Thousands Feared Dead: New Orleans Uninhabitable For Months

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- With thousands feared drowned in what could be America's deadliest natural disaster in a century, New Orleans' leaders all but surrendered the streets to floodwaters Wednesday and began turning out the lights on the ruined city - perhaps for months.

Looting spiraled so out of control that Mayor Ray Nagin ordered virtually the entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts and focus on the brazen packs of thieves who have turned increasingly hostile.

Late Wednesday, Tenet Healthcare Corp. asked Louisiana State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard to help evacuate one of its hospitals in Gretna after a supply truck carrying food, water, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals was held up by gunmen.

Nagin said there will be a "total evacuation of the city. We have to. The city will not be functional for two or three months." And he said people would not be allowed back into their homes for at least a month or two.

In Mississippi, bodies are starting to pile up at the morgue in hard-hit Harrison County. Forty corpses have been brought to the morgue already, and officials expect the death toll in the county to climb well above 100

Hundreds of people wandered up and down shattered Interstate 10 - the only major freeway leading into New Orleans from the east - pushing shopping carts, laundry racks, anything they could find to carry their belongings.

Tempers were beginning to flare in the aftermath of the storm. Police said a man fatally shot his sister in the head over a bag of ice in Hattiesburg, Miss.

In addition to the Astrodome solution, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was considering putting people on cruise ships, in tent cities, mobile home parks, and so-called floating dormitories.

Around midday, officials with the state and the Army Corps of Engineers said the water levels between the city and the lake had equalized, and water had stopped spilling into New Orleans, and even appeared to be falling. But the danger was far from over.

On the flooded streets of New Orleans, dozens of fishermen from up to 200 miles away floated in on caravans of boats to pull residents out.

HOUSTON (AP) -- The first busloads of weary refugees from New Orleans arrived early Thursday at Houston's Astrodome, where air conditioning, cots, food and showers awaited them.

Houston developers detailed plans for turning the rarely used 40-year-old Astrodome into a hotel last month not knowing that within weeks the Dome would be retrofitted into a temporary home for up to 25,000 hurricane evacuees.

Astrodome officials said it would only accept people who were stranded at the Superdome - a rule that was tested late Wednesday when an Orleans Parish school bus arrived, filled with families with children seeking shelter. At first, Astrodome officials said they couldn't come in, but then allowed them to enter for food and water.

Dr. Kevin Stephens Sr., in charge of the special needs shelter at the dome, described the Superdome and a nearby arena as a health department's nightmare. "These conditions are atrocious," he said. "We'll take trucks, planes, boats, anything else - I have to get these people out of here."

WAVELAND, Miss. (AP) -- Hurricane Katrina seemed to take a particular vengeance out on this town. The storm virtually wiped Waveland off the map, prompting state officials to say it took a harder hit from the wind and water than any other town along the coast.

The town of 7,000 about 35 miles east of New Orleans has been partially cut off because the U.S. 90 bridge over the Bay of St. Louis was destroyed. There is no power, no phones, no way out - and nowhere to go.

State officials would not confirm a death toll in the town, but Mayor Tommy Longo estimated that at least 50 residents died, The Clarion-Ledger reported. City Hall is gone, with nothing but a knee-high mural of a beach scene still standing.

MIAMI (AP) -- Carnival Cruise Lines said Wednesday the federal government has asked whether its cruise ships could be used as emergency shelters or help Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in some other way.

The world's largest cruise line said that although "to undertake such an endeavor would involve many complicated issues, we are actively taking a look at it."

Fox News is reporting possible new levee breaks.

NEW ORLEANS — The catastrophic flooding that has partially filled the bowl that is New Orleans may worsen in coming days because rainfall from Hurricane Katrina continues to flow into Lake Pontchartrain from north-shore rivers and streams, and east winds and a 17.5-foot storm crest on the Pearl River block the water's outflow.

That water has found several holes in the lake's banks — all pouring into New Orleans. A 500-foot breach in the eastern wall of the 17th Street Canal separating New Orleans from Metairie had poured hundreds of thousands of gallons of lake water per second into the New Orleans area before easing up yesterday. Two more levee breaches along the Industrial Canal had created a flood in the Lower Ninth Ward on Monday that spread south into the French Quarter and other parts of the city.

That break might last no longer than the next high tide. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said the water in his city could reach as high as 3 feet above sea level. Louisiana State University Hurricane Center researcher Ivor van Heerden warned that Nagin's estimates could be too low.

Sewage from a treatment plant that stagnated in the canal created enough sulfuric-acid fumes that nearby homes in Lakeview painted with lead-based paint turned black.

A list of charitable organization here.

See here ... here .... here .... and here for complete articles.

Comments

[DennisAOK]

pamy,

If you believe anything Sid Blumentahl writes, there's a bridge in Mississippi I want to sell you.

[FloridaPatty]

It ceases to amaze me how the people can make a political agenda out of a natural disaster.
unfreakinbelievable.

[joanne]

Gas in the Rochester, NY suburbs is 2.99 for lowest grade at BJ'S Wholesale Club [Sams Club is a little less] and 3.50 something at the Mobiles etc.
WWLTV.com is on line and somehow is coming from New Orleans.

[Dee]

An old man in a chaise longue lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered with a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.

“I don’t treat my dog like that,” 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. “I buried my dog.” He added: “You can do everything for other countries, but you can’t do nothing for your own people. You can go overseas with the military, but you can’t get them down here.”

This is quoted from someone dealing with the hardship mothernature has turned apon New Orleans.

Doesn't it make you think? How protected are we, relying on help from our government. There are thousands of people in our army that are still here in the US, but where are they when you need them? Well, they take their commands from non other than the commander and chief, our president. So who do we need to blame for the thousands still stranded? I have an idea...

[Dee]

An old man in a chaise longue lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered with a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.

“I don’t treat my dog like that,” 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. “I buried my dog.” He added: “You can do everything for other countries, but you can’t do nothing for your own people. You can go overseas with the military, but you can’t get them down here.”

This is quoted from someone dealing with the hardship mothernature has turned apon New Orleans.

Doesn't it make you think? How protected are we, relying on help from our government. There are thousands of people in our army that are still here in the US, but where are they when you need them? Well, they take their commands from non other than the commander and chief, our president. So who do we need to blame for the thousands still stranded? I have an idea...

[MHinUSA]

When anyone becomes 100 percent dependant on their government for everything - and you have a natural disaster like this - anarchy is inevitable - these people have depended on our government - and now they are angry that the government cannot fix this immediately. The tsunami efforts were weeks in the making - (I am not in no way comparing the two - one had warning the other none) There will be relief - but not immediate - My question is - where are all of the stars - and why are they not offering anything?? (if I have missed something and they are - I apologize for judging)

[TexasGal]

My question is - where are all of the stars - and why are they not offering anything?? (if I have missed something and they are - I apologize for judging)

Posted by: MHinUSA
A Concert for Hurricane Relief will air this Friday.

[joanne]

I believe that we as individuals have a responsibility to be prepared for emergencies for our families, especially in todays world. We all have the potential for dangerous weather and of course there is terrorism of any and all kinds dangling around.
A few days ago, in my Mondays mail, there was a 4 page insert in a Penny Saver from the State of New York, George E. Pataki, Govenor, Dept. of Health, titled "PLAN TO BE PREPARED". It does not use the terror word except by "other emergency".
Some of what is inside the paper covers Health Emergencies,Preparedness at Work, Stockpile Supplies, with a list of food and water, health and hygiene, household supplies/equipment and so on. Evidently this is National Preparedness Month for NY State. We never got anything like this before from any government agency. In fact, I use to do that kind of thing, prepare for whatever, with long lasting food, water, etc. etc. I think it might be a good thing to do again. There are books about all this and much info on the internet, with lists under all the catagories. I just wonder why they are sending this out now.

[dc]

Why are these individuals being called refugees? These are not displaced individuals from another country, but our own citizens. They are NOT refugees. Find another name for them please!!

[Northerner]

Why are these individuals being called refugees? These are not displaced individuals from another country, but our own citizens. They are NOT refugees. Find another name for them please!!

Posted by: dc | Sep 1, 2005 8:00:40 PM

Refugees = people seeking refuge. That is what these people are doing. So refugees is what they are. The fact that they are US citizens does not change that. The fact that they would not have been refugees if the US governments (present and past) had done their jobs in protecting New Orleans is another matter altogether. Like a previous post shows, they have only had since 1701 or so to prepare.

[seenthelight]

Category 4 Hurricane Determined to Strike U.S. -- Cont.
by Hunter on dailykos.com
Thu Sep 1st, 2005 at 10:28:22 PDT

George W. Bush was once known as the C.E.O. President, a term his handlers eagerly coined in order to convey that the country would from now on be run like a business. That quickly evolved into the less flattering Enron President... then the War President... now it's looking like we can all finally settle on one. George W. Bush: the Disaster President.

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

He honestly said that. If that brings up more than a passing twinge of familiarity, being a more than remarkable restatement of Condi Rice's now-famous assertion to the Senate panel -- then I suppose we shouldn't be surprised.

But it does bring up something that we joke about often, but apparently have never taken quite seriously enough: our President is an idiot. I don't mean an average, run-of-the-mill idiot. I mean an idiot who apparently, for the entire duration of his presidency, literally was paying absolutely no attention to even the most life-threateningly critical tasks of government.

The administration specifically cut the funds to fix these specific levees, in order to specifically divert that Corps money to Iraq, despite urgent warnings and predictions of catastrophic disaster if the levees were breeched. The administration specifically cancelled the Clinton-backed flood control program to preserve and restore the wetlands between New Orleans and the gulf, instead specifically opening parts of that buffer zone for development.

Nobody anticipated this disaster? It was identified by FEMA as one of the top three likeliest major disasters to strike America. (That link, one of countless stories, was from 2001, by the way.) It has been a major disaster scenario for years. Everybody anticipated it, which makes this single statement by George W. Bush possibly the most dishonest, lying, craptacularly false thing he has ever said in his presidency -- even surpassing his now-infamous State of the Union Address. Truly, this is President Bush's blue-dress moment.

And yet, funneling the money into Iraq was more important. You better bet your crapulent, lying, one-track, drink-addled ass that's a political issue.

He also said today:

"I hope people don't play politics at this time of a natural disaster the likes of which this country has never seen."

Oh, I'm touched. Utterly touched. After 9/11, the entire Republican Party went en masse to get Twin Towers ass tattoos. The Republican convention was a wholesale tribute to crass exploitation, the sets themselves designed to evoke the aftermath of the attack. Every domestic and international policy this administration -- no, this entire Republican government -- has produced has been heaved up before the public while waving the spectre of 9/11 as the catch-all vindication of every administration whim. Every tax cut, every civil rights issue, every budget cut, every budget expansion, no matter how tortured the logic must be, has some Republican senator standing on the Senate floor and proudly raping the corpses of that day as justification for their particular agenda item.

Oh, we've seen politicization of disaster. Every Republican campaign for the last four years has revolved around the politicization of disaster.

But Lord help us, George W. Bush is going to get the vapors if anyone asks him to explain his administration's active cuts of the very programs designed to keep New Orleans safe.

[joanne]

O'Reilly is really stirring things up [on Fox], criticizing Federal and local government big time. I can't always take him but this time he's right on [my opinion]. He is also giving the oil companies the riot act.

[Northerner]

Seenthelight indeed. It took a horrific natural disaster, but at least someone on this blog has finally realized that the US has been ruled by a total idiot for the last 5 years.
A complete failure at everything he did in his life before entering politics, only getting where he is because of daddy's friends, lying to the people he is supposed to serve, nepotism on a scale never seen before in the modern Western world, leading his country into a completely unjustified war and killing more than 1800 of his countrymen, and yet the people of the US re-elected him. I really didn't know what to think when that happened last year. Luckily I know many Americans, because if I didn't I probably would have thought that the entire country had gone crazy. Yes, I know that "only" 51% voted for him last time and that he should never have become president the first time, but still..... as I said, luckily my American friends have convinced me that it is not the entire country that has gone raving mad.

Seenthelight, great post, I really hope that more Americans will start to think like you do. The US and the world need someone in the White House who is capable, intelligent and (for a politician) honest. George W. Bush is none of the above, if anyone can find a reason to get rid of him before 2007 they would do the world (and the US) a great service. Of course, by "getting rid of him" I mean that in a political sense, I do not wish the man any harm besides being admitted to a psychiatric hospital, which he richly deserves.

[joanne]

Seenthelight....I must say that what you just expressed is how I have been feeling. Where is Rudy Gulliani? To tell the truth, I am sick and tired of most politicians.

[edward]

what happened?

http://www.citizencorps.gov/councils/

[edward]

It is not the government that needs to respond first. It is every American that can get there fast and bring in supplies .As far as our government. They drive people out in buses why not bring back water and supplies in those buses.
They fly out people why are they not flying back water. Drop food and supplies out of c140 cargo planes, they do it in other countries..
The American people is really the answer and I am surprised by our presidents speech earlier today.. Why did he not ask every American to go help now..
Instead they ask for donations... its always money. Send money to the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Well where is that army? People are dead.

It is never money if he would have asked the American people help would have already been there. I cannot believe i see the fact that people are dying in the street and women are being raped. No water. Looting.
I have to ask
What is the president thinking..
"Do not ask what this country can do for you.. Ask what you can do for your country"..
Mr. President employ the American people..

[George T.]

Northern and Seenthelight,

Please, please stop over for coffee. My treat.
You are both a blast to listen to. I can actually enjoy the conversation as it is real. I am finally smiling!
To know you exist out there is comforting, both of you!

[alert]

That mayor is certainly not Rudy and that governor is certainly not Pataki. Shame, shame on the local politicians who lined their pockets while their poor perished.

Posted by: proudredneck | Sep 1, 2005 7:19:24 AM

AMEN ! AMEN ! AMEN !
Perhaps the accepted corruption in the past might be looked at differently...or is that a dream?

[You-are-miserable]

The Chinese have much incomes than Americans, but they save 25% of their income. For someone to not be able to afford a bus ticket out of town is absurd.

Posted by: DennisAOK | Sep 1, 2005 9:11:30 A

What a nasty, braindead thing to say. Obviously, you know nothing about deprivation. Hopefully you'll never be on the wrong side of money and be in crisis.

[dc]

I was watching a video of the armed forces airplanes dropping something white, and saw it several times into the water. I kept trying to dertermine what it was and why it was being dropped into the water. Finally, I determined that they were dropping sandbags into the water to repair the levee. Hello, there are people that desperately need to be rescued. New Orleans is gone for now. I completely understand that the levee needs to be repaired, however, save the lives of our citizens first. It will be months before the city can be fixed.
SAVE THE PEOPLE FIRST. THEY ARE WAITING AND NEED YOUR HELP

[Muirnin]

Not sure I'm on the right spot to speak my mind.

IMO, a plan should have been "imagined", at least, considering this is a city below sea level.

Initially, New Orleans must have been constructed by folks that didn't know any better...but it's been maintained by folks that do. Shame on them for letting this to happen.

A storm that hit Galveston, Texas years ago was similar. However, Galveston, at that time did not have the tech advances that we do now. The incident at Galveston was a true natural disaster. This incident in New Orleans right now is an example of total ineptness following a natural disaster.

[Sandy]

Posted by: usmcmom | Sep 1, 2005 4:52:38 PM

DITTO
Excellent post
Sandy
Birmingham, AL

[*flo*]

The countries that have offered post-hurricane assistance: Russia,Japan,Canada,France,honduras,Germany,Venezuela, jamaica,Australia,UK,Netherlands,Switzerland,Greece,Hungary,Columbia,Dominican Rep.,El Salvador,Mexico,China,Israel,United Nations,United Arab Emirates, NATO,and Organization of America States.

Posted by: joanne | Sep 1, 2005 6:17:08 PM

Well that is pretty dang cool. We have friends :)

Posted by: usmcmom | Sep 1, 2005 6:27:57 PM

well isn't that amazing..."Beam Me Up Scottie"

[*flo*]

Like a previous post shows, they have only had since 1701 or so to prepare.

Posted by: Northerner | Sep 1, 2005 8:16:17 PM

PREPARE...as in a ineffective disaster plan for a natural disaster which lead to a national disaster. Unexcusable! ....think someone will take responsibility for the pandemonium these victims are experiencing?...sorta reminds me of hurricane Andrew...3 days before people got water

[!]

Posted by: anne-marie | Sep 1, 2005 3:31:53 PM
-----------------------------------------------
Your post makes me sick. Hope you go to jail for eveing saying someothing like that. Maybe someone should shoot you and put you out of your misery!!