That's not surprising given the mangitude of the damage Katrina caused. I imagine entire sub-stations had to be rebuilt from scratch in many places. We had an ice storm in 1998 in eastern Canada. It was severe and many power mainline towers simply crumpled under the weight. In places, it was 4 weeks before power was fully restored. In the face of Mother Nature, we are like ants. We love to think we are advanced to the point where nature no longer rules, but that just ain't so.