nbc's jay gray is in new orleans where the city that was hardest hit is still struggling to recover. jay, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. a testimony to the violent power of the storm, the definitetation that still lingers here. katrina almost as strong as the unbreakable spirit of the survivors here. the storm's been gone for a long time now. the casinos are up and running again in mississippi. the excitement of mardi gras, and the surprise super bowl win of the beloved but beleaguered saints have all been reasons to celebrate along the gulf coast. still, the images and painful emotions from hurricane katrina linger. in the ninth ward, years of weeds and vines have taken over much of what the wind and water left behind. >> i don't really think that a lot of these neighborhoods are coming back. >> reporter: only 24% of the ninth ward residents there before the levees collapsed made their way home. the numbers are better city wide, new orleans is at 78% of its pre-katrina population. while the latest census data shows the population in biloxi has dropped every year since

jay gray has the latest from venice, louisiana. >> reporter: this afternoon, engineers finished pushing in cement to seal the well from the top. now there's a growing sense the flow of oil may be finally over. >> this is not the end but if will assure us there will be no chance of oil leaking into the environment. >> struggling fishermen meeting in alabama raise it a bit differently. >> the area to the west is dead. >> reporter: for many, the problems and frustration from almost three months of crude pouring into the gulf are still very much alive. >> i'm excited about the well being capped. but my neighbor who's fixing to lose his home and close his business, it don't mean a whole lot to him. >> there continue to be lingering questions about how much oil is still in the water. government scientists say 75% of the 207 million gallons from the spill is gone now. but those who worked and live on the water aren't so sure. >> like they're jumping the gun way too quick. >> they worry there's still crude weighed down by chemical dispersants below the surface. >> they should have never put the

jay gray has more. >> reporter: as he traveled to new orleans to mark the fifth anniversary of katrina, president obama made a promise to the gulf coast. >> my administration is going to stand with you and fight alongside you until the job is done. >> reporter: and five years later, so many are still fighting to finish that work. >> just another day. we just got to come back here and finish cleaning up the mess. >> reporter: others struggle to deal with the scars that just don't seem to heal. new orleans mayor mitch landrieu laid a wreath at the memorial to 100 still unidentified victims of katrina. while in the ninth ward, mostly still ravaged, a traditional second line procession marched acrop across the bridge, t where hundreds were stranded after the storm. across the spot where hundreds were stranded after the bridge. survivors returned to remember those lost. >> lawrence sanders. >> reporter: and to honor their memories by continuing the long struggle to come back. >> what we went through and where we are today. we're a whole lot better. >> reporter: though most agree, there's st

jay gray has details from venice, louisiana. >> reporter: it was a picture-perfect day off the florida coast this morning. the first family sharing the gulf waters with a school of tortoise before ending the day with a scoop of ice cream. the president hopes his weekend visit will convince tourists to come back to the gulf coast. louisiana shrimpers are making their way back out on the water. >> they say the water is clean. the seafood is safe. all we can do is try. >> reporter: as captains prepare to lower their nets, many for the first time since the well collapse, they must deal with the same problem they faced for almost four months here. uncertainty. fears over the safety of the seafood have filtered down now from consumers to the distributors who still haven't figured out how they'll handle the catch. >> when we come in tomorrow we'll find out whether we'll be able to sell the shrimp we catch. as for the price we'll get for the shrimp, no one knows. archlths the spill site, an armada of ships vournd the well as they continue pressure tests trying to figure out in f the bottom kil

jay gray reports from florida. >> reporter: the president, first lady, and youngest daughter sasha landed in panama city this morning to begin a short working vacation along the gulf coast. >> the governor and the mayors and others invited us down to enjoy the beach and the water. >> reporter: but first, he sat down to talk recovery with officials and business owners from the region. the mission of this overnight stay clearly to signal that gulf coast waters, beaches, and businesses are open and safe. >> the gulf is open for business. that the beaches look great. and the restaurants are good. >> reporter: it is a message that echoes in south louisiana, where fishing waters have reopened. but commercial fishermen, shrimpers and charter captains are still struggling to convince many that their catch is clean. with no customers, charter captain james wilson spent his morning catching dinner. and says he has no worries about what he'll eat. >> our walleye fisheries, they've done over 1,000 tissue samples and all our fish are fine, safe to eat. the main thing is getting the big misconception t

jay gray reports from venice, louisiana. >> reporter: this weekend, in marinas across south louisiana, a blessing of the fleet. >> asking god's protection on our waterways as well for the restoration, for the cleanup efforts. >> reporter: the entire gulf coast could use some divine intervention right now. crews have cleared away debris from the bottom of the primary relief well. a process that's delayed the start of the static kill. >> that's could come as early as tomorrow night or into tuesday. it will depend on the final testing with the q4000 and the systems will be needed to inject the mud in there. >> reporter: mud and cement that could permanently seal the well. on the water's surface, the search for oil continues. along with concern that the crude is hiding below. weighed down by chemical dispersants. massachusetts representative ed markey issued a statement this weekend blasting bp and the epa for using those dispersants. it says in part bp often carpet bombed the ocean with these chemicals and the coast guard allowed them to do it. incident commander thad allen pushed back.

jay gray, new orleans. >>> this is eric butler.e has held on to everything that he had left after katrina, and that is just a little bit of mardi gras beads and a childhood photo. butler has come a very long way. he is now a youth counselor in oakland, but when the levees broke, his family was among those stranded on rooftops for three days, trying to avoid the floodwaters. five years ago, butler was desperate and hungry. and with no sign of help coming, he jumped into the water, and swam to a store to find food for his family. >> as we're swimming, there's people on roofs, and i can see people that i know or that i have seen before. some of them elderly, and they're begging for help. >> reporter: butler does have three children of his own, but while he remains here in the bay area, the rest of his family has returned to the south. though his family says it's just not the same. for him, oakland and the bay area will be home, he tells us. >>> brian williams is hosting a special edition of "meet the press" from new orleans coming up

jay gray is in gibson, louisiana with the latest. >> reporter: after a round of tests on the floor of the gulf admiral thad allen says work isn't quite finished yet. >> we're trying to assess the options we have. >> reporter: engineers say the static kill worked so kel that the mud and cement likely went down into the reservoir below the floor of the gulf and up through the area between the pipe and casing called the anulyst. as much as a thousand barrels are trapped. there is concern it could force it out and into the gulf. this morning engineers are still looking for a fix. >> we could even put another blow-out preventer on because we've sealed the well at this point. that would take a longer period of time so. we're walking through the risks and the time associated with that, we have weather out there. it's the same southwest circumstances we dealt with almost every step. >> reporter: louisiana governor wants to make sure they understand it's not the last step in the recovery. >> the progress they made with the well is good news for our state but this is a marathon, the fight is no

jay gray, nbc news. >>> well, the saints players active today, so were the 49ers. >> shut down a little early today. they wanted to keep going but the coach had other ideas. trying to keep things fresh, also center eric heitmann will be out for a while. a niners rookie with bay area family ties trying to catch on with the team. his story is coming up. >>> good evening, we have found the heat tonight. it's on the south bay. a live look atanha'll ve we'll have details when 90s may return coming up. >> this saturday, a piece of east bay's history will spring back to life. the 1926 plunge closed nearly ten years ago, as nbc bay area shows us, the beloved swimming pool is diving into action. >> reporter: back in the early 1900s, before tv and internet, people used to swim and would pack swimming palaces. while many of those early municipal pools didn't survive the changing world, one did. >> everyone swam here. everyone learned how to swim. >> reporter: when he was just a boy growing up in point richmond, david vincent whied away the hours at the plunge. >> the school bus would take us to th

that's the latest from new orleans, i'm jay gray. laura, back to you. >>> now christie smith is live with an exclusive story of survival and heart break. >> yeah, good morning to you. a man named eric butler in oakland literally told us he thought he might die in the hurricane. you might think after surviving such a horrible ordeal that life would be downhill from there. but he tells us it's quite different. first you're in shock after the whole thing, then you realize you have to start over and start over with nothing. that's what he told us he had to survive on his rooftop in louisiana for three long days with family members. 17 of them. and was only able to get down after the water receded. they evacuated here to oakland, a place they had never been before. estimates are at least a few thousand survivors arrived in the bay area around labor day, 2005. many of them have returned home, but for butler it's been quite a long road here. >> the past five years with -- it's especially difficult because now my family has left and they lef

jay gray has more from lafitte, louisiana. >> the first family, and president, spending his weekend as pitch man for the region, still dealing with the effects of the oil spill. >> the governor and the mayors and others invited us down to enjoy the beach and the water. to let our fellow americans know that they should come on down here. >> it is a message that echos here in south louisiana, where fishing waters have reopened, but commercial fishermen, shrimpers and charter captains are still struggling to convince many that their catch is clean. with no customers, charter captain james wilson is fishing for himself these days. >> we went out and caught about 20 reds and kept five, just for dinner. >> he says conditions on the water right now are just about perfect. >> our water is nice and pretty and clean. the beaches at grand isle is beautiful. the fish are healthy. and they're practically jumping in the boat, because there snow no fishing pressure right now. >> pressure is still a concern at the leak site. admiral thad allen has issued an order requiring more pressure testing determ

nbc bay area's jay gray shows us how people will be mashing that anniversary. >> reporter: even now, five years later -- >> help us. >> reporter: -- the images are still overwhelming. the emotions still raw. >> traumatized us, just as sure as if we had gone to combat and it seemed destruction, death. we've all been traumatized by this. >> reporter: trauma driven by the wind and rain as hurricane katrina made landfall along the missisppcoi ast. >> we came back to just absolute devastation. >> reporter: an empty slab and littered pool was all that john had left. >> and i made up my mind right off the bat that i was going to rebuild the house exactly as it was. >> reporter: five years later, he's done just that, down to the color of the paint and antique furniture inside, something so many of his neighbors can't or won't do. >> the housing has not come back. nowhere near. >> reporter: the latest census data shows the population in biloxi has dropped every year since katrina and is down more than 10% overall. >> now everything kind of is at a standstill. not a lot of progress going on. >

jay gray, nbc news, venice, louisiana. >>> still ahead tonight the skinny on bacon and what's behindharp spike in prices. >>> and the olive oil controversy. the research that has led to a lawsuit in california. >>> and good evening. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. another cool summer day with only 75 in san jose and just 63 in oakland. it's been decades since we've been this cool this long.avai ds n we'll have details on when it may warm, comip. uwe >>> hip hop star wyclef jean has filed papers to run for the presidency of haiti. jean traveled to port-au-prince today to file that work. he wants to help his country he says after the devastating quake in january killed some 300,000. there could be a hitch. he left haiti when he was 9 and he may not qualify under the country's residency laws. >>> some prominent chefs are cooking up a firestorm over the extra in extra virgin olive oil. the cooks including one from bravo's top chef are suing olive oil distributors and retailers in california claiming many oils are mislabeled as more expensive grades. the lawsuit comes after a recent

nbc bay area's jay gray is in venice, louisiana, with the story tonight. >> reporter: right now, a crucial time on the floor of the gulf p gulf, using the injection test. >> it's designed to establish communication or a path for fluids to throw from the q 4000 down to the well. second to be to establish pumping rates. >> if it works the team also begin the static kill, pumping the thick mud through the containment trying to dry the oil back down below the seabed. even then, the fight which has already lasted 105 days won't be over. >> when we're done the static kill, we'll have some choices to make. >> the most important choice, how to send in cement to permanently seal the well. >> decide whether, is it beps based on what we observed during the static kill, to cement the well in a similar fashion that we did with the static kill? or is the best way to wait and intersect it with the relief well and cement it from there? >> the primary relief well, long considered the ultimate fix, will be ready in a couple of weeks. but even when the cement flows and the oil does not, there will still be p

that's where jay gray joins us what signs of devastation can you still see here? >> reporter: as you can see behind me there are homes here still littered and left exactly like they were when the water receded. the only difference is the weeds and vines have taken what that water did not five years ago. people understand it was a devastating storm, they knew it as it made landfall on the mississippi coast and then as the flood walls and levees gave way, they knew this would be a long and difficult process, but few knew it would be this long and this difficult. there's a lot of frustration in the area, a lot of people who hoped to be further along in the recovery, especially in the ninth ward. one of the hardest hit areas from katrina. less than a quarter of those who lived here before the storm have come back since. and that's making it tough for those who want to bring the community back to get traction. it will be a tough go for a long time. but the ones you find down here, working to bring it back, say they are committed to the effort and they are not going awa