In yet another setback we can blame on Hurricane Katrina, Natchez and other Mississippi towns have had federal road funds frozen this year.

Natchez was planning to use the Federal Aid Urban funds, which are administered on the state level and used to repair arterial roads, to overlay downtown streets that were missed in the last major downtown overlay project 15 years ago.

That means the city will have to hold off on repairs to some of our busiest downtown streets indefinitely.

Luckily, Natchez already has money in hand to pay for the long-needed Minor Street improvements, which are under way now.

But the suspension of FAU funds is another setback for Natchez&8217;s improvement needs.

City officials would be wise to look at other programs that could be affected by funding changes because of Hurricane Katrina &8212; and to begin looking at alternate sources of money, if there are any.

We have known since the first days after Katrina &8212; the most massive storm to hit the coast in recent memory and certainly the most expensive &8212; that she was going to affect us for years to come.

We can&8217;t do anything about the past, but we can look now at ways to compensate for Katrina&8217;s effects on our future.