink of
rotting food wafted through the locked doors. "One way or the other, we'll be
back in business."
The mayor was pushing aggressively to reopen the city despite concerns raised
by state and federal officials. Serious health hazards remain because of
bacteria-laden floodwaters, a lack of drinkable water and a sewage system that
still does not work, said Stephen L. Johnson, chief of the Environmental
Protection Agency.
"There are a whole lot of factors that need to be
weighing on the mayor's mind," Johnson said. He said the EPA was not taking a
position on Nagin's plan, but he refused to answer when asked if he would allow
his own family to return to New Orleans.
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