Pres. Bush urges NOLA to heed Rita.....

#1 Postby **dixiebreeze** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:19 am

But Mayor Nagin is stubborn.....

NEW ORLEANS - Residents began trickling back Monday as part of a plan by the mayor to reopen New Orleans one ZIP code at a time, despite repeated warnings from the top federal official on the scene - and President Bush himself - that the city is not ready.

Mayor Ray Nagin defended his decision to let people back in, and suggested that the federal official in charge in New Orleans, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, had made himself "the new crowned federal mayor of New Orleans."

Algiers, a neighborhood that is situated across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans and saw little damage from Hurricane Katrina three weeks ago, was the first section to be reopened to residents.

Over the next week, the Uptown neighborhood, the Garden District and the historic French Quarter are also set to reopen to residents and businesses at Nagin's invitation, bringing a total about one-third of New Orleans' half-million inhabitants back.

John Schwab, 31, came back to Algiers with his brother and encountered no checkpoint getting into the neighborhood, despite warnings from the mayor that police would be checking IDs. Schwab owns a janitorial service that had contracts with movie studios. But they have all pulled out of New Orleans because of the storm

"I'll probably have to look for a job in construction," he said. "That's about the only thing around."

A few gas stations and convenience stores were open, but little else. The manager of Winn Dixie supermarket said he had hoped to be open by Monday, but it took longer than he anticipated to clear out the spoiled food and other debris.

"We're now shooting for Thursday," said Grady Shavers. "Salvage crews already took everything out of the store. That was a nasty job."

In Washington, President Bush on Monday questioned the plan to let people back in, saying there are too many concerns about additional flooding and safety. "It's a matter of timing," he said after a meeting of his Homeland Security Council.

Bush said there is "deep concern" about the possibility that Tropical Storm Rita, which was headed toward the Florida Keys on Monday, could drop more rain on New Orleans and breach the city's levees again.

"We have made our position loud and clear," Bush said. "The mayor is working hard. The mayor has got this dream about having his city up and running. We share that dream, but we also want to be realistic about some of the hurdles and obstacles."

Allen, head of the federal government's hurricane response, warned over the weekend - and again on Monday morning - that city services may not be able to handle the influx of people.

He cited a lack of drinkable water and 911 service, and expressed concern that another storm could cause the patchwork repairs to New Orleans' levees to fail and bring another round of flooding.

"Our concern is when you have the general population returning in large numbers without the proper infrastructure to support them," Allen said on NBC's "Today" show.

He said hoped to meet with the mayor later Monday to discuss his concerns and work out a timetable for bringing the city back.

Asked on CBS' "Early Show" when it would be safe for people to return, he said, "We know potable water will probably be restored soon and the levees will be fixed, so that may mean days, weeks."

Nagin defended the decision to bring people back.

"If he's suggesting I'm pushing a little hard, I am. The citizens of New Orleans deserve the opportunity to see what they have left and what they can salvage," Nagin said in response to Allen's warnings.

"I'm a little surprised the admiral came out publicly on this," he added. "Maybe since I've been away a day or two, maybe he's the new crowned federal mayor of New Orleans."

#2 Postby **Dean4Storms** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:26 am

This Mayor is a joke. Now he's gonna be yelling for the Feds. to come get the people back out again if Rita threatens. They ought to arrest him if one person came back to NO and then loses his/her life from Rita!!!

sunny · #3 Postby **sunny** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:27 am

Yep. I saw this this morning. My stomach dropped. I was hoping to go home for the week-end.

canegrl04 · #4 Postby **canegrl04** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:28 am

I hope the mayor of NO is locked up facing criminal charges if Rita strikes in the same vicinity

Website · #5 Postby **Brent** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:29 am

Mayor Nagin is an idiot. :roll:

cajungal · #6 Postby **cajungal** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:29 am

Even if Rita makes landfall in Houston, SE Louisiana will expect to see some very heavy rainfall and isolated tornados. We will be on the East side "the evil" side of the storm. Allison was just a tropical storm and she put my town in Terrebonne Parish under 4 ft of water.

#7 Postby **feederband** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:29 am

Doesn't suprise me ...He left his people stranded their in the first place....IMO :roll:

DESTRUCTION5 · #8 Postby **DESTRUCTION5** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:30 am

He won't be left in office much longer at this pace

#9 Postby **wx247** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:31 am

Not that I disagree with anything that has been said, but remember people... no POLITICAL posts! :roll:

flair · #10 Postby **flair** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:32 am

This is disgusting. Bush gets blamed for all that went wrong, regardless of the fact that Nagin and Blanco left people there to drown. Now that Bush has an admiral there in charge of the recovery, Nagin wants to get smart and start criticizing.

#11 Postby **Dean4Storms** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:32 am

With the ground in NO severely saturated or still flooded and still alot of the pumps inoperable it would not take much rainfall for there to be alot of additional flooding. This Mayor is playing with peoples lives and is a pure idiot!!

#12 Postby **wx247** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:33 am

Can anyone read??? Please check GulfBreezer's post at the top of Talkin' Tropics Page. Seriously...

canegrl04 · #13 Postby **canegrl04** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:35 am

I apologize for my post. But that is the way I feel :roll:

#14 Postby **feederband** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:35 am

I ts a hurricane survial post ...People of NOLA don't go back just yet....

#15 Postby **wx247** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:37 am

canegrl04 wrote:I apologize for my post. But that is the way I feel

I don't disagree with what you said per se, but the rules are the rules. I was just pointing it out to everyone. Apparently, some don't want to listen.

#16 Postby **dixiebreeze** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:38 am

This was NOT a political post in any sense. When the President of the United States, in effect, asks constitutents to heed a building hurricane, that is weather news. Especially in light of Katrina.

Hurricanes transend politics.

#17 Postby **wx247** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:39 am

dixiebreeze wrote:This was NOT a political post in any sense. When the President of the United States, in effect, asks constitutents to heed a building hurricane, that is weather news. Especially in light of Katrina.

Hurricanes transend politics.

The original post in itself wasn't necessarily political. The comments that followed afterwards were.

gratefulnole · #18 Postby **gratefulnole** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:46 am

I do understand letting people back into certain areas so that they can check on their property, do some cleaning out(especially fridge), throw up a tarp, salvage items, etc. They just shouldn't expect to be taking their families back to live at this point.

wxwatcher2 · #19 Postby **wxwatcher2** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:58 am

Let's hope the "leadership" of New Orleans will head the NWS warnings on Rita if the situation should arise.

Raebie · #20 Postby **Raebie** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 11:01 am

We aren't bashing him as a politician. We're bashing him as a complete egotisical idiot who is going to get people killed if he doesn't back down on this.

Pres. Bush urges NOLA to heed Rita.....

Pres. Bush urges NOLA to heed Rita.....

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