Culture of New Orleans Bureau of Justice Statistics from FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NOLA.com, and criminologist Dr.Peter Scharf { After Hurricane Katrina (2005), news media attention focused on the reduced violent-crime rate following the exodus of many New Orleanians. That trend began to reverse itself as people returned to the city, although calculating the homicide rate remained difficult when no authoritative source could cite a total population figure. In 2003, most victims in New Orleans were killed within three months of their last arrest. The homicide rate for the New Orleans metropolitan statistical area, which includes the suburbs, was 24.4 per 100,000 in 2002.
Civil engineering and infrastructure repair in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina New Orleans area was more than 80 percent unwatered. Corps officials estimated the overall unwatering effort, given normal seasonal rainfall, would be completed no later than early October, 2005. Tropical Storm Rita was being closely watched at this point. Additional traffic in the city in the past three days had caused some delay in traveling to work sites and moving emergency repair equipment. By September 21, 2005, the Army Corps of Engineers had begun closing two damaged canals at noon in preparation for storm surges associated with Hurricane Rita. The 17th Street and London Avenue Canals were closed with steel