Anxiety and Stress Permeate New Orleans

"While media here herald the rebirth of each icon and institution â€" beignets are being sold again at Cafe du Monde; another private school has reopened; horse-drawn carriages clip-clop through the French Quarter once more â€" much of the city remains abandoned and dark at night.

Entergy New Orleans has restored enough of its system to make power available to 120,000 of its 190,000 customers, but it estimates half that number has returned to the grid.

Few of the tens of thousands of houses that eventually must come down have been demolished, and it is possible still to drive through mile upon mile of badly damaged houses and commercial strips. The sight still has the power to shock.

...All this talk means nothing unless the federal government builds a levee system that can withstand a Category 5 hurricane. At which point the attendees nod, pack up their new pile of study guides and work papers, and head home â€" or to wherever they have managed to find temporary lodging.

Without question, the failure of Washington to commit to construction of a greatly enhanced levee system is cited most frequently as the root cause of the city's collective inertia."

Thanks to Ashwani Vasishth