WASHINGTON – President Bush on Monday questioned the plan to allow residents to return to New Orleans, saying there are too many concerns about additional flooding and safety in the city.
"We want this city to re-emerge. As I said, I can't imagine America without a vibrant New Orleans. It's just a matter of timing," Bush said. "We're cautious about encouraging people to return at this moment of history."
Bush spoke as residents began trickling back into the city Monday morning as part of a reopening plan by Mayor Ray Nagin one ZIP code at a time. Over the next week, the Uptown neighborhood, the Garden District and the historic French Quarter are set to reopen to residents and businesses at Nagin's invitation, bringing about one-third of New Orleans' half-million inhabitants back.
Bush said there is "deep concern" about the possibility that Tropical Storm Rita, which was headed toward the Florida Keys, could head into the Gulf of Mexico and drop more rain on New Orleans. If that happened, he said he has been warned that the city's levees could not hold and would be breached again.
In addition, Bush said there are significant environmental concerns. New Orleans still lacks drinkable water, and there are fears about the contamination levels in the remaining floodwaters and the muck left behind in drained areas of the city.
"We have made our position loud and clear," Bush said. "The mayor is working hard. The mayor – you know, he's got this dream about having a city up and running, and we share that dream. But we also want to be realistic about some of the hurdles and obstacles that we all confront in repopulating New Orleans."
The president said he "absolutely" would intervene personally on the matter with Nagin, and that he meant for his public comments to make sure that the mayor gets the point. But he stressed that Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, head of the federal government's hurricane response who was delivering the concerns to Nagin in person on Monday, was the administration's primary voice.
"The mayor needs to hear him. So do the people of New Orleans," Bush said.
Earlier Monday, Allen said it could be days or weeks before residents could safely return because of the lack of potable water, 911 service and other problems.
"I've been hesitant to attach an exact date to it," Allen said on NBC's "Today" show. "What we'd rather do is establish measures of effectiveness – when you have potable water, when the 911 system is restored ...." He also cited concern about the effect on the city of another storm and whether residents could be evacuated.
"Whatever population goes into New Orleans right now, there has to be an evacuation plan on how to get them out" in the event of another hurricane, Allen said on CBS' "The Early Show."
"We have a weakened levee system and that makes it more important that we have a good plan with the city on whatever population is there, that we know how to evacuate them if we have a violent weather event," Allen said.
Bush, flanked in the Cabinet Room by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, also urged local governments to cooperate with federal officials in a comprehensive, cross-country review of emergency preparedness.
"It's a national security matter for people to review emergency plans," Bush said. "It's important."
And he waded into an issue that is bedeviling the effort to begin rebuilding devastated communities along the Gulf Coast, particularly in Mississippi where wind damage is the major problem: the massive task of ridding a 90,000 square mile of an astounding amount of debris. Bush said that there is seems to be confusion about who is responsible for debris removal, and that he wants it sorted out immediately.
"One of the things that I heard loud and clear on my travels down there was that people are concerned about red tape," Bush said. "There are piles and piles of homes and buildings just in rubble."
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