By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – A priest from Buffalo, now living and working in New Orleans, describes the ongoing devastation left behind by Hurricane Katrina. Fr. Tony Rigoli is back for a brief Buffalo visit.
"It is really amazing, because basically things haven't really changed much in the last six months. They really haven't," Rigoli said.
Rigoli said the infrastructure is gone in New Orleans. He said streets are dark at night, as most of the city is still without electricity.
"That is why they have been unable to get the FEMA trailers going, because there is no utility," Rigoli said. "You can't put them on a property without a utility."
Rigoli is pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church located in the French Quarter of the city. His church survived, but he says seven others did not and will never reopen.
"Someone asked me what do you think New Orleans needs right now. What I really believe it needs more than ever is counselors -- people to come down and listen and talk about the pain of loss. We've gone through a real death experience."
Rigoli says 200,000 have relocated to nearby Baton Rouge. He says hospitals are slowly returning to normal, but not all.
"One hospital, Tulane, is now in the convention center. It's kind of a makeshift hospital," Rigoli said. "But the school system is pretty much depleted of students."
The city once had 60,000 public school children. Now, he says, there are just under 6,000.