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Rita's Legacy


GovernorAggie

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Good point, Jason. After all the times I have told people that the humidity keeps the temperature down, I forgot my own advice on that post. At 90 degrees, it will usually be in the 40 to 60% humidity range. At 90% humidity, it rarely will rise above 80 degrees.

But, the point I was making, that it is hot as hell after a storm leaves, remains valid. ;)

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Good point, Jason. After all the times I have told people that the humidity keeps the temperature down, I forgot my own advice on that post. At 90 degrees, it will usually be in the 40 to 60% humidity range. At 90% humidity, it rarely will rise above 80 degrees.

But, the point I was making, that it is hot as hell after a storm leaves, remains valid. ;)

It sounds like you have a great grasp of the interaction of humidity and temperature!

I agree about the "hot as hell" comment. Both Houston and Dallas are on target for the warmest (hottest!) September ever. Heck, several normally moderate cities hit 108 yesterday. I can't imagine going without A/C during any of this.

Jason

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At least we're supposed to be getting a cold front in a couple of days, and temps should drop about 10 degrees. Even at 9:00 this morning when I was walking the two blocks from the Bell MetroRail stop to my client I sweated up a storm. This evening the five minute wait for the next train was almost unbearable in direct sunlight.

I can't imagine the misery the thousands of people just to our east who have no air conditioning are going through.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hurricane Rita turned out to be a blessing in disguise for me. At the time it hit, I was unemployed and behind on my rent. I evacuated with relatives. Last week, FEMA deposited $2000 into my checking account. Yesterday they deposited $2010.70 for the damage to my residence (I live in a travel trailer in a Recreational Vehicle park). Now, not only am I caught up on my rent, I'm actually ahead!

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  • 1 year later...

New Orleans is a city on a knife's edge.

A year and a half after Hurricane Katrina, an alarming number of residents are leaving or seriously thinking of getting out for good.

They have become fed up with the violence, the bureaucracy, the political finger-pointing, the sluggish rebuilding and the doubts about the safety of the levees.

"The mayor says, 'Come back home. Every area should come back.' For what?" said Genevieve Bellow, who rebuilt her home in heavily damaged eastern New Orleans but has been unable to get anything done about the trash and abandoned apartment buildings in her neighborhood and may leave town. "I have no confidence in anything or anybody."

A survey released in November found that 32 percent of city residents polled may leave within two years. University of New Orleans political scientist Susan Howell, who did the survey, said more will give up if the recovery does not pick up speed.

In fact, figures from the nation's top three movers suggest more people left the area last year than came to stay.

"People are in a state of limbo. They're asking, 'Is it worth it for me to stay? Is it worth it to invest?' If you don't feel safe, from crime or the levees, and you see destruction every day when you drive, it becomes discouraging," Howell said.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin and Gov. Kathleen Blanco have urged residents to return under rebuilding plans with names like Bring New Orleans Back and Road Home. The mayor has warned the recovery will take a decade and urges patience.

But New Orleans' population appears to have plateaued at about half the pre-storm level of 455,000, well short of Nagin's prediction of 300,000 by the end of 2006. And in many ways, it is a meaner city than it was before the hurricane.

New Orleans ended 2006 with 161 homicides, for a murder rate higher than it was before Katrina and more than 4 1/2 times the national average for cities its size. After starting 2007 with practically one killing a day, the city has at least 19 slayings so far this year.

Nagin and Police Chief Warren Riley announced a plan last month to crack down on crime with checkpoints and the putting of more police on the beat.

For Jennifer Johansen, it is too little, too late. Johansen's neat yellow house in New Orleans Irish Channel is for sale, and the nurse, who returned to the city after Katrina, hopes to be in Seattle before spring.

Gunfire she heard until about a month ago made her uneasy about watching TV in her living room, and she yearns to live in a vibrant, safe city.

"I kept thinking, things would get better. But it just took too long for a response from the city, the mayor, the police chief, to address the increased crime," she said.

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4539118.html

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  • 1 month later...

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