NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - In a New Orleans still recovering from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the city safety plan for the next storm can be summed up best in two words: Get out.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spent at least $1 billion strengthening levees that failed so miserably when Katrina hit on August 29, 2005, but experts say it will take billions more to secure the city, which is mostly below sea level.
The storm killed at least 1,300 people and did an estimated $81 billion in damage, the most by a natural disaster in the United States.
They do not want a repeat of the anarchy after Katrina when people who did not evacuate died in the flooded city while crime and chaos reigned in the streets and in public shelters.
Officials said there will be no shelters open for the next storm because they do not want to encourage people to stay. Nor do they want them trying to ride it out in their homes.
The latest population estimates show that about 255,000 people live in New Orleans now, compared to 480,000 before the storm.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070520/us_nm/storm_neworleans_dc
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