New Orleans braces again, 3 years later

Officials' biggest fear by far was a direct hit to New Orleans, where post-Katrina rebuilding remains a work in progress. Roughly two-thirds of the population has returned and countless homeowners have used their savings to fix up their properties. But many homes still lie in disrepair, and the byzantine system of canals, pumps and levees that is supposed to protect the city from flooding remains incomplete.

"Although we have made strong strides in rebuilding our infrastructure, the levees have not been fully repaired and we have an $800-million budget gap to complete our sewage and water systems," Nagin said earlier in a statement.

Tourists nonchalantly strolled through the French Quarter on Thursday afternoon, and restaurants were filled with diners eating shrimp po' boys and catfish almondine as usual. But the city canceled some of the events it had planned for the third anniversary of Katrina, including a jazz funeral, and in neighborhoods hit hard by Katrina locals were apprehensively watching the Weather Channel.

A report published Thursday found that almost half of the deaths from Hurricane Katrina were people 75 or older, and drowning was the leading cause. Elderly residents may have disregarded warnings, feared abandoning their homes to possible looting, or simply didn't want to leave familiar surroundings, according to the study, which was published online and will appear in the October print edition of the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.

Everyone was making plans to get out of town this time -- so much so that hotel rooms were already impossible to find in Baton Rouge. Some New Orleanians reported having to search as far as Arkansas to find emergency lodging.

"I'm going to tell you right now -- this time I'll be going," said Tom Allen, 46, as he helped rebuild a house on a concrete slab in the Lower 9th Ward, a neighborhood devastated by Katrina that is still largely vacant. Last time, Allen admitted, he thought he could brave it out. He had to rescue his elderly neighbors when floodwaters rose and wound up with thousands of others inside the fetid Louisiana Superdome.

"No use lyin' to you: I've got no faith in these levees," added Allen's work partner, Leonard Jacobs, 75, who had recently rebuilt his own home in the neighborhood. "We're in a soup bowl right here."