Last month, a group of prominent New Orleans women criticized members of Congress from Utah and five other states for never having sent even one member of their delegations to visit areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

That "Women of the Storm" group can now take Utah off its hate list. At the group's invitation, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, visited New Orleans and storm-damaged areas of Mississippi during a weekend trip.

"I always understood how devastating it was, but there is nothing quite like seeing it firsthand," Bennett told the Deseret Morning News Monday.

"It's clearly the worst storm we have ever had. The previous record holder was Hurricane Andrew," he said. "You would have to take all the damage by Andrew and multiply it by 10 to get the amount of damage this represents."

Bennett is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees how to divide the nation's spending pie each year. He said the federal government has spent or approved spending in the neighborhood of $50 billion for recovery from Katrina so far.

"They certainly have enough money for now, and didn't ask for any more money — for now — although they reserved the right to do so in the future," Bennett said.

Bennett said 150,000 to 250,000 people still have not returned to New Orleans. He said he saw entire wards of the city where all surviving homes are empty, and seem uninhabitable.

"It's eerie to see the same flood line on every house in the neighborhood," he said. "Floodwaters actually were higher than the rooftops, but the floods settled to a point 3 or 3 1/2 feet high and stayed there for months — and that is the mark you see."

He added that he is not sure whether such housing can be saved, "but my instinct is to bulldoze it and start over again."

Bennett said he is impressed by planning so far to rebuild the city, including promises that rebuilding will occur only where and how it makes sense to help avoid similar disasters in the future.

"They are in good spirits. They are determined to rebuild and make it work," Bennett said, adding he will keep an eye on progress and the needs of the area.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com