Katrina Live Thread, Part XIII

28,000 National Guard troops are deployed to the disaster areas in Mississippi, Alabama, and to Louisiana, where SWAT teams are working to combat the looters and shooters in New Orleans. Additional 1400 National Guard troops are being deployed daily.

Shootings reported at a New Orleans hospital, rescue boats, and a military helicopter, while conditions continue to deteriorate at the SuperDome amid refugee deaths and chaos. Evacuation of New Orleans continues.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert has voiced serious doubts about rebuilding New Orleans with federal funds, while assuring the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida that the United States Congress stands ready to help them in their time of need. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin issued a "desperate SOS."

Doctors at two desperately crippled hospitals in New Orleans called The Associated Press Thursday morning pleading for rescue, "We have been trying to call the mayor's office, we have been trying to call the governor's office ... we have tried to use any inside pressure we can. We are turning to you. Please help us," said Dr. Norman McSwain, chief of trauma surgery at Charity Hospital, the largest of two public hospitals.

The Port of New Orleans is now open to shallow draft vessels. Congress is reconvening in an emergency session. International offers to assist the U.S. have been received from Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, NATO and the Organization of American States.

Due to the number of requests to assist, the following list of some charities is provided.
This is not intended as an endorsement for any of the charities.

www.redcross.org or 1-800 HELP NOW - note: website is slow, and lines are busy
Salvation Army - 1-800-SAL-ARMY or Salvation Army currently looking for in-state volunteers - (888)363-2769
Operation Blessing: (800) 436-6348.
America's Second Harvest: (800) 344-8070.
Catholic Charities USA: (800) 919-9338, or www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: (800) 848-5818.
Church World Service: (800) 297-1516 or online at www.churchworldservice. org.
Lutheran Disaster Response: (800) 638-3522.
Nazarene Disaster Response: (888) 256-5886.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: (800) 872-3283.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is accepting donations at its 3,800 stores and Web site, www.walmart.com.
National Black Home Educators Resource Association http://www.nbhera.org/

Updates as they come in on Katrina

09:39 AM CDT on Friday, September 2, 2005

Tom Planchet

9:39 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hundreds of thousands of people are finding themselves out of work and their livelihoods in limbo following the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. Experts believe it will take months before people get back to work in hurricane-ravaged areas. Some workers may not have jobs to return to and others may opt to move away and find work elsewhere, economists and other experts said.

Workers in flooded-out New Orleans, which faces major and potentially lengthy cleanup challenges, are taking the biggest hit, analysts said.

9:36 A.M. - BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Crude oil prices dropped more than $1 a barrel and gasoline futures fell sharply Friday as key allies discussed releasing supplies from their stockpiles to help offset U.S. shortages that have driven retail gas prices in some parts of the country above $3 a gallon.

9:34 A.M. - NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The National Guard wants hurricane-ravaged New Orleans to know, the cavalry is coming. Lieutenant General Steven Blum of the National Guard says seven-thousand National Guardsmen are arriving in Louisiana today to "to save Louisiana citizens."

He says the only thing they'll be attacking is "the effects of the hurricane," but adds they are prepared to "put down" the violence "in a quick and efficient manner."

9:22 A.M. - State Representative Karen Carter: If you want to help...get a bus. We have comandeered other things, we need to comandeer Greyhound. You want to help? Send buses and gas, buses and gas. I don't need $10 million right now - send buses and gas!

9:20 A.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- In the span of a week, Baton Rouge has become Louisiana's most-populous city -- at least temporarily -- and a big chunk of that growth is likely to be permanent, officials say. Evacuees from the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans area have poured into East Baton Rouge Parish, along with rescue personnel using the city as a home.

"Baton Rouge is now the largest city in Louisiana and it's going to be for quite a while, if not permanently," said Walter Monsour, the top administrator to the president of the city-parish government.

9:13 A.M. - JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- There are reports of ice for ten dollars a bag and gasoline at six dollars gallon as Mississippi, like Louisiana, tries to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Mississippi's attorney general says he'll investigate the complaints. Many residents remain without food, water, electricity or gasoline. Some officials say 126 people are dead, but Governor Haley Barbour says he's been told it's more like 150 and likely to grow.

8:16 A.M. - National Guard spokesman: We're here to save Louisiana and restore order to the lives of the civilians.

8:16 A.M. - National Guard spokesman: The majority of the citizens have responded in an exemplary manner.

8:16 A.M. - National Guard spokesman: This is a massive airlift here. The calvary has arrived and will continue arriving.

8:13 A.M. - National Guard spokesman: We have several hundred police officers on the way.

8:13 A.M. - National Guard spokesman: We now have the resources we need to get this situation under control.

8:05 A.M. WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush says relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina are not acceptable. As he prepares to depart for a tour of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, Bush assures people "we'll get on top of this situation." He says millions of gallons of water and tons of food are on the way.

8:03 A.M. - John Ballard, Tangipahoa Parish : Between six and eight dead in Tangipahoa.

8:02 A.M. - (AP) An explosion at a chemical depot jolted residents awake early Friday, illuminating the pre-dawn sky with red and orange flames over a city awash in corpses and under siege from looters. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Vibrations from the blast along the Mississippi River and a few miles east of the French Quarter were felt all the way downtown. A series of smaller blasts followed and then a cyclone of acrid, black smoke.

To jittery residents of New Orleans, it was yet another fearful sight in a city that has deteriorated rapidly since Katrina slammed ashore Monday morning.

7:03 A.M. - Maestri: We had a plan and we followed it (on storm coverage). Mayor Nagin and those in Jefferson believed that within 48 hours food, water and security would be here. It didn't happen.

7:01 A.M. - Jeff Parish Emergency Operations Center Director Walter Maestri: 17th Street Canal Levee breach is now under control...not fixed...but under control.

6:59 A.M. - Jeff Parish Emergency Operations Center Director Walter Maestri: Civil unrest is basically under control in Orleans and Jefferson.

6:58 A.M. - Maestri: Explosions Friday morning were NOT a result of thuggery, but merely gas problems that exploded in Bywater.

6:42 A.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is trying to make clear that the government understands how dire the situation is in New Orleans.

There's been a growing chorus of complaints from refugees and the city's mayor, who complain about what they say has been a slow federal response to the hurricane, flooding and lawlessness.

Mayor Ray Nagin said last night that the feds "don't have a clue" about what's happening.

Mike Brown tells CNN he didn't know the New Orleans Convention Center was being used as a staging area for evacuees until he saw news coverage. He blames that on a lack of communication with city officials. As Brown puts it, "we don't know where everybody is."

6:40 A.M. - "New Orleans is an economic disaster. This tragedy is so unprecedented people could be out of work for three, six, nine months or longer," said Rajeev Dhawan, director of the economic forecasting project at Georgia State University.

6:39 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers are demanding an investigation into gasoline prices after thousands of motorists called a government hotline to complain of price gouging.

The Energy Department reported more than 5,000 calls to its price gouging hotline Thursday from around the country, although officials emphasized there was no way to immediately determine how many of the allegations were valid.

6:37 A.M. - The mayor of New Orleans is seething over what he sees as the government's slow response to his city's disaster. Ray Nagin went on WWL Radio last night to say the feds "don't have a clue what's going on." He added, "Excuse my French -- everybody in America -- but I am pissed."

The mayor says he needs troops and hundreds of buses to get refugees out. Nagin accused state and federal officials of "playing games" and "spinning for the cameras." He says he keeps hearing that help is coming, but "there's no beef."

6:20 A.M. - Terry Ebbert, the head of emergency operations for New Orleans. "This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans."

6:10 A.M. - (AP) Texas agreed to triple to 75,000 the number of evacuees being taken in from Louisiana. Houston officials temporarily stopped admitting people to the Astrodome late Thursday after accepting 11,325. Others will be housed in the adjacent Reliant Center, where the Houston Texans play football.

6:08 A.M. - St. Bernard Parish resident who was rescued after three days: "I love Chalmette, but I'm out. I'm not coming back."

6:07 A.M. - Jefferson Parish Emergency Operations Director Walter Maestri: Entergy is considering pulling out its crews trying to bring power back until there is some semblance of order. Entergy says some crew linemen have been shot at.

6:06 A.M. - James Hartman, St. Tammany Parish spokesman: The parish has had few problems with unrest. Some citizens are frustrated, but we've had little looting and mostly a spirit of cooperation.

6:05 A.M. - James Hartman, St. Tammany Parish spokesman: Gas leaks still rampant, needing to be repaired.

6:04 A.M. - Hartman: "We have no fuel. People are coming here and running out of gas."

6:02 A.M. - Hartman: We have taken over a radio station - AM 730, by authority of the parish president and trying to broadcast information to the Northshore.

6:00 A.M. - Hartman: People need to stay away and if they haven't left, they need to get away right now.

5:54 A.M. - (AP) An explosion in New Orleans jolted residents awake early this morning, illuminating the pre-dawn sky with red and orange flames over the city where corpses rotted along flooded sidewalks and bands of armed thugs thwarted fitful rescue efforts. The cause of the blasts or the extent of any possible damage is not known.

5:52 A.M. - NEW YORK (AP) -- Major League Baseball and the NBA have each pledged two million dollars to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and the Southeastern Conference is donating one million to disaster relief.

5:50 A.M. - "Don't buy gas if you don't need it," President Bush .

5:48 A.M. - (AP) Military helicopters on Thursday dropped about 150 massive sandbags into the levee breach that allowed flood waters from Lake Pontchartrain to pour into New Orleans, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers general said.

The 3,000-pound sandbags are part of a temporary plan aimed at plugging the hole in the levee. The Corps also plans to drop concrete highway dividers and seal the spot where swirling waters undermined and toppled the floodwall, said Brig. Gen. Robert Crear, commander of the crew working to fix the floodwall. "We're dumping things into the hole, just to stem the tide," Crear said.

5:46 A.M. - (AP) Many celebrities with relatives or other ties to the flooded city and the Gulf Coast have voiced their empathy for those devastated by Hurricane Katrina; some have been directly affected. Fats Domino was photographed being brought to safety by boat after the hurricane hit, his daughter Karen Domino White said Thursday.

5:44 A.M. - Master P, also a New Orleans native, told The Associated Press that his uncle, father-in-law and sister-in-law, among others, were unaccounted for. His father was missing until recently. "We just got caravans of family members (evacuated)," Master P told the AP Thursday. "It's just devastating."

5:41 A.M. - (AP) Doctors at two desperately crippled hospitals in New Orleans called The Associated Press Thursday morning pleading for rescue, saying they were nearly out of food and power and had been forced to move patients to higher floors to escape looters. "We have been trying to call the mayor's office, we have been trying to call the governor's office ... we have tried to use any inside pressure we can. We are turning to you. Please help us," said Dr. Norman McSwain, chief of trauma surgery at Charity Hospital, the larger of two public hospitals.

5:37 A.M. - Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared war on looters as 300 National Guard troops landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will," she said.

5:31 A.M. - HOUSTON (AP) -- After accepting more than 11,000 Hurricane Katrina refugees, officials said the Astrodome was full and began sending buses to other shelters in the Houston area Thursday night.

"We've actually reached capacity for the safety and comfort of the people inside there," American Red Cross spokeswoman Dana Allen said. She said people were "packed pretty tight" on the floor of the Astrodome.

Buses that continued to arrive were being sent on to other shelters in the area and as far away as Huntsville, about an hour north of Houston.

5:27 A.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- After helping to triage and evacuate hospital patients in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina's wrath bore down on the city, Louisiana Health Secretary Fred Cerise could only choke back tears. "We have people there that we know we haven't been able to reach yet," he said, his voice breaking and his eyes rimmed red from lack of sleep.

5:24 A.M. - UNDATED (AP) -- Hurricane Katrina damaged or displaced an estimated 58 Gulf of Mexico oil platforms and drilling rigs. The American Petroleum Institute says among those, 30 rigs and platforms have been reported lost. Tim Sampson, an A-P-I spokesman says no company breakdown was available.

5:10 A.M. - CNN reports explosions believed to be railroad cars.

5:07 A.M. - CNN producer Jim Spellman, who has been stationed with police sharpshooters, says reports indicate that New Orleans officers are not showing up for work. In some districts as many as 60 percent of officers have not reported for duty.

4:55 A.M. - Refugee Alan Gould spoke to CNN from inside the New Orleans Convention Center. He said sick, eldery and children are dying and children have been beaten and raped. He pleaded for help.

4:41 A.M. - CNN reports fires, explosions erupting in southwest part of New Orleans. Thick smoke is billowing into the air. Police are working to get hazmat teams to the area, which is near Chartres Street. That is where railroad cars are housed.

3:05 A.M. - (AP): First the federal government took the buses they had hired to evacuate them.

Then their hotels turned them out onto the desolate streets.

They trudged for blocks to walk over a bridge, but officers wouldn't let them cross -- and fired a few warning shots over their heads to convince them.

And the night was coming down.

Despairing, dozens of trapped tourists huddled on a downtown street corner and waited for dark.

"I grew up in an upper-middle class family. Street life is foreign to me," said Larry Mitzel, 53, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. "I'm not sure I'm going to get out of here alive."

The fate of tourists in dozens of hotels here was caught up in the days of chaos and confusion that came after Hurricane Katrina's 145 mph winds.

Many smaller hotels shut down. The largest housed hundreds and hundreds of guests and took in refugees from the storm. How many remained Thursday was unclear.

Tourists and hotel managers alike condemned government officials for ignoring them.

"The tourists are an afterthought here," said Bill Hedrick of Houston, who came to town on business and was trapped with his wife and elderly mother-in-law.

"We're appalled," said Jill Johnson, 53, of Saskatoon. "This city is built on tourism and we're their last priority."

Peter Ambros, general manager of the Astor Crowne Plaza in the French Quarter, said, "Guests who bring business to the hotels are treated 10 times worse than the people at the Superdome."

FRIDAY 2:43 A.M. - (AP): After helping to triage and evacuate hospital patients in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina's wrath bore down on the city, Louisiana Health Secretary Fred Cerise could only choke back tears.

"We have people there that we know we haven't been able to reach yet," he said, his voice breaking and his eyes rimmed red from lack of sleep.

Unable to continue describing the devastation, Cerise stepped away from a briefing podium Thursday and ended early his outline of the state health department's assistance in storm-ravaged New Orleans. Later, Gov. Kathleen Blanco hugged him tightly, and they wiped away tears.

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