Fact Check

Mail Delivery Affected By Hurricane Katrina

Has the USPS suspended mail delivery to some areas affected by Hurricane Katrina?

Published Sept. 2, 2005

Claim:

Claim:   The U.S. Postal Service has suspended mail delivery to some areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.


Status:   True.

Example:   [Collected by e-mail, 2005]




Our campus postal people were notified this morning that the US Post Office has ceased accepting mail for delivery in areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina until further notice.

There was a three page list of dozens of postal Zip Codes that are affected. If you are within the U.S. or work with an organization that would want to mail anything to the affected areas you will want to ask your local postal authorities for the following:

National Mail Service Updates

Weather Related Service Updates



Origins:   The unofficial letter carrier's motto may be "Neither rain, nor sleet nor snow nor dark of night shall stay this courier from his appointed rounds," but that credo doesn't encompass hurricanes and floods. The United States Postal Service (USPS) has to deal with the same logistical difficulties as everyone else, and so they've had to temporarily suspend mail delivery (or certain classes of mail delivery) to storm-stricken areas along the Gulf Coast. Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi are the states primarily affected; all USPS operations in Florida have now been

restored.

A full listing (by ZIP code) of the areas where mail delivery has been suspended can be found in the National Mail Service Updates section of the USPS web site.

The USPS has also established temporary locations for the distribution of Social Security checks to victims in storm-stricken areas.

Last updated:   2 September 2005


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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