Where will they all go?
According to the 2000 Census, there are (or were) over 480,000 people in the city of New Orleans. With at least 80% of the city underwater, and a government-ordered evacuation, where will all those displaced people end up? Today, tens of thousands of evacuees began being bused 300 miles from the Superdome to the Houston Astrodome, but by early evening Houston officials said they had reached capacity, or as CNN.com's new screaming banner announced, "ASTRODOME: NO MORE ROOM!"
San Antonio may be next, and then where? Will there be refugee camps set up for months and months, while the Big Easy dries out and rebuilds?
The Boston Globe reports that rebuilding NOLA may cost the staggering amount of over $75 billion. And that's just part of the cost of the devastation wrought by Katrina. Along the Mississippi coast, entire towns were said to have been wiped out, and no one has a real clue on the loss of life there. The final tally of human suffering has yet to be imagined.
Take a gander at this frightful photo taken on August 31, from a Navy helicopter of the flooding around downtown New Orleans, including the Superdome. (Original at: http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=27553)
addendum: Dateline NBC is reporting that as many as 750,000 people are displaced and "on the move" right now.
Technorati Tags: New Orleans, Hurricane, Hurricane Katrina, Katrina
