Sawt Falasteen - 'Numb' New Orleans grapples with horror of deadly truck attack

Several square blocks of the main entertainment district were blocked off after the attack, in which authorities said a US military veteran plowed a pickup truck into pedestrians, killing at least 15 people and leaving a tear in the heart of the city known as the Big Easy.

"We're all numb," Ken Williams, a Creole chef who grew up in New Orleans and moonlights as a candy seller in the city's usually raucous French Quarter, told AFP.

"Everybody is feeling shocked about what happened," the 65-year-old added. "Some people are going to just try and drink it off -- shake the fright off, you know?"

Williams said he was fortunate to have headed home about 1:30 am Wednesday, some 90 minutes before the carnage began.

Dwayne Perkins, 22, made the decision to stay out late, and said he saw the truck take off down Bourbon Street at high speed, leaving a trail of destruction.

"If the cops were doing their jobs last night, this would have never happened," said Perkins, who lives in New Orleans.

He admonished the police force for allowing a private vehicle to enter a street that is for pedestrians only during times of celebration.

His coping mechanism in the aftermath? "Getting drunk and drowning out the pain" of the tragedy he witnessed.

The French Quarter normally teems with celebrants seeking live music and exploring art galleries. It is also ground zero for the city's debaucherous nightlife and has become a world-renowned hub for rambunctious partying.

New Year's Eve was particularly busy, as celebrating crowds were boosted by sports fans ahead of the Sugar Bowl college football game which had been due to kick off Wednesday night in the stadium known as the Superdome.

- Lives 'at stake' -

Tens of thousands of fans of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Georgia had converged on the city, packing the French Quarter streets and bars ahead of the playoff -- which now has been postponed to Thursday night.

Sugar Bowl ticketholder Jill Davenport of Richmond, Virginia told AFP she and her family, fresh from watching New Year fireworks, had mulled a walk into the French Quarter to see live music.

"Frankly, better heads prevailed at 1:00 in the morning" and they went back to the hotel. "We're very fortunate we made that decision," she said.

"It feels like we have these tragedies more and more frequently, and it's scary," she said.

Davenport, 55, grieved for the relatives of those killed, but she also expressed concern for the bars and other businesses that rely heavily on tourism.

"It has a lot of economic effect on this city... For these restaurants and bars to all of a sudden shut down, that could be make-or-break for them."

Still, bars outside the roped off blocks where the FBI was conducting its investigation were drawing customers. Football fans strolled the streets. An accordion player's zydeco music livened up a nearby alleyway.

One street musician who asked not to be named said business had plummeted.

"We should be making money" at this time of year, he said. Instead, crowds have thinned.

Now he worries for his city, where he could never imagine anything like this deadly attack, "not in a million years."

Williams, the chef, said New Orleans "is going to have to change" by dramatically boosting its security operations to accommodate the hosting of major events including Mardi Gras celebrations, Jazz Fest and, on February 9, the American football Super Bowl championship.

"Too many people's lives are at stake," he said.

F.AbuZaid--SF-PST