Though anticipating damage similar to three years ago, residents of greater New Orleans were largely spared devastation from Hurricane Gustav, which came ashore west of the city on Monday. Joining highly organized columns of evacuees, Jewish residents across the Gulf Coast headed to points inland. The five families of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries serving New Orleans relocated to the Birmingham headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch of Alabama.
Forced to Run Once More, Jewish Residents Return to Storm-Tossed New Orleans
Though anticipating damage similar to three years ago, residents of greater New Orleans were largely spared devastation from Hurricane Gustav, which came ashore west of the city on Monday. Joining highly organized columns of evacuees, Jewish residents across the Gulf Coast headed to points inland. The five families of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries serving New Orleans relocated to the Birmingham headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch of Alabama.
The exodus back home is expected to begin today, following a decision from New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin.
“By tomorrow, people will start coming back,” Rabbi Mendel Rivkin, program director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Louisiana, said yesterday. “Most of what was feared would happen didn’t happen at all. Aside from a loss of power, everything was fine. We’re happy that no damage was sustained and we’re looking forward to returning [home].”
Gustav, which in the days leading up to its Sept. 1 arrival, had been branded the “storm of the century” – spurring fears of another Hurricane Katrina that would inundate New Orleans – was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane shortly before its landfall near Cocodrie, La. New Orleans, however, was spared the wrath of hurricane-force winds.
abalama
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