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US relief leader says New Orleans not ready
NEW ORLEANS -- With Tropical Storm Rita headed for the Gulf of Mexico and some residents set to return to dry parts of the city today, the head of the federal relief effort continued yesterday to question
Mayor C. Ray Nagin's timeline for reopening the city while some poor New Orleanians were starting to wonder how they would ever get back home.
Allen warned Nagin this weekend about tainted drinking water and other environmental contamination, Coast Guard officials said, giving the mayor test results that indicated biological and petroleum residue remained in once-flooded parts of the city.
Nagin, said Coast Guard officials, chose to ignore this. A spokesman for the mayor said Nagin stood behind a statement that said he was balancing safety concerns and the city's need to rebuild. Allen and Nagin were scheduled to meet today.
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