January 17, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 16, 1426

NEW ORLEANS: The city nicknamed the “Big Easy” could now be dubbed the “Big Creepy.” For the handful of people living in hurricane-ravaged homes in the city’s most devastated sections, life in dark, desolate silence, with no neighbours to be found, can be unnerving.

“This always was a quiet street, but this is ridiculous,” said Charles Broussard, 59, who lives in a rented trailer parked at his Lakeview home, which was submerged under eight feet of water after Hurricane Katrina struck and nearby levees gave way. “At night, it’s just me”.

Since the Aug. 29 hurricane and flooding that followed, many neighbourhoods, from scenic waterfront on Lake Pontchartrain to the poverty-ridden Lower Ninth Ward, are void of residents, their houses uninhabitable.

Only a fifth of the city’s population of half a million has returned, most to areas that did not suffer flood damage and where services have been restored.

But the many neighbourhoods that suffered deep flooding remain without power. At night in the hardest-hit areas, where electrical power is still out, lights in a few houses signal that some pioneers are back. Some have successfully manoeuvered the arduous task of getting individual wiring reconnected, while others use generators.

Outside, there is utter blackness and quiet, except for the howls of stray dogs, where once there were streetlights, traffic and neighbors.

“When I’m here by myself, I don’t feel so safe. I hear things, and I’m constantly looking out the door to see if the gate is locked,” said Stacy Andrews, 43, who lives with her husband on the top floor of their flood-damaged home in the Seventh Ward.

“But I’d rather be here with a little light than be somewhere else, imposing on another family,” she said. “It’s good to be home.”

Even in the healthiest parts of the city such as the Garden District and Uptown, which did not flood, residents say they worry about safety and quality of life. Fewer than half of the city’s fire stations are fully up and running. Concern over the department’s response capabilities has made some insurance companies reluctant to extend policies to New Orleans homebuyers.

The ranks of the police force, its reputation sullied when officers were accused of looting and desertion in the post-Katrina chaos, have thinned.

Only about 200 hospital beds are available, leaving patients waiting an average of three hours in ambulances before they can be moved inside to emergency rooms, according to the mayor’s office.—Reuters