When will New Orleans residents get to return home?

[shance]

Who has information of other hurricanes being evacuated for prolonged periods?

Something doesnt sound right that residents should give up their homes indefinitely because the trustworthy Administration tells them to.

What is the reason for such a prolonged delay?

What are Bush and Cheney planning?

Why have they stalled and refused to answer questions?

What might they be hiding from Americans?

[redwitch]

1. most of New Orleans is under water

there is no home to return to at the moment.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. IF and only IF it becomes habitable, months, perhaps years

the devastation is so huge, that it will be a long time.

[shance]

6. How do we truly know? Come on. Let the people of New Orleans decide

whats inhabitable and what is not.

It could be a stretch, but after what Ive seen this sounds like way too convenient of an excuse for the Bush Administration to conveniently begin occupying one of the most important oil ports on US soil.

I'm skeptical of an all too accomodating press for the White House.

[Mass]

16. It is not the Bush WH who says so

Those are environmentalists.

But of course, you know better than them.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

18. we do not even know how bad the ruptures are. the science is simple.

The levees are broken. not repairable, but seriously broken. First, let's simply talk about the ruptures:

The minimum size is 400 yrds. 4 football fields. Erosion, destruction and damage on the "dry" side is guaranteed to be extensive and invisible for now. A few sandbags won't fix anything. Second, the damage and weakening on the inside of the levees is known to be extreme. Every engineer, every prediction and every computer model tells the same story.

The most liberal, least conservative estimates, from those wearing rose-colored glasses are talking about at LEAST a month before they can remove all of the water. Many of the huge pumps used in NO are 100+ yrs old, and once submerged, they fail. They are now underwater. They do not work underwater. They will freeze up (past experiences) and they will fail (past experiences). Under the best circumstances, if every pump worked, it would take a month to remove all the water. Assuming that they had power. Which they do not. And that assumes a dry rainy season. Fat Tuesday of a chance of that.

The very substructure of the land is being changed radically due to 20 feet of water saturating the land. It's very weight and pressure has broken gas lines, sewer lines, water lines, electrical lines, phone lines, optic lines, and worse, it has attacked and eroded the very roads and building foundations to the core.

Even if, by magic, the water disappears tomorrow, you will not have habitable land for months. I am not making this up; this is fact, not guesswork. The residences are now uninhabitable. The water has weakened the foundations and structures so much that they will have to be razed and rebuilt. Not a few buildings, EVERY BUILDING.

Even the hotels and highrises, business sky scrapers and more, these that may be on bedrock, are also dead. These have suffered severe structural damage. all electrical, all phone, all everything is dead.

At the same time, there are new storms forming - this is the wettest season in a wet year in the beginning of a record hurricane season and decade. the chances that more rain won't fall in huge amounts is zip. Check the history - and remember that each drop must be removed by pumps which no longer work.

No offense, but it sounds like you turn on a tap and expect clean water to come out. The infrastructure to get that clean water to your cup is huge. All that is dead. Gone. damaged beyond repair.

[eallen]

3. Besides submerged, the city is without power, water, sewage, & other svcs.

[shance]

7. Haven't you heard this before? Is there an echo in the room?

Why are they automatically drawing these conclusions and its been THREE days.

It sounds very familiar. Keep in mind this is the SAME media we had three days prior. They haven't automatically become an objective honest media over night.

[Moxygirl]

4. Yeah I'd shelve the conspiracy theories until at least the houses

in NO are dry.

[SlipperySlope]

5. Estimates to pump out are around eight weeks

Researchers who investigated "what if" in the years before Katrina estimated it would take eight to twelve weeks to pump the city out in a case like this.

[Jacobin]

8. This is unprecedented

The city is underwater and it won't drain out because its a bowl. It has to be pumped out.

The pumps are out and the levees are broken.

You can't send people back to underwater houses.

(other tiny problems: no water, no electricity, no sewerage treatment, no garbage pick up, no jobs, no businesses, no banks, no gas stations, no hospitals, no nothing)

[shance]

10. At some point you must let them go back in and try to regain something

that is theres. It's not right.

Especially because this Administration blocked the necessary preventative measures to avert this.

[Jacobin]

21. Do you think there are enough boats for 1.2 million people to

go back and look?

Don't you think the flood water needs to go down first?

There is natural gas bubbling up and power lines down and the conditions are not good to allow people in right now.

[FreedomAngel82]

9. I heard that it might be

at least another month or so. There's so much water and damage they don't want people to run into some trouble and get hurt etc. Plus, I don't think they still have any type of electricity and seweage etc. I haven't heard anything from Cheney and I don't pay attention to Bush.

[shance]

11. Let the people of New Orleans take part in the rebuilding and healing

The Bush Administration should have NO part in it.

They are part of the entire reason it happened.

[The Magistrate]

19. As A Matter Of Curiousity, Sir

How is the current regime "part of the entire reason it happened"?

For that matter, how is the national government to be excluded from an endeavor quite beyond local fiscal resources?

[LSK]

12. those homes with water to their roofs are ruined

There are no homes to go back to. I dont think a hurricane has ever flooded homes to these levels, at least here in the US. We are talking 1million homeless at least.

[tammywammy]

13. Well what I read earlier today said

That it would take about 12 weeks after New Orleans is drained to get the electricity completely up. And then another couple of weeks after that to have the water supply back on.

[Cato1]

14. New Orleans is finished

Think about it. It will take many months to make the place habitable again. No business can wait for four months and will have to relocate outside of New Orleans. If the jobs are relocated, the people will also move. No more New Orleans.

[karlrschneider]

15. I am predicting NEVER. Rebuilding (?) the city would be absurd folly,

cost a trillion dollars and still would never be completely safe from a repeat performance, especially given sea-levels rising and the land were NO sits is sinking.

[LouisianaLiberal]

17. New Orleans will be rebuilt.

Whether or not that is wise is another matter. The buildings that sustained significant water damage cannot be dried out - after another month of saturation just tearing out the drywall and flooring will not be enough. Many of the more historic areas of the city were not flooded, and those who live there will definitely return.

Sorry. We have been worrying about this for days, and I'm afraid a new "deluvian" Weltshmertz has been added to my existing BushSchmertz, so I don't feel like I'm making sense.

Four of my refugees flew to Vegas this morning, but two couples who were caught in a CBD hotel are trying to here this evening. I can't contact them to pick them up, and have no idea how they'll get here.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

20. It won't be the same IFF it happens. (I doubt that it will)

If something is rebuilt, it will be on stilts, or much higher, or a shadow of its old self. Some coastal cities recovered after destructive storms, but not often, and not cheaply. nor easily. Mostly, not at all.

First, think of the evil insurers. You tell them you want a bond to construct something under the water's height, and the prices will be HUGE. Without a construction bond, no construction.
Second, they will refuse to insure it, meaning that your funding for construction evaporates. If you cannot insure what you rebuild, you will not be able to rebuild. Period. A financial fact of life.
Third, the banks will look at the global warming stats and realize that unless you can guarantee repayment of their investment in a year, they won't throw money into a bowel next to a high ocean and higher lake. Not without guarantees. And NOT guarantees based on the property about to sink in the next storm.
Fourth, without construction bonds, financing, insurance, what do you have left? In this day and age, nothing of substance, nothing large, nothing impressive. Yeah, there will be a shadow of a community, but only a shadow. Even then, who the heck will pay for the billions to replace sewers, water pipes, gas pipes, electrical, phone and do it for a livable price?

I am sad, sorry, and depressed to say, This City Is Dead.