Desolation row: The betrayal of New Orleans

Jennifer Johansen's belongings have been safely packed up by the movers. She has said goodbye to her friends. This morning she will close the door on her yellow-painted house, take a taxi to the airport, and leave New Orleans for ever for a new life in Seattle.

Johansen's story is the story of the city. It is not the whole story of course: no single narrative can weave together the multiple layers of history and culture, and certainly not the current trauma besetting this remarkable place. But in its own way, her experience provides an insight into the many challenges confronting New Orleans 18 months after Hurricane Katrina.

Johansen is far from alone in making the decision to quit the city. Just quite how many people have decided to leave, having initially tried to rebuild after the storm struck, is unknown. But there are numerous anecdotes of people who, having struggled long enough and hard enough to put their lives back together, could not summon the will to remain. One recent poll suggested that as many as a third of the city's residents are considering leaving within the next two years. As it is, its population is barely half of what it was before the storm struck.

"It's been a gradual thing," says Johansen, quietly reflecting on her decision to leave as she stands in the kitchen of her carefully decorated home, in a part of the city known as the Irish Channel. "There would be crime, then it would go down, then there would be more.

from the Independent (UK)