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Article: Water everywhere: operators in the Gulf Coast are trying to get back to normal after Hurricane Katrina. But what's 'normal' may be very different.(SPECIAL REPORT)
- Article from:
- American Drycleaner
- Article date:
- October 1, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Things are slowly returning to normal in the Gulf Coast, where Hurricane Katrina smashed ashore Aug. 29 with devastating 140-mph winds. Though up to 90% of property in areas of Mississippi and Alabama was destroyed, New Orleans was hardest hit as the levees and pumps that protect the below-sea-level city failed, inundating it with up to 15 feet of water.
"We always knew it could happen, and always hoped it wouldn't," says Chris Eichhorn, owner of Allyson Supply in Harahan, La., a nearby suburb. "It was out of our hands."
In the chaos that ensued, thousands were left stranded on rooftops or in poorly supplied, lawless shelters. The dead floated in waters ...