New Orleans business owners headed back home on Saturday to help in the mammoth task of rebuilding the city as recovery teams moved across battered neighbourhoods to collect the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Flood waters are dropping quickly in the worst-hit areas as pumps shoot water back into Lake Pontchartrain, allowing search and rescue teams their first look into many homes that had been submerged in fetid water for nearly three weeks.
"There was a significant amount of water in this neighbourhood yesterday," said a Missouri-based rescue team leader as his team moved up one street, house by house.
"We're here to make sure there are no people who sheltered in place, or any deceased bodies. And if there are we'll take care of them," he said.
Other teams moved by boat into sections of the city still under water.
Business owners began to return to the French Quarter of clubs and bars, the central business district and the Uptown and Algiers residential areas.
Mayor Ray Nagin called on businesses to come back this weekend and wants residents of the four areas to join a staggered return over the next nine days.
But it was uncertain how many of the city's 450,000 residents could or would actually return.
Schools, some hospitals and almost all businesses remain closed and many will not be open again for months. The water is not safe to drink and, with huge swaths of the city devastated, it could take years for a full recovery.
The official death toll from Katrina rose to 816 on Friday, with about 70 percent of the fatalities in Louisiana.
Comments
Comments are closed.