SUNDAY SURVIVING KATRINA, REMEMBERING 9/11 EDITORIAL, A-13

.. .

$1.50 169th year No. 234 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2005 HURRICANE EDITION

KATRINA: THE STORM WE’VE ALWAYS FEARED Glimmers of hope emerge as water slowly recedes

STAFF PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER South Carolina emergency response team members Gene Yates, left, and Matt Sutherland begin the plodding, vile-smelling task of recovering the dead Saturday in a Meraux home, which shows a water line where floodwaters reached the second story. Search-and-rescue missions have shifted from saving the living to recovering the dead. See story, A-2 Drained but not defeated, pump crews offer optimism weeks, not months, the Sewerage tors who stayed on the job in Hur- & Water Board now dares to hope. ricane Katrina’s aftermath at Water is going down The problem is that water service, sometimes harrowing risks. a precondition for safe resettle- They briefly abandoned their faster than expected ment, may be months away, due to posts when the waters got so deep the extensive damage to S&WB that pumps’ motors fried and the mains and piping. possibility of drowning was real. By Gordon Russell But once rescued, most went back Staff writer The challenge of “dewatering” the city, to use the fashionable to work anywhere they could be First the good news: The city is term for pumping it dry, is being useful, and they have continued draining faster than expected, and met by a group of about 300 water much of it could be largely dry in board engineers and pump opera- See PUMPS, page A-9 STAFF PHOTO BY RUSTY COSTANZA The live oaks along Northline Drive in Old Metairie stand in 3 to 4 feet of flood water. Oaks can withstand standing water, but arborists are con- cerned about the effect of the toxic water on the trees. Nagin: Mistakes were Rooting for recovery: Live oaks made at all levels largely weathered the storm HIS BIGGEST FRUSTRATION WAS SLOW PACE OF RELIEF rugged, beloved live oaks are doing since Wednesday, said he plans what they do best: soldiering on and By Gordon Russell to return to New Orleans on Katrina can teach surviving. Staff writer Saturday. He said he will re- main in the Crescent City while But, they say, there was massive In a stark reminder of how lessons, arborists say loss of other types of trees throughout his family lives for the next six drastically Hurricane Katrina the metro area, and recovery will take months in Dallas, making occa- years. has affected the lives of New sional visits to his family when By Sheila Grissett Orleanians, Mayor Ray Nagin Staff writer Of the 720 live oaks that edge possible. stately St. Charles Avenue in soft has purchased a home in Dallas It’s not clear where Nagin will Despite the horrific blow dealt to shadow and shade, only four fell to and enrolled his young daugh- be living: His home on Bayou southeast Louisiana’s urban forest by Katrina’s winds, said arborist John ter in school there. St. John suffered massive flood- Hurricane Katrina and its filthy, wa- Benton, who regularly surveys trees Nagin, who spoke with The ing, the mayor said, although tery aftermath, local landscape pro- Times-Picayune by telephone fessionals say many of the area’s See TREES, page A-12 STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE from Dallas, where he has been See NAGIN, page A-15

INSIDE z Jefferson allowing some businesses to return, A-2 z Foundations of fishing industry destroyed, A-4 z Resilient city already on rebound, TP's David Meeks says, A-7 z Admiral takes helm of recovery effort, A-8

...