Storms 411

Day 47 – 10/7/05, Homeless Finally get a Place to Call Home

Trailer park opens outside Baton Rouge

BAKER - When Hurricane Katrina transformed Wanda Evans from a resident of a New Orleans public housing complex into an evacuee, she lost the thing she valued the most: time alone.

That changed Thursday, when Evans, 41, a diabetic, became one of the first dozen occupants of a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer park in Baker, a short drive northwest of Baton Rouge.

And at least among the initial residents, the consensus was that the trailers offered a vast improvement over what they had faced for the past month.

"I don't have to take showers with other women anymore. I don't have to flush a toilet somebody left something in before I use it. I can sleep when I want to," said Evans, whose itinerant life began with a four-day stay at the Superdome. [Read more - NOLA]

Day 43 – 10/3/05, First Day Back To School

Kyla Franklin gets a few kicks in during recess. School began today at the New Orleans West College Prep school in Houston, Tex. by New Orleans area teachers for New Orleans area students, Monday, Oct. 3, 2005. Photo by: Eliot Kamenitz

Teacher Adam Meinig instructs students in a class of culture of the school in what is expected of the students, how to conduct themselves and other proper procedures, Monday, October 3, 2005. Photo by: Eliot Kamenitz

Rani Jordan Ally sorted through a mound of donated school bags to pick one out, Monday, October 3, 2005. Photo by: Rani Jordan Ally sorted through a mound of donated school bags to pick one out, Monday, October 3, 2005. Photo by: Eliot Kamenitz

So excited to have a hand sewn Winne the Pooh bag loaded with new school supplies, Rasone Quinn, 6, a first-grader at Airline Park Elementary School in Metairie on his first day back to school since Hurricane Katrina, Monday October 3, 2005. Photo by: CHRIS GRANGER

Three Salmen High students walk down a hallway at Northshore High School where signs were hung by the Northshore Student Council and cheerleaders welcoming the Salmen students, Monday, Oct. 3, 2005. Photo by: CHUCK COOK

Northshore High 10th grader Nikita Freeman watches the Salmen High football team practice from the window of her biology class. Northshore is platooning with Salmen students at Northshore's campus in Slidell, Monday, Oct. 3, 2005. Photo by: CHUCK COOK

Day 44 – 10/4/05, Population Loss Altering Louisiana Political Landscape

BATON ROUGE, La., Oct. 3 - The two recent gulf hurricanes may result in a significant loss of population for Louisiana, and state officials are now virtually certain that Louisiana will lose a Congressional seat - along with federal financing and national influence - after the 2010 census.

Having dislodged more than a million people in southern Louisiana alone, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita are also likely to alter the state's political landscape, demographers and political experts say, reducing the domination of New Orleans over the State Legislature and increasing the influence of suburban and rural areas.

With a low-wage economy and consistently poor educational performance, Louisiana was losing population even before the hurricanes. The state had a net loss of more than 75,000 people from 1995 to 2000, according to census figures. But the physical and psychological damage inflicted by the hurricanes could push tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands, of people out of the state for good, state officials say, comparable only to the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression and possibly the 1927 floods. [Read more - New York Times]

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!

Day 43 – 10/3/05, New Orleans Rebuilds Amid Uncertainty

(CNN) -- How many people in New Orleans will have to make major repairs to or completely rebuild their homes?

President Bush told the nation there is a "powerful American determination to clear the ruins and build better than before."

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has what federal officials say is an ambitious plan to bring 180,000 people back to the city. The mayor has said, "I just can't wait for the rhythm of New Orleans and the sounds of New Orleans to come back."

At one point, 80 percent of his city was flooded. According to the U.S. Census there were about 213,000 homes in New Orleans parish in 2002. [Read more - CNN]

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!

Day 40 – 9/30/05, The Katrina Real Estate Rush

BILOXI, Mississipp (AP) -- Rubble piles bear "For Sale" signs. Homes without roofs are being sold as-is. Placards announcing "We Buy Houses, Cash!," are posted on corners throughout middle-class neighborhoods.

The Mississippi coast, wracked by Hurricane Katrina, is caught up in a real estate rush, as speculators and those looking to replace their own wrecked homes pinpoint broken and battered waterfront neighborhoods. In the weeks since the hurricane, prices of many homes -- even damaged properties -- have jumped 10 to 20 percent.

But what Katrina spared, the real estate rush now imperils. The arrival of speculators threatens what's left of bungalow neighborhoods that are among the Gulf's oldest communities, close-knit places of modest means where casino workers, fishermen and their families could still afford to live near the water. [Read more - CNN]

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!

Day 39 – 9/29/05, N.O. Residents to Return According to ZIP Code

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Under a re-entry plan announced by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, residents can begin returning as early as Friday.

The first phase will begin Friday for residents of eight ZIP codes: 70114, 70131, 70116, 70115, 70118, 70130, 70112 and 70113.

Business owners in those ZIP codes will be allowed in on Thursday.

Homes will be marked with red and green stickers: Red means residents can enter, inspect damage, collect belongings but not stay; green means they can stay if they so choose.

Nagin said that all other parts of the city would be open for residents next Thursday -- except for the Lower 9th Ward, which was destroyed during Katrina and flooded again by Hurricane Rita. [Read more - CNN]

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!

Day 30 – 9/20/05, St. Bernard Halts Re-Entry, Calls for Evacuation

St. Bernard Parish officials on Monday halted the return of parish residents and called for a mandatory evacuation starting tomorrow, as Tropical Storm Rita churned into the Gulf of Mexico and threatened to affect the parish.

Officials made the decision after a conference call in which Corps of Engineers officials said Katrina’s damage to the parish’s levees means the area is vulnerable to even a small surge.

Earlier today, officials announced they would let in those residents scheduled to come in tomorrow, but would close the parish for the rest of the week. They said, however, that the parish is too much at risk to let people in.

The storm is projected to hit Texas. But Katrina, which flooded almost the entire parish with as much as 20 feet of water, destroyed much of the levees that protect the parish.

“We’re starting all over again. The only difference is I don’t have as many people to evacuate,” said Larry Ingergiola, the parish’s emergency preparedness director.