About 100 people have died at the Chalmette Slip after
being pulled off their rooftops, waiting to be ferried
up the river to the West Bank and bused out of the
flood ravaged area, U.S. Rep. Charles Melancon,
D-Napoleonville, said Thursday.
About 1,500 people were at the slip on Thursday
afternoon, where critical supplies like food and water
are scarce, he said. Melancon expressed serious
frustration with the slow pace of getting these items
to the people waiting to finish their journey to
safety.
Many of those at the slip were evacuated from a shelter set up at Chalmette High School that suffered massive flooding as the waters rose during Hurricane Katrina.
Melancon said people are being plucked out of their water-surrounded
houses, but the effort to get them out of Chalmette
and provide them with sufficient sustenance is the
problem.
While he did not directly criticize the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, Melancon said they are
ultimately responsible for making sure that people are
taken care of. “That is where the buck stops,” said
Melancon at a briefing at the state Office of
Emergency Preparedness.
People at the slip indicated that 100 people had died
since they arrived, although Melancon said he did not
know how they perished.
Melancon said he saw 300 people sent on a tug-boat
pulled barge to the Algiers landing, but there weren’t
any buses once they landed. A spokesman said the
governor’s office indicated they were eventually taken
out.
The congressman said he “hoped” that the plight
of people in St. Bernard wasn't being shoved to the
side because of the chaos in New Orleans.
“I hope that we will start seeing food supplies,” said
Melancon, who later added that he was told that trucks
of ice, water and food were eventually listed to the
slip.
