Grim discovery as Lower 9th reopens [View All]

[UpInArms]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/10/12/katrina.nola/

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- As residents of New Orleans' hardest-hit district lined up for miles to see what was left of their homes Wednesday, one man made a grim discovery.

His grandmother's body was still inside her home in the Lower 9th Ward more than six weeks after Hurricane Katrina.

"I'm never going to forget this the rest of my life, man. That's all I can say," Paul Murphy said.

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Under Mayor Ray Nagin's "look and leave" plan, some Lower 9th Ward residents were allowed to return to their homes Wednesday to inspect damage and collect their valuables. They had to leave by 6 p.m. because curfews remain in effect for much of the city.

Murphy, a 22-year-old restaurant cook, said his family had been told Mary Beth Hawkins died in the storm and that her body had been removed from her home on Lizardi Street.

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