Thousands feared dead as survivors flee hurricane-wrecked New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – Tens of thousands of survivors were evacuating the darkened, flooded streets of New Orleans yesterday, abandoning the hurricane-wrecked city to looters, thugs, carjackers, and a looming public health disaster.

Reports said the death toll could run into thousands. “We beg the people to get out,” Louisiana Governor Blanco said, calling for New Orleans to be left to emergency personnel, she said.Nearly a million people had been evacuated from the region since Hurricane Katrina set course for the southern US states, but “a couple hundred thousand” were still trapped, said New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.The low-lying city may not be habitable for three to four months, he said.Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said 90 per cent of buildings in the worst-hit parts of the state were “totally just gone”.The US military sent ships, helicopters and thousands of National Guard troops to Louisiana and Mississippi where rescue workers were overwhelmed by the task of reaching and evacuating stranded people without power or drinking water.Officials also warned of a potential public health disaster caused by outbreaks of mosquito- and water-borne diseases carried by floods contaminated with toxic chemicals, petrol, human waste and even corpses.”We’re dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in our nation’s history,” US President George W.Bush said Wednesday after flying over the stricken area in Air Force One while returning to Washington early from his summer holiday.”This recovery will take a long time.This recovery will take years.”Authorities estimated thousands of dead from Monday’s storm – and were not even bothering to recover many of the bodies from the floods.There were 110 deaths confirmed in Mississippi, including 100 in Harrison County alone.”The death toll will rise very dramatically,” Major General Harold Cross, commander of the Mississippi National Guard, told CNN television.News that floodwater levels had stabilised offered scant relief.As night fell, police chased looters across the darkened streets amid mounting pillaging of stores, carjackings and armed robberies.One nurse told how helicopters evacuating patients from a local hospital had been fired upon.There were also reports of men armed with automatic rifles opening fire in a police station.Around 10 000 patients as well as hospital staff were being moved out as fuel for generators ran out, said Don Smithburg, chief of Louisiana State University hospitals.Authorities plan to reassign 4 000 National Guard troops in the city to deal with the mayhem.”The National Guard is quickly hoping to turn its mission to more law enforcement,” Bob Mann, spokesman for Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, told reporters.Guard troops were to be reinforced in the early hours of yesterday by 150 military police, with 50 more on the way, and by police officers from other parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky and as far away as Michigan, he said.People stuck in the city’s Superdome stadium – where toilets had been backed up and ferocious winds tore off part of the roof – were being transferred to the Astrodome stadium in Houston, Texas, which has offered shelter to 25 000 refugees.Convoys of yellow school buses and tour buses took the homeless to Houston.Emergency supplies headed in the opposite direction, delivering the first fresh supplies of drinking water to the city.- Nampa-AFP”We beg the people to get out,” Louisiana Governor Blanco said, calling for New Orleans to be left to emergency personnel, she said.Nearly a million people had been evacuated from the region since Hurricane Katrina set course for the southern US states, but “a couple hundred thousand” were still trapped, said New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.The low-lying city may not be habitable for three to four months, he said.Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said 90 per cent of buildings in the worst-hit parts of the state were “totally just gone”.The US military sent ships, helicopters and thousands of National Guard troops to Louisiana and Mississippi where rescue workers were overwhelmed by the task of reaching and evacuating stranded people without power or drinking water.Officials also warned of a potential public health disaster caused by outbreaks of mosquito- and water-borne diseases carried by floods contaminated with toxic chemicals, petrol, human waste and even corpses.”We’re dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in our nation’s history,” US President George W.Bush said Wednesday after flying over the stricken area in Air Force One while returning to Washington early from his summer holiday.”This recovery will take a long time.This recovery will take years.”Authorities estimated thousands of dead from Monday’s storm – and were not even bothering to recover many of the bodies from the floods.There were 110 deaths confirmed in Mississippi, including 100 in Harrison County alone.”The death toll will rise very dramatically,” Major General Harold Cross, commander of the Mississippi National Guard, told CNN television.News that floodwater levels had stabilised offered scant relief.As night fell, police chased looters across the darkened streets amid mounting pillaging of stores, carjackings and armed robberies.One nurse told how helicopters evacuating patients from a local hospital had been fired upon.There were also reports of men armed with automatic rifles opening fire in a police station.Around 10 000 patients as well as hospital staff were being moved out as fuel for generators ran out, said Don Smithburg, chief of Louisiana State University hospitals.Authorities plan to reassign 4 000 National Guard troops in the city to deal with the mayhem.”The National Guard is quickly hoping to turn its mission to more law enforcement,” Bob Mann, spokesman for Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, told reporters.Guard troops were to be reinforced in the early hours of yesterday by 150 military police, with 50 more on the way, and by police officers from other parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky and as far away as Michigan, he said.People stuck in the city’s Superdome stadium – where toilets had been backed up and ferocious winds tore off part of the roof – were being transferred to the Astrodome stadium in Houston, Texas, which has offered shelter to 25 000 refugees.Convoys of yellow school buses and tour buses took the homeless to Houston.Emergency supplies headed in the opposite direction, delivering the first fresh supplies of drinking water to the city.- Nampa-AFP