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Updated: 6:16 PM Sep 4, 2005
Federal Official Says Thousands May Be Dead In Hurricane’s Wake
A federal official said Sunday that the death toll from Hurricane Katrina may be in the thousands as crews in New Orleans began to turn their attention from the living to the dead. Posted: 3:58 PM Sep 4, 2005 |
Federal Relief Convoy Arrives
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Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt Sunday became the first federal official to say thousands could be dead in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Leavitt told CNN's "Late Edition" it's a "sickeningly difficult and profoundly tragic circumstance."
Things are so bad in New Orleans that the city's mayor says two of his emergency personnel have committed suicide and others are virtually traumatized.
The city’s convention center and the Superdome have been evacuated, but survivors are still arriving at both locations seeking help.
Officials say 3,000 to 5,000 people were treated in an airport terminal turned into a triage unit. About 30 died there.
In a late development Sunday, police confirmed that they shot eight people carrying guns on a New Orleans bridge, killing five or six of them.
Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley says the shootings took place on the Danziger Bridge, which connects Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.
Riley had no other details, but a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the people the police shot had fired on contractors who were walking across a bridge on their way to launch barges into Lake Ponchartrain to fix the 17th Street Canal.
It was initially reported, incorrectly, that police had fired on the contractors.
Authorities are turning their attention from rescue operations to the horror of finding and gathering corpses. So far, there are 59 confirmed dead.
Crews are finding bodies trapped in attics, floating in the streets, and abandoned on highways.
Mayor Ray Nagin says there have been a couple of suicides among his traumatized firefighters and police officers.
Nearly a week after Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi continues to suffer, often in silence.
The death toll there has risen to 160 and more bodies are feared trapped under the wreckage left by the hurricane.
The state felt the full force of the storm but the destruction and misery in Mississippi have been overshadowed by the catastrophic aftermath in New Orleans.
"Until people see it on TV, they don't think it's real,” University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato said.
An editorial in The Sun Herald newspaper in Biloxi-Gulfport faults planning and it says the people of South Mississippi aren't asking the state and nation to make life more comfortable for them, but "to make life here possible."
President Bush visited Red Cross headquarters in Washington Sunday and said the world saw a "tidal wave of disaster" when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Now, he says, it's about to see a "tidal wave of compassion."
Mr. Bush says some 5,000 Red Cross volunteers are hard at work on Katrina relief. He notes the organization is often first on the scene with food and shelter.
After speaking with Red Cross volunteers, Bush said the response has been good so far, but added, "There's more that needs to be done."
"This country is coming together to help people who hurt,” he said, as he urged Americans to make cash donations to the relief effort.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: HURRICANE ASSISTANCE WEB SITES
Click Here For More Information About Waco Shelter Plans And Resources
Click Here For More Information About Killeen Shelter Plans And Resources
Click Here For More Information About Temple Shelter Plans And Resources
Click Here For OneStar Foundation Web Site
Click Here For Information On Disaster Relief Appeals From The Better Business Bureau
Click Here For Reports On National Charities From The Better Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance
Click Here For Charity Tips From FEMA
Click Here For American Red Cross Web Site
Click Here For Salvation Army Web Site
Click Here For Second Harvest Web Site
Click Here For Catholic Charities Web Site
Click Here For National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster Web Site
Click Here For Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Web Site
Click Here For United Methodist Committee On Relief
Click Here For Episcopal Relief & Development Web Site
Click Here For Information On Southern Baptist Relief Efforts
HURRICANE INFORMATION RESOURCES
Click Here For GulfCoastPhotoFreeway.Com Missing Persons Web Site
Click Here For Katrina Shelter Web Site
Click Here For Missing Kids Web Site
Click Here For Hurricane Refugee Contact Web Site
Click Here For WWL-TV Survivors Web Forum
Click Here For National Hurricane Center Web Site
Click Here For National Weather Service Web Site
Click Here For Hydrologic Information Center For Information On River Flooding
Click Here For Federal Emergency Management Agency Web Site
Click Here For Louisiana Homeland Security Web Site
Click Here For City Of New Orleans Web Site
Click Here For Louisiana Governor’s Web Site
Click Here For State Of Mississippi Web Site
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