Nagin: ‘Pray for us’

MINNEAPOLIS--New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told Oregon’s democratic delegates on Wednesday that New Orleans was a city that was still struggling with the affects of Hurricane Katrina, shortly before he had to leave the Democratic National Convention in Denver early to prepare for Hurricane Gustav’s landfall.

“New Orleans is a city in recovery,” Nagin told Oregon Democrats over breakfast. “We have many good things going on, but we have many struggle points.”

Oregon was one of only three delegations Nagin addressed before he had to cut his trip short. When leaving, Nagin said that New Orleans was a possible target for this next storm, and he estimated they only had a few days to react.

Nagin told the Democratic delegation that the city was still struggling to find affordable housing for longtime residents that lost their homes and wanted to start anew, that, three years later, 30 percent of residents that were disaffected had still not received aid from a federal grant program, and that many residents were still struggling with post-traumatic stress syndrome.

And as Gustav was building up in the Caribbean, he warned the Oregon delegation that New Orleans may not be ready to face another direct hit from a forceful storm.

“Our levee system is still not totally rebuilt,” Nagin said. “Pray for us.”

Republican Presidential candidate John McCain ordered the Republican National Convention to cancel everything at the afternoon and evening convention meeting except essential business, as Gustav was anticipated to make landfall sometime Monday morning.

Nagin spoke bitterly of the help the federal government, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, offered in 2005. But he also told the delegates that New Orleans was not left to fend for itself either.

“FEMA is not an agency you want to deal with,” Nagin said. “When Katrina hit us, it was the American people that stepped up,”