On the Verge of Possible 2nd Katrina Disaster

NEW ORLEANS - Thousands of residents began returning to their homes Sunday in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie after local officials gave the all-clear. Many returned to find debris-strewn yards and homes without power or working sewers.

Meanwhile, federal and local authorities Sunday clashed over whether New Orleans was ready for residents to return, putting in doubt efforts to quickly resettle the devastated city.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, head of the federal recovery efforts in New Orleans, said the city lacked most of the basic services ? such as drinkable water, sewage and electricity ? that residents would need.

Tens of thousands of New Orleans? residents ravaged by Hurricane Katrina nearly three weeks ago remain housed in temporary shelters across the country, with many poised to return home when officials permit.

Mayor Ray Nagin has been encouraging many to return this week, but Allen said he was far more cautious after consulting with the heads of the Environmental Protection Administration and the Centers for Disease Control.

Allen also warned the city?s levees risked being breached again if another storm hit.

?If you bring significant amounts of people into New Orleans, you need an evacuation plan on how you?re going to do that,? Allen said during a round of appearances on NBC's "Meet the Press," FOX News and CNN Sunday.

?The announcement to move the repopulation ahead of any of those completed tasks in our view puts the city at risk,? he added.

Allen said he and the mayor planned to meet Monday.

In Metairie, returning residents found gas stations were open, along with a handful of coffee shops and burger joints. One pharmacy was busy with residents stocking up on supplies before heading home for the first time since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29.

?We thought with the influx of people, it might be a lot more challenging to get food and water,? said Joseph Dreher, 57, who stopped at the store for milk. ?A few days ago, you didn?t have a lot of competition.?

Rolita Smith, 38, stayed home through the storm. She was at the Rite Aid buying her cousin a bottle of whiskey for his birthday.

?It feels good to come out again,? she said.

A few miles away, crews were still searching flooded neighborhoods by boat and recovering the dead.

In Jefferson Parish, some 15,000 homes were still without power. Others still lacked sewer service as pumping stations continued to be brought online.

Several stores remained closed, plywood over their windows. Katrina?s winds tore off roofs and scattered tree limbs, signs and rubbish. The stench of sewage and rotting trash still lingered. But a coffee shop down the road had a steady stream of contractors.

Gloria Jee, 79, stood outside her son?s Metairie home, where she?s been staying for several days.

Her own home in the Lakeview section of New Orleans was destroyed by the flood and she has no flood insurance. She evacuated and headed for Selma, Ala., where she has friends, but got stuck in the storm and wound up in a Hattiesburg, Miss., shelter for two weeks. She said she kept her .38-caliber pistol by her side the whole time.

?At least I?ve got this,? she said, gesturing to her son?s house. ?I?m strong. And I trust in God. He will see me through.?

Nagin on Saturday defended his call for many citizens to return, saying the repopulation was vital to New Orleans? revival.

?We believe our reentry plan properly balances safety concerns and the needs of our citizens to begin rebuilding their lives,? the mayor said in a statement.

Katrina?s death toll so far stands at 883, with 646 of those in Louisiana, 219 in Mississippi and a total of 18 in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

Medical experts in New Orleans said they feared a ?second disaster? as returning residents suffered injuries amid the rubble, toppled trees and dangling power lines.

?The second wave of disaster is when you welcome the people back and the infrastructure of the city is not in place,? said Dr. Peter Deblieux, an emergency room doctor at downtown New Orleans? Charity Hospital.

Nagin has asked business owners in the historic French Quarter, the downtown business district and parts of the Uptown neighborhoods to return to the city that only days ago was nearly entirely under water after levees along Lake Pontchartrain gave way.

?Promoting the return of commerce to New Orleans and the region is key if we are going to realize our common objective: to bring New Orleans back,? Nagin said.

Allen was not the only official with doubts about the mayor's plans.

The mayor's homeland security director, Terry Ebbert, backed away from Nagin's promise on Friday, saying only that the city would assess the situation in the French Quarter from "day to day." Asked repeatedly whether that meant it could open sooner or later than Sept. 26, he declined to elaborate.

Ebbert said the city's recovery depends on getting businesses reopened, but he said the repopulation of the city was being done "in a progressive manner" to ensure the safety and health of residents. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was planned.

Saturday night, many lights were back on downtown and in the French Quarter as electricity was restored in some sections.

Business owners began the daunting task of cleaning up to reopen. Some said they could open as soon as they get a green light from city officials, while others said it will take longer. All agreed the French Quarter would only fully recover when tourists came back en masse.

?If you?re here for the next Mardi Gras, you?d never think there was a hurricane. The streets will be full again,? vowed Chellie Smith, who owns four bars in the French Quarter.

But his wife, Tricia, was less optimistic. ?I?d say two years before we?re back to the way it was,? she said.

Across the Mississippi River, residents of the Algiers Point neighborhood were relieved to find their homes largely undamaged by the the worst-ever natural disaster to hit the United States.

?We?re very thankful,? said Gene Harris, 64, as he and his wife and son inspected their 19th century house. Harris had brought a generator on his return but was surprised to find both electricity and running water in the home he fled nearly three weeks ago.

?I may use this opportunity to buy some properties,? he added, surveying the neighborhood. ?Because (Algiers) did not sustain any damage, property values will go up even higher.?

Nearer the levees designed to protect New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain on its northern border, search and rescue teams continued the grueling task of hunting for bodies in areas where flood waters stood only the day before.

?We found some human remains earlier today,? said Ernie Rhodes, a fire chief from St. Charles, Missouri, and team leader for the state?s task force, Saturday.

?We?re trained to do rescues, but this is different. But we?re not giving up,? he said, as one member of his squad crawled through the window of a house where water marks showed flood levels had risen to over six feet.