美国国家公共电台 NPR After Tornado, Families In New Orleans Begin Rebuilding Once Again

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

In New Orleans, hundreds of families are trying to put their lives back together after a devastating 1 tornado 2 earlier this week. The tornado tore up homes and businesses in New Orleans East, a predominantly black neighborhood that was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. Tegan Wendland at member station WWNO reports.

TEGAN WENDLAND, BYLINE 3: Aretha Conley and her husband saved for years to buy their little house on Read Boulevard. They each worked two jobs, and they took out loans. Her favorite place in her little single-story home is the backyard.

ARETHA CONLEY: I love to barbecue. I love to give parties.

WENDLAND: But she's tired today. The backyard is decimated. Tuesday's tornado smashed down her fence, and pieces of her neighbor's house are stuck in a tree. Half of her roof is gone, the windows busted 4 out. She's thankful no one died. As cleanup workers drive loaders through the streets scooping 5 up debris 6 and downed trees, she takes stock of the damage.

CONLEY: Got up Tuesday, bring my granddaughter to school, going to work, thinking everything's going to be OK and come home to this.

WENDLAND: When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, her house took 4 feet of water. She and her husband fixed 7 it up and stayed put. They loved the neighborhood. There are a lot of people like her here. It's working-class and about 95 percent black. And that's something State Senator Wesley Bishop 8 is proud of. He was at an emergency shelter where victims are sleeping on cots, picking up hot meals, water and cleaning supplies.

WESLEY BISHOP: Basically our black middle class, you'll find a lot of folks concentrated in New Orleans East - so mostly homeowners, things along those lines who just worked extremely hard.

WENDLAND: But life changed after Katrina, and a lot of people moved away and never came back. And many businesses in this part of town never reopened. And that makes life hard for people like Conley.

CONLEY: Like the weekend, I want to go out to eat. Me and my husband, we have to travel, you know, so far to go to eat because there's nothing out here.

WENDLAND: There's a Wal-Mart and some strip malls but not much else. And Bishop resents that.

BISHOP: People shouldn't have to go outside of this area to try to get the basic goods and services that they need.

WENDLAND: He's worried now after the tornado because he says his district didn't get enough help from the government following Katrina. They got a few nice things, like help rebuilding schools and this big beautiful sports and recreation facility now overflowing 9 with displaced families put to use as an emergency relief center. Conley is staying with her daughter for now. They're all hoping it'll be declared a federal disaster.

CONLEY: I hope it's better this time. I hope it's real better.

WENDLAND: And she hopes this time it's different, that this time, New Orleans East gets the long-term help it needs. For NPR News, I'm Tegan Wendland.