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| Home Front: Economy |
| Katrina death toll may be lower than feared |
| 2005-09-09 |
| As Hurricane Katrina evacuees prepare to attend school in cities such as San Antonio, Texas, there is word that the death toll from Katrina may be less than had been feared. But as of Thursday -- a week and a half after the hurricane hit the U.S. Gulf Coast -- there still are no definitive numbers. Estimates had run as high as 10,000 dead in New Orleans, but the actual body count so far is lower than that and officials who had feared the worst now hope the terrible predictions were wrong. The recovery of Katrina's victims speeded up in the last two days. Searchers are now going door-to-door in the New Orleans neighborhoods where the water has fallen enough to look inside flooded homes. In what may be their last peaceful pass before they get tough, rescuers were finding many stragglers finally ready to flee the filthy water and the stench of death in New Orleans. "Some are finally saying, 'I've had enough'," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Michael Keegan. "They're getting dehydrated. They are running out of food. There are human remains in different houses. The smells mess with your psyche." The job of carrying out the mayor's evacuation order was left largely to the 1,000 or so remaining members of New Orleans' beleaguered police force. "We are not going to be rough," said Police Chief Eddie Compass. "We are going to be sensitive. We are going to use the minimum amount of force." By Thursday, Mississippi had recorded 201 deaths and Louisiana 83, and other states had much lower numbers. In Mississippi teams have been recovering bodies since hours after the storm struck on Monday last week. The results in both places have encouraged some officials to hope the body count may not reach the predicted heights. "I am thinking we are better off than we thought we'd be," said Louisiana state Sen. Walter Boasso, who represents St. Bernard Parish near New Orleans, parts of which still sit under more than two metres of water. The authorities are ready in case the number of deaths rises dramatically. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has brought 25,000 body bags to the Gulf region. A morgue in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, is capable of processing 140 corpses a day and officials planned to handle more than 5,000 bodies. When a hurricane strikes, local officials usually announce death tolls within days as searchers retrieve bodies from crushed buildings and crumpled cars. New Orleans is different. The flood waters in the city sit stagnant in low-lying areas, preventing rescue crews from searching thousands of houses that are up to their eaves in polluted water. In the first week after the disaster, officials and politicians discussed the possible death toll reluctantly, often only after being pressed by journalists. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin suggested as high as 10,000 under such questioning. Louisiana U.S. Sen. David Vitter said his "guesses" started at 10,000, but made it clear he had no factual basis for saying that. Clusters of corpses have been found in some areas. In St. Bernard Parish, east of New Orleans, at least 32 deaths were confirmed at one nursing home. But there have been few instances of this type of thing. Hundreds of thousands fled the Gulf coast before the storm, spurred by "mandatory" evacuation orders, which in the United States are not enforced by police. Rescuers plucked thousands more from streets, levees, roads and rooftops. At least 32,000 were rescued and another 70,000 were evacuated from New Orleans after the storm, according to official figures. Some feared thousands were trapped in attics and would succumb to the water or the heat. But rescuers later found many damaged roofs where residents chopped through with axes. In Mississippi Gulf towns, there is little stench of death compared to devastated regions of Indonesia after the tsunami. In the rural areas east of St. Bernard Parish, some bodies will never be found because alligators will have taken them away, locals said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #8 Necro-canabalism... gotta be a better term than that. Course I guess canabals usually eat the dead. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-09-09 17:36 |
| #7 if the death toll is below 1000, the angry left will say that thousands were devoured by alligators |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-09-09 12:44 |
| #6 As an aside, body bags are used for lots of things other than bodies. Think large trash bags with zippers and you know what I mean. Granted, they are a tad pricier than "hefties", but if you're not the one paying for them... |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-09-09 11:43 |
| #5 All those wetting themselves over the 25K body bags are probably the same ones who got hard ons over the number of body bags sent to the Gulf in '91. In truth like Crawford says the shipping of 10K was most likely as easy as 1K, possibly even easier. But I have one question. Out of the total poulation of the NO metro area in any given week just what are the total number of deaths from natural causes anyways? And the question is not to make light of the deaths of any of the one who died in Katrina |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2005-09-09 11:42 |
| #4 For the MSM the headline would read, "Death Toll Feared Lower Than Hoped" |
| Posted by: Hyper 2005-09-09 11:13 |
| #3 Now we will be having an orgy of handwringing over the number of dead, as if keeping an accurate count and blaming someone will bring anyone back to life. Caring for the survivors, cleaning up the mess & making new arrangements for civil defense are far more important stories. |
| Posted by: Crairong Omomotch6492 2005-09-09 08:53 |
| #2 The authorities are ready in case the number of deaths rises dramatically. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has brought 25,000 body bags to the Gulf region. I really wish the press would stop getting woodies over large numbers of body bags. The reality is that it doesn't take much space or energy to move LOTS of body bags, and if you're sending 1,000, you may as well send 10,000. But, hey, I guess what modern "reporters" do is easier than jobs that require physical or mental effort. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-09-09 08:34 |
| #1 The determined are always fast; but the scared are quicker!! |
| Posted by: smn 2005-09-09 02:30 |