"We're going back to revive it," said Herbert Valentine, 38, who was bused to two shelters in Arkansas before getting to downtown Baton Rouge. "It's ours. We won't let it die."
Those returning to their homes in the next several weeks will do so at the risk of new flooding, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers director said Thursday.
Multiple breaches of the levees guarding Lake Pontchartrain will not be completely repaired until June, said Daniel Hitchings, a regional business director for the corps' Mississippi Valley division.
"Any storm surge would enter right back in," Hitchings said. "Don't fool yourself, there isn't any significant level of protection." Much of New Orleans is under sea level, and he said some sunken New Orleans homes flood after 2 inches of rainfall.
Hitchings delivered new projections about when parishes would be "unwatered." He said a lack of rainfall and the addition of new pumps had moved forward the dates when flooded regions would be completely dried.
Chalmette and St. Bernard Parish are expected to be dry by Tuesday, Orleans east and north Plaquemines by Sept. 30, Orleans Parish by Oct. 2 and south Plaquemines by Oct. 18.
Hitchings cautioned that "every drop of rain that falls inside the levee will have to be pumped."
In New Orleans, a fire at Pump Station Six, near the formerly breached 17th Street Canal levee, put two large pumps temporarily out of operation -- one variable that could lengthen the amount of time before the city is completely dry.
Tom MacKenzie, an official with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the agency was clearing 47 miles of clogged flood control ditches and canals in Bay St. Louis, Miss., where Hurricane Katrina dumped debris about half a mile inland. In their present state, the ditches could not handle severe rain, he said.
MacKenzie added that many wild animals were probably killed or displaced during the storm "if they weren't a climbing or flying creature."
The storm surge was "pretty tough to get away from for a 4-foot creature," he said.
In Houston, officials said efforts to find permanent housing for evacuees staying in four public shelters had hit unexpected snags, including a reluctance of some evacuees to rent housing in Houston until they were sure they couldn't return to New Orleans.
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\o7Riccardi reported from New Orleans and Powers from Baton Rouge. Times staff writers Stephen Braun in Washington, Tony Perry in Houston and Ralph Vartabedian in New Orleans contributed to this report.
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