(Press Release) Before Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the Gulf Coast, the Postal Service’s New Orleans Processing and Distribution Center was inundated with 6 million to 8 million letters each day. Katrina inundated it with 14 million gallons of water, destroying every critical building system.

On Friday, April 28, 2006 at 10 a.m. the U.S. Postal Service will officially re-open its New Orleans plant, the primary mail-processing facility for mail to and from Louisiana. The reopening of the New Orleans facility is the latest in a long list of actions the Postal Service undertook to keep the mail moving following one of the worst natural disasters in our nation’s history, including setting up a New Orleans Post Office and a temporary ZIP Code for evacuees sheltered at the Houston Astrodome and placing trailers outside destroyed post offices to enable people to get their mail.

Re-Opening Ceremony:
    Confirmed Speakers:
    *  John E. Potter, Postmaster General and CEO of the U.S. Postal Service
    *  Patrick R. Donahoe, Deputy Postmaster General and Chief Operating Officer

SOURCE U.S. Postal Service 4/26/06

Updated Press Release: Re-opening Ceremony of the USPS New Orleans Processing and Distribution Center (4/27/06)