Amid ruins, hope

If You took a metropolis famous for its canals—Amsterdam, say, or Venice—and tipped it violently to one side, so that half its nei...

If You took a metropolis famous for its canals—Amsterdam, say, or Venice—and tipped it violently to one side, so that half its neighbourhoods were flooded and the other half left to rot in the late-summer sun, you might approximate what Hurricane Katrina has done to New Orleans and its handsome, peeling, polyglot buildings.

Much if not most of the city north and east of the centre will need to be razed. But the dry parts of town—the entire French Quarter and much of the central business district—have suffered little more than downed trees and power lines. Only an eerie emptiness keeps certain blocks of Bourbon Street from appearing entirely normal.

The state of those neighbourhoods, which contain nearly all of New Orleans’ tourist attractions, is enough to prompt measured optimism about the city’s future.

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But this is a city whose appeal always had more to do with the tightly woven fabric of its residential neighbourhoods than with architectural icons. Nearly all of its neighbourhoods have escaped the crass commercial projects that have taken their toll elsewhere—partly due to the intractable poverty here, and partly to a preservation movement of long standing.

Katrina, finally, has managed to do to this city what the wrecking ball never could.

—LAT-WP

Katrina’s wake: Day 11

• Vice Admiral Thad Allen took charge of recovery operations as FEMA head Michael Brown was recalled to Washington.

• Hopes rose that the number of dead might not be as catastrophic as predicted. So far the official toll is 300 confirmed dead.

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• Officials said New Orleans was now ‘‘fully secured’’, with 14,000 troops on patrol to prevent looting.

REUTERS