NEW ORLEANS — Even as they prepared to welcome businesspeople back to their stricken city, New Orleans officials Friday said the flood-protection system that failed during Hurricane Katrina now is so weak that three inches of rainfall would trigger another deluge.
Damaged pumps would be unable to channel rainwater out of the city, which lies below sea level. "It would re-water, so to speak, so many areas that we have already emptied and are dry," said Terry J. Ebbert, a former Marine colonel who is head of emergency operations for New Orleans.
Businesses owners are scheduled to start returning to some of those dry areas today; residents will be allowed back into the western edge of the city Monday and possibly into other dry neighborhoods later in the week.
The city hopes to reopen the storied French Quarter Sept. 26, but officials continued to stress that the repopulation of New Orleans would be a delicate task -- and easily could be delayed or disrupted. The city is frantically trying to strengthen its levees and revive its pumping system, and much of New Orleans still lacks power and clean water.
As if on cue, it began to rain Friday evening, although the total was forecast to fall short of a level that would cause more flooding.
Downtown business owners will be required to enter New Orleans through two checkpoints; they have been urged to retrieve only vital records and leave before the 6 p.m. curfew. Police will hand out a two-page sheet of instructions to returning residents, who will be required to show identification demonstrating they have a right to be in the selected ZIP codes that are reopening.
Ebbert said that the city would proceed with its plan only if things go smoothly.
"We know it's very important to return our citizens to this city," Ebbert said. "But we know we have a responsibility as the city government to care for them."
In yet another reminder of the hazards facing New Orleans, environmental officials Friday strongly warned people to avoid all contact with the mud and muck left behind by receding floodwaters because it contains unsafe levels of petroleum products and bacteria.
"We're very nervous about an overwhelming influx of people coming in and the potential health threats that represents," said Mike McDaniel, secretary of Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality.
