Hurricane Gustav visited New Orleans but left it relatively unscathed

Eager to get back to the Big Easy, thousands of residents poured back into New Orleans following the city’s encounter with Gustav. But Mayor Ray Nagin was forced to back down from his own decree – that New Orleanians wait until checkpoints were officially lifted before returning – as traffic flooded the Causeway toward the city. By midnight, the surge was seemingly unstoppable for homesick residents, and eight hours later, Nagin gave up. “No one will be turned back if you have an identification card that you live in this area,” Nagin said in a radio interview. “This is not the best time for them to return, but so be it.” The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that “Nagin’s unexpected decision caused confusion among motorists and law enforcement agencies in both Jefferson and Orleans, who were helping manage reentry traffic.” There were several reasons that officials wanted to prevent residents from returning to New Orleans so soon after Gustav, including downed power lines, flooding, and no power or running water in some areas. Even at that, the destruction wasn’t even close to that of Hurricane Katrina three years earlier.