MORE WWL
Updates as they come in on Katrina
01:18 PM CDT on Friday, September 2, 2005
Tom Planchet
1:17 P.M. - (AP): A large fire erupted today in an old retail building in a dry section of Canal Street.
There's no immediate reports of injuries.
Earlier today, an explosion at a chemical depot rocked an area of New Orleans east of the French Quarter.
1:13 P.M. - CHICAGO (AP): Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says the victims of Hurricane Katrina are "our brothers and sisters" and its up to residents of Chicago and the rest of the nation to help them.
Daley today announced that the city is setting up the Chicago Helps Fund, which is similar to a fund the city set up to help victims of the September eleventh terrorist attacks.
The mayor says checks can be dropped off at any J.P. Morgan Chase bank branch, and the city is setting up a call-in line to take donations.
Daley says he's urging residents to give as much money as they can, and he says he also hopes churches will ask their congregations for donations at services this weekend.
The mayor also says the city's Office of Emergency Management has offered its services and is ready to send personnel and equipment to help with relief efforts.
12:58 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., urged President Bush to appoint former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani or two former military officials to run the ground response in the Gulf Coast, saying local authorities are not up to the task. Sweeney suggested Giuliani or retired generals Colin Powell and Tommy Franks could take charge of the much-criticized hurricane relief efforts. Click here.
12:50 P.M. - SAN ANTONIO (AP): The first of 25,000 Hurricane Katrina refugees ticketed for San Antonio arrived today at the old Kelly Air Force Base aboard nine buses from Louisiana.
A staging area's been set up at what's now called KellyUSA in southwestern San Antonio. There, the refugees will be checked in and given living arrangements.
They'll be staying in a 325,000-square-foot warehouse that was part of the old air base. Medical and mental-health care will be available -- as will showers and meals.
It's not clear how many refugees are expected to arrive this first day.
Mayor Daley can do miracles, he raises the dead every election day!