NEW ORLEANS — Declaring that his flood-scarred, depopulated town "will breathe again," New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said Thursday that the city's historic French Quarter, downtown business district and other viable neighborhoods would reopen under a phased plan starting this weekend.
Defying predictions that the city would stagnate for months until essential services were restored, authorities decided to allow residents and businesses to begin returning to their homes under a staggered resettlement plan.
As many as 180,000 residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina will eventually be allowed to move back into homes and apartments that escaped overwhelming flood and storm damage, the mayor said.
"It is a good day in New Orleans," Nagin said during a televised news conference. "The sun is shining. We're bringing New Orleans back. This is our first step. We are opening up this city and almost 200,000 residents will be able to come back and get this city going once again."
The move will quickly revitalize many of the city's iconic, picturesque sections: the iron-gated balconies and neon-lighted strip joints of the French Quarter, the whitewashed Civil War mansions of the Garden District, and the vaulting hotels and office towers of the business district.
But even as he hailed his city's semi-return, Nagin acknowledged that dwellings that housed half of the city's 450,000 residents would have to be razed. "Most of the homes that were flooded that stayed in the water for a number of weeks will most likely be destroyed," Nagin said.
Under a plan approved by Nagin and by state and federal officials, business owners will reenter this weekend. Residents will follow, returning to lightly damaged west bank and central city neighborhoods next week and then to the French Quarter on Sept. 26.
The decision to open large swaths of New Orleans followed the rapid retreat of floodwaters that still cover 40% of the city, and progress by repair crews in restoring electricity and water service.
The tipping point, Nagin said, was good news that came in a recent round of government-conducted environmental tests. The results showed that remaining floodwaters still contained dangerous bacteria and chemicals, but that the city's air was safe to breathe.
The water, Nagin said, is "not good for you to drink or bathe in, just for flushing and firefighting. We're working feverishly to make sure the water quality gets better. We still have a couple of major breaks and contaminated water that is seeping in through the leaks."
