Storms 411

Louisiana rebuilding plan unveiled

LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana (AP) -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco outlined a $7.5 billion rebuilding, relocation and buyout plan Monday for thousands of residents whose homes remain damaged or destroyed after last year's hurricanes.

It is Louisiana's first comprehensive housing proposal since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August, followed a month later by Hurricane Rita.

"In the not-too-distant future, I predict the sounds of hammers and saws will be ringing through all of our communities as our homes are rebuilt," Blanco said.

Assistance would be capped at a maximum $150,000 per homeowner under the proposal. But direct relief is still months away, and homeowners receiving the aid could be taking on more debt to rebuild. [Read more - CNN]

U.S. Cuts Duty on Cement From Mexico

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 19 - The United States and Mexico agreed on Thursday to phase out American duties on Mexican cement imports, a move aimed at easing cement shortages caused by a building boom in Asia and rising demand for cement to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

The agreement would reduce duties on Mexican imports to $3 a metric ton, from $26, but limit imports to three million tons a year in the Southern states for the next three years, according to a statement from the Commerce Department. After that, all duties and quotas would be ended.

The agreement ends a 16-year dispute that began after the United States imposed duties on Mexican cement imports, responding to cement producers in Southern states who argued that Mexican producers were selling cement in the United States for less than in Mexico. [Read more - NY Times]

New Orleans' Old Homes Prove They Were Built to Last

When Bari Landry finally returned to her New Orleans home, she expected to break the lock and see a lot of damage. What she didn't expect was to find her home had weathered the winds and subsequent floods of Hurricane Katrina.

"I just opened the lock and walked in. I felt so guilty," she says now, standing on her porch in the south Lakeview neighborhood.

The structure of her home remained, for the most part, intact. To withstand hurricanes and flooding, her 1923 Craftsman-style bungalow — in one of the city's many historic neighborhoods — had been built with a mix of impervious materials, such as plaster, cypress and slate.

These homes will be some of the easiest to save in New Orleans, preservation experts say, and should be among the first. They are the city's cornerstones, and their rebirth is New Orleans' rebirth. [Read more - abcNews]

Bridge devastated by Katrina reopens

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- A major bridge over Lake Pontchartrain that was torn apart by Hurricane Katrina reopened fully to traffic just before dawn Friday.

Katrina's storm surge ripped giant sections of the five-mile (8-kilometer) concrete bridge, which links New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana, and tossed some into the lake. Other sections of the bridge shifted by as much as 5 feet (1.5 meters).

Crews cannibalized undamaged sections from the westbound span to patch the eastbound lanes, which were converted temporarily to two-way traffic.

That left about a mile of the westbound roadway missing, and they were replaced with a system of metal trusses and decking. [Read more - CNN]

New Orleans port is getting over Katrina

NEW ORLEANS After Hurricane Katrina destroyed about one-third of the Port of New Orleans, the port's chief executive turned an offhand remark into a challenge to restart a vital part of the city's storm-ravaged economy.

"It all came out as kind of a joke when someone told me, 'You won't have a ship in this port for six months,"' the port chief, Gary LaGrange, recalled. "My response, with a lot of bravado, was, 'We'll be back at 70 percent within six months."'

So far, so good.

The port, a major entry point for imported steel, natural rubber and coffee, received its first post-storm ship Sept. 12, two weeks after Katrina. Just over three months later, the port is running at about half capacity, LaGrange said in an interview. Before Katrina hit on Aug. 29, the port was getting 36 to 40 ship [calls a week. Now the count is 18 to 20. [Read more - International Herald Tribune]

Flap Over Razing New Orleans Homes

(AP) The city is ready to demolish some 2,500 houses deemed threats to public safety because of damage from Hurricane Katrina, but opponents said Saturday they will sue to stop the work to make sure homeowners' rights are respected.

City officials said inspectors had examined roughly 128,000 homes on New Orleans' east bank of the Mississippi River. About 4 percent, or 5,534 homes, were marked with red stickers as being unsafe to enter and must be razed, said Greg Meffert, the city's chief technology officer, who also oversees the department of safety and permits.

Only about 2,500 red-tagged houses that pose an imminent public hazard will be demolished in the next few weeks. The remaining 3,000 will get a second inspection. [Read more - CBS News]

Worker Shortage In Big Easy

Jerry La Fleur and her husband moved away from New Orleans a year and a half ago, but quickly felt the pull to return home.

Then hurricane Katrina hit, and they knew they had to go back. So they began searching online for jobs.

That's when La Fleur saw a posting for her dream job at Langenstein's Market a small, family-run grocery store with one of the best reputations in town. "I didn't have a chance at this store before Katrina," says La Fleur, who is now assistant to the produce buyer. "Nobody ever left their jobs here."

There may not be stoplights or gas stations in much of the city, but there are plenty of jobs. So many positions are going unfilled, in fact, that businesses are offering higher salaries and signing bonuses. Some are even going so far as to give free housing, transportation, and laundry services. [Read more - CBSNews]

Day 107 – 12/6/05, 20,000 New Homes For New Orleans

(AP) The first major housing investment in the New Orleans region since Hurricane Katrina will come from a California home builder planning a community with as many as 20,000 homes.

The venture, called KB Home/Shaw Louisiana LLC, would build new homes "with the goal of providing permanent housing and increased economic development" in Louisiana, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We want to rebuild New Orleans," said Bruce Karatz, chairman and chief executive of KB Home, which has partnered with The Shaw Group of Baton Rouge to buy a 3,000-acre tract near Avondale in Jefferson Parish. [Read more - CBSnews]

Day 103 – 12/2/05, Work on twin spans stays on schedule

Bridge could reopen in late December, supervisor says

With more than half of the required metal replacement spans in place, repairs to the westbound Interstate 10 bridge shattered by Hurricane Katrina's tidal surge are on schedule to wrap up in six weeks.

The second phase of the state Department of Transportation and Development's $30.9 million project will restore two lanes of traffic in each direction between Slidell and New Orleans. The state gave Boh Bros. Construction Co. until Jan. 14 to restore the westbound bridge that bore the brunt of the twin spans' damage when the storm sucked the tidal surge out of Lake Pontchartrain.

"We feel pretty good that we can reach that, and we're hopeful we can get there a little sooner," DOTD spokesman Mark Lambert said as he toured the site by boat Thursday.

Field manager Larry Henley said that if the remaining pieces of repair and installation go smoothly, he hopes to reopen the bridge between Christmas and New Year's Day. The extra two lanes will ease still-snarled traffic and eliminate almost daily fender-benders caused by drivers rubbernecking to observe the massive bridge project. [Read more - nola]

Day 92 – 11/21/05, State to allocate $200 million in bond money for low-interest home loans

BATON ROUGE, La. -- A program allocating close to $200 million worth of bond money for low-interest loans to help repair or rehabilitate housing for victims of recent hurricanes was announced Monday by Gov. Kathleen Blanco, and members of the Legislature, including members of the Legislative Black Caucus and the chairman of the House Republican Caucus.

The loans will be financed through bonds sold through the Louisiana Housing Finance Authority. About $100 million will go for loans to approximately 2,000 homeowners for repairs or rehabilitation of owner-occupied homes.

Another $95 million in bond money will be dedicated to finance the repair and construction of affordable rental housing.

Black Caucus chairman Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, praised Blanco for signing executive orders to implement the programs and credited Rep. Jim Tucker, a New Orleans area Republican and chairman of the House Republican Caucus, with helping work out the plan.