| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Home Front: Economy | ||
| Search starts for survivors and dead in Miss. after Katrina | ||
| 2005-08-30 | ||
| GULFPORT, Miss. - Rescuers in boats and helicopters searched for survivors of Hurricane Katrina and brought victims, wet and bedraggled, to shelters Tuesday as the extent of the damage across the Gulf Coast became ever clearer. The governor said the death toll in one Mississippi county alone could be as high as 80. Power was out to about 800,000 customers statewide, according to officials of electric companies and rural power associations. "The devastation down there is just enormous," Gov. Haley Barbour said on NBC's "Today" show, the morning after Katrina howled ashore with winds of 145 mph and engulfed thousands of homes in one of the most punishing storms on record in the United States. Barbour said there were unconfirmed reports of up to 80 deaths in Harrison County - which includes devastated Gulfport and Biloxi - and the number was likely to rise. At least five other deaths across the Gulf Coast were blamed on Katrina. Barbour and emergency officials were to tour the coast later Tuesday. "We know that there is a lot of the coast that we have not been able to get to," the governor said. "I hate to say it, but it looks like it is a very bad disaster in terms of human life. The beach is essentially destroyed on the coast." Katrina was downgraded to a tropical storm late Monday. Southern Co. officials said power was out to all of its 195,000 customers in south Mississippi served by Mississippi Power Co. Farther north, Entergy Mississippi officials reported power was out to 260,400 customers. The Electric Power Associations of Mississippi said power was out to about 400,000 customers throughout the storm damaged area from the coast to north Mississippi. Jack Crochet, 56, Biloxi, walked down a buckled and sand-covered U.S. 90 Tuesday carrying a bottle of champagne. He shook his head, looked at the debris and said: "This is all that's left of my house." Crochet weathered the storm in his home near the beach in Biloxi. His home also was near an apartment complex where dozens of people were believed to have been killed. "We thought everything was going to New Orleans," Crochet said. "I've been through Camille and Betsy, but this storm surge here, when it came in, it looked like a tidal wave. "There's just nothing left," Crochet said. "It's never going to be the same. It's over." Also in Biloxi Tuesday, 30-year-old Paul Merritt surveyed the damage with his 18-year-old wife, Carla, and their 3-month-old son, Brandon. He said the water rose to the second story of his town house, which is less than a block off the beach. "I've never seen destruction of this magnitude," Paul Merritt said. "You see this stuff on TV and you hope that it never happens to you. Everything's gone. Our pets are dead. The water got up to the second level of my [home]." His 25-year-old brother, Jacob Merritt, said the roof was ripped apart in his apartment complex in Biloxi. He sat in a cinder block Tuesday in the rubble of a beach-front hotel, Star Inn, and clasped his head in his hands. He said he had pulled out 12 people from a building during the hurricane, and he believes they all lived but had minor injuries. After the storm, "there was a lot of looting going on," Jacob Merritt said. He said he saw people stealing beer and cigarettes from the Circle K convenience store. Tree trunks, downed power lines and trees, and chunks of broken concrete in the streets hampered rescue efforts. Swirling water in many areas contained hidden dangers. Crews worked to clear highways. Along one Mississippi highway, motorists themselves used chainsaws to remove trees blocking the road. More than 1,600 Mississippi National Guardsmen were activated, and the Alabama National Guard planned to send two battalions to Mississippi. Teresa Kavanagh, 35, of Biloxi, shook her head is disbelief Tuesday as she took photographs of the damage in Biloxi. "Total devastation. Apartment complexes are wiped clean. We're going to rebuild, but it's going to take long time. Houses that withstood Camille are nothing but slab now," she said. The Hard Rock and Beau Rivage casinos took severe damage. There is debris all around Beau Rivage and the neighboring, Windjammer Condominium's bottom floors are completely washed away. All that remains of the Sun Tan Hotel is the toilets. Katrina's tidal surge damaged major bridges to three coastal counties, including those linking Biloxi with Ocean Springs and the connection to Bay St. Louis.
In Biloxi, the mayor's office said the storm's surge put at least five casinos out of commission. Treasure Bay's pirate ship was beached. Beau Rivage still stood, while Hard Rock Casino - scheduled to open in early September - was half destroyed. Hard Rock's signature guitar, touted as the world's largest, survived the lashing. Barbour warned evacuated residents to stay away, saying most could not get to their homes, anyway. "It will be unsafe to return to the coastal area for several days," Barbour said Monday during a televised news briefing in Jackson. "Be patient. Don't be in a hurry to go back." Jim Pollard, spokesman for the Harrison County Emergency Operations Center, said about 30 of the dead were in Biloxi, and said many were found in St. Charles Apartments, a complex near the beach.
| ||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #5 Wonder what's going to happen with Tulane and Loyola. Sounds like at least 1 semester is a complete write off. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-08-30 17:39 |
| #4 I watched Fox and ABC this morning, and I am shocked at the coverage now 6 hours later. This is bad news getting worse. New Orleans will not be a functioning city for 2 months at least. No school districts for 2 months at best. No water, food, gasoline or commerse anywhere near city. It will be days before they can even start removing the water, and that process, under ideal conditions, witj all pumps running, estimated to take 2 weeks! They are going to have to clear everyone out in New Orleans, it looks like to me. |
| Posted by: Capsu 78 2005-08-30 16:04 |
| #3 Why yes Sam. However, other than the local National Guard, do you really think the MSM wants our national military to get any good press? But do look forward to all the 'failures' and SNAFUs given broad coverage. |
| Posted by: Glavitle Slaque3075 2005-08-30 15:18 |
| #2 I want to see an effort made by the Pentagon like they did for the Tusnami. Our people deserve that if not more. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2005-08-30 15:15 |
| #1 We can only hope that the insurance companies refuse to finance rebuilding on the same locations. Its the beginning of the lots-of-hurricanes side of the weather cycle, which should last about a generation, suggesting this kind of thing is going to happen an awful lot in the coming years. Let the survivors take their money and start over inland and off the Mississippi floodplain. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-08-30 14:09 |