The long road back: New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are on the mend, but recovering from the wrath of Katrina will clearly take years.

• Author: Bilyeu, Suzanne
• Position: NATIONAL

Although it has been more than a year since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, its aftermath is still difficult to grasp. Katrina killed more than 1,700 people in the Gulf area, left hundreds of thousands of others displaced, and caused an estimated $81 billion in damage.

All along the coast of Mississippi and Alabama, thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. In a flooded New Orleans, people huddled on rooftops awaiting rescue from their ruined homes. Dead bodies floated in the filthy water below.

Some 20,000 evacuees, most of them poor and black, crowded into the New Orleans Superdome, where conditions quickly became unlivable. Their misery was broadcast around the globe, raising questions about race and class in America. Government at the local, state, and federal levels was criticized for responding too slowly to the disaster.

Only two previous disasters have demolished major American cities--the Chicago fire of 1871 and the San Francisco earthquake of 1906; both occurred before the federal government became so involved in disaster relief.

When President Bush visited New Orleans on August 29, the first anniversary of the storm, he said: "I take full responsibility for the federal government's response, and a year ago I made a pledge that we will learn the lessons of Katrina and that we will do what it takes to help you recover."

That recovery is coming along slowly. New Orleans, once a city of 480,000, has lost about half its population. Small businesses--the restaurants and quaint shops that are so important to the tourism-driven economy of New Orleans--are in jeopardy. Business owners often cannot count on electricity, water pressure, or a feeling of safety. More than 40 percent of these morn-and-pop businesses are likely to disappear, says Timothy P. Ryan, an economist at the University of New Orleans.

SALVACING HOMES

Some 30,000 houses are being repaired or rebuilt around town, according to city officials; work may begin on thousands more this fall. Many residents still live in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Immediately after Katrina, federal officials predicted a vast diaspora of New Orleans-area evacuees all over the U.S. But recent post-office data, based on change-of-address forms from more than 270,000 households, provides a snapshot indicating that most evacuees stayed fairly close to home. (See graph above.)

Displaced New Orleanians have had vastly different...