Move Back Or Stay Put

The 2005 Hurricane season is not one Louisiana residents are ever likely to forget. Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans at the end of August that year, began an ordeal for tens of thousands of New Orleans residents that would see them living for several years in different cities all over Louisiana and the south. Some, unable to save much from the storm and lacking an insurance payout, were forced to take cash for jewelry in order to finance their new start elsewhere. Now, three years later, New Orleans is on the mend and former New Orleans residents living in Baton Rouge are finding themselves faced with a tough decision: move back or stay put?

Hurricane Katrina destroyed or flooded approximately 80% of New Orleans with a cesspool of dirty river water, sewage, and harmful chemicals leaked from overrun factories. It was too dirty even to be assuaged by wastewater management chemicals. However, the destruction and flooding wasn't just what kept New Orleans residents from going home, because given the choice, most people will rebuild in the immediate wake of a disaster. The real mitigating factor is that most of New Orleans is below sea level, and the hurricane had cracked or destroyed many of the levees that held back the Mississippi River.

Now that the levees have been repaired or rebuilt it is possible for homeowners to get into the wreckage and rebuild their homes. The government, in recognition of its botched disaster prevention and rescue initiative during the disaster, has provided some financial aid for rebuilding, while some private citizens have turned to charities or commercial mortgage lenders to finance their reconstruction. All this effort and the continuing lack of adequate lower-class housing means that moving back isn't an affordable option for some, especially if they're barely making mortgages or loans in Baton Rouge.

Despite these difficulties, New Orleans has recovered nearly two thirds of the population it had before hurricane Katrina. Unlike the unremarkable North Toronto real estate, which rarely inspires deep loyalty in residents, New Orleans residents love their city and their houses and if able, would return at the first opportunity. So the question for many is: do we love the city enough to return and rebuild our home at great personal expense? Some have fallen in love with their new Baton Rouge homes, so the answer would be no.

Even if the escapees were both financially able to relocate and sufficiently in love with New Orleans to want their old lives back, there still remains the fear factor. In 2005, thousands of people were killed by wind-whipped pieces of their own property and drowned by ocean and river water they used to admire. The levees they trusted with their lives broke. The government failed to protect them during and save them after. For many, the prospect of a return to Mardi Gras, blues music, and studio art tours just isn't enough to overcome the fear that it might happen again.

These are the issues facing displaced New Orleans residents. Each one has to make the decision for themselves: to stay or to go?