Who can blame them.

The aftermath of Katrina on the Lousiana coast is still being felt with thousands of homeowners deciding not to rebuild in the towns and parishes along the coast. The devestation has been so great that whole towns are just not even coming back. The federal government has offered extensive funding to get residents to rebuild, but many are deciding to take the insurance money and sell the land back to the state instead of rebuilding and restarting their lives in towns that may be gone for good.

The AP looked at applications to the federally funded Louisiana Road Home program, which dispenses up to $150,000 per homeowner to rebuild or sell out to the state. Nearly 98,000 people have applied so far. Two-thirds of all applicants said they want to rebuild their damaged properties, while more than a quarter have indicated they want out or can’t decide what to do.

But in dozens of towns and neighborhoods, particularly those closest to the coast, the percentages of homeowners on the fence or on the way out are higher than average, with as many as two out of three homeowners not committed to rebuilding. The areas, 31 ZIP codes in all, include several heavily damaged New Orleans neighborhoods such as Lakeview and the Ninth Ward.

Michael Kurth, a McNeese State University economics professor who has done research for the Louisiana Recovery Authority, said he is not surprised. “With the scale of destruction that occurred in those coastal areas, it wasn’t a matter of `Let’s return in a month or in two months,’” Kurth said. “In a lot of cases, you couldn’t go back to what was there before. It’s just not there.” via FOXNews.com

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