Hurricane Cleanup Continuing

CNN has a good interactive showing what services are restored and which areas are lacking in basic services. Lots of ideas abound, but little focus. Where have we heard that before? Oh yes. Rebuilding Lower Manhattan.

The mayor of New Orleans is creating one commission to oversee the task. State officials say they are best suited to handle the reconstruction. And some on the Gulf Coast and in Washington want to see a strong federal role to coordinate the huge undertaking and guard against misspending or corruption. (Watch: Where's the relief money going? -- 3:12)

"Right now, it's just like our leaders were dazed during the disaster. I think they're still a bit dazed with just the enormity of the situation," said Rolfe McCollister Jr., publisher of the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report.

"Normally, cities build over time," he added. "Now suddenly they say, 'Where do we start?"'

The disaster's scope has made it difficult even to bring federal, state and local leaders together to discuss the challenges, said U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, a Democrat who represents a huge swath of southeastern Louisiana.

In NY, officials quickly realized the importance of talking with one voice, and settled on a single group to oversee the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan - the LMDC. This is the model that New Orleans should taken. However, it appears that personal animus and ego is going to get in the way.

That said, the Louisiana officials cannot and should not overreach - asking for stuff that is completely unrelated to rebuilding. The $250 billion request is overreaching. It's also greedy and sure to raise the ire and eyebrows of anyone with a pulse.

A personal accounts of driving through Slidell:

Yesterday I revisited an area near Slidell that I saw the first day I arrived. Slidell may be the most devastated area that I've seen with my own eyes, second in devastation only to the lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, which I've not seen in person. I wanted to see what progress had been made in the more than 2 weeks since I had been there last. I was saddened to see that little forward progress had been made. People have only recently returned to their homes & businesses en masse and begun piling up debris left by the storm, miles of which line both sides of every street and consisting of the shattered exterior and water-spoiled guts of homes & businesses. The piles of debris are so large and numerous they crowd the street impeding travel in my semi-trailer and making it difficult and slow.

I came upon a section of stately, multi-million dollar homes/mansions on man-made water inlets, each with its own boat dock. Regardless of their size and stature, Katrina was equally unforgiving -- they too suffered major damage.

I drove south through Slidell on LA 11 where it connects to I-10 west toward downtown New Orleans. I passed the Michoud Rd. exit but there was no road onto which to exit, only swamp water and trees.

I witnessed a mile or more of car dealerships with hundreds perhaps thousands of new vehicles branded with rings of water stains from rubber to roof.

I saw a tree that must have been 100 years old, too big for even two large men to wrap their arms around, pulled from its roots and sent toppling into the 3-story apartment building it once proudly guarded.

I saw house after house, business after business, block after block, neighborhood after neighborhood, mile after mile of wind and flood damaged buildings, all too severely damaged for rehabitation any time soon.

This is an entire region that will not be the same, regardless of how much federal money is pumped their way. Some people may never return. Those that do face a daunting challenge of cleaning up and putting their lives back together.

The Gulf Coast outdoors industries, including tourism, fishing and hunting took a huge hit from the dual hurricanes.

Part of that high unemployment rate could be tied to the loss of outdoor sports, officials say. Fishing, hunting and boating had a total economic impact of $7.1 billion and accounted for 77,690 jobs in Louisiana in 2003, according to state estimates released this summer.

Commercial fishing was the biggest piece of the pie, accounting for nearly 30,000 jobs and $294 million in sales. Sport fishing generated $895 million in retail sales in 2004, according to the state, and supported 17,000 jobs.

Wildlife losses from Katrina and Rita are virtually impossible to calculate until people can get into the woods to survey the damage. But Roussel said the state lost $1.3 billion worth of the fish harvest because of Katrina alone.

UPDATE:
CC from Everything and the Kitchen Sink has found something rather curious. The City of New Orleans official website has taken down the comprehensive hurricane preparedness guide that was formerly located here. Why would they do such a thing? The site says:

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