This is what I was saying - I mean Mayor N.'s choice was logical at the time
New Orleans mayor defends repopulation plan
White House names official to head inquiry
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- With Hurricane Rita heading for the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on Tuesday defended his decision -- now reversed -- to repopulate parts of his already storm-ravaged city.
Nagin called off the plan on Monday because of fears that Rita could reflood the city which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Nagin's plan had called for about 180,000 people -- about a third of the city's population -- to return within the week. (Watch the mayor announce his decision -- 1:51)
Speaking to CNN's "American Morning," Nagin said, "I would take that bet again."
"The facts are that the 911 [emergency response] system will be up and operational this Wednesday," Nagin said. "The facts are we have electricity in probably 60 to 75 percent of the city -- some sections even as high as 95 percent. The facts are we're repopulating the areas that had little to no flooding."
He added that most of those who were allowed to repopulate had transportation and could evacuate on their own.
On Monday, Nagin called on those who had already returned to re-evacuate, four days after he announced businesses and homes in certain areas would be open for residents and proprietors.
Nagin said his city's levees and flood walls were weakened by Katrina's August 29 impact, which left many neighborhoods on the eastern side of the Mississippi River under water.
As Rita roiled, the White House announced Tuesday that homeland security adviser Frances Townsend will lead an internal inquiry into the federal response to Katrina.
Townsend -- formerly with the U.S. Coast Guard -- will follow up on President Bush's September 6 pledge to investigate "what went wrong and what went right." (Full story)
Bush is scheduled to make a fifth trip to the hurricane-damaged region Tuesday, with his first stop in Gulfport, Mississippi.
The latest five-day forecast from the National Hurricane Center has Rita making landfall near Galveston, Texas, on late Friday or early Saturday.
However, because of the erratic nature of hurricane movements, forecasters issued a "cone of probability" which showed the potential path of the storm could vary from northern Mexico to southeast Louisiana.
After Rita enters the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, further strengthening -- perhaps to a Category 3 hurricane -- is expected.
The storm's center was forecast to pass over or near the Florida Keys later Tuesday.
The amphibious warships USS Iwo Jima and USS Shreveport have orders to sail out of New Orleans on Wednesday if Hurricane Rita continues on its current track, the U.S. Northern Command said.
The Iwo Jima has been functioning as a military command center for the city.
Dan Hitchings, an Army Corps of Engineers official in Baton Rouge, told CNN that after Katrina, the 350 miles of levees and flood walls that protect the New Orleans area are capable of withstanding only little more than "normal tidal surges."
On Monday, Nagin said he was concerned that the pumping stations that empty the city, most of which sits below sea level, would not be able to handle the rain or storm surge of a strong hurricane.
Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation for residents of the east bank of the Mississippi, and recommended evacuation for districts on the west bank, which did not see much flooding after Katrina.
"I am hopeful that people have seen the effect of Katrina and they understand the threat of a Category 3 coming right behind Katrina," he said, "and that we won't have the struggles in getting people out like we had the last time."
About 150 buses were available for the evacuation at the city's downtown convention center -- the scene of so much misery in the early days after Katrina's destruction -- and at a football stadium in Algiers, the city announced.
Lt. Col. Bill Doran, Operations Division chief for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said the city would have to be evacuated 72 hours before Rita's landfall.
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http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/20/kat...act/index.html