Posted on 09/09/2005 6:06:57 PM PDT by Happy2BMe
NEW ORLEANS
Authorities said their sweep of this deluged city for the last voluntary evacuees was nearly complete, with officers ready to carry out the mayor's order to forcibly remove the thousands who remain in their homes.
"The ones who wanted to leave, I would say most of them are out," said Detective Sgt. James Imbrogglio.
Between 5,000 and 10,000 residents are believed left in the city, where toxic floodwaters have started to slowly recede but the task of collecting rotting corpses and clearing debris will likely take months.
Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Jason Rule said his crew pulled 18 people from their homes Thursday. He said some of the holdouts did not want to leave unless they could take their pets.
"It's getting to the point where they're delirious," Rule said. "A couple of them don't know who they were. They think the water will go down in a few days."
Police Chief Eddie Compass said officers would use the "minimum amount of force" necessary to persuade those who remain to evacuate. Although no one was forcibly removed Thursday, some residents said they left under extreme pressure.
"They were all insisting that I had to leave my home," said Shelia Dalferes, who said she had 15 minutes to pack before she and her husband were evacuated.
"The implication was there with their plastic handcuffs on their belt. Who wants to go out like that?"
As searches for the living continued, the grim task of retrieving corpses intensified under the broiling sun. Officials raised the death toll in Louisiana to 118 Thursday, though New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has said up to 10,000 could be dead in that city alone. State officials have ordered 25,000 body bags.
Authorities are now faced with the challenge of how to identify bodies that may be bloated and decayed beyond recognition. At two collection sites, federal mortuary teams were collecting information that may help identify the bodies, such as where they were found. Personal effects were also being logged.
At the temporary morgue set up in nearby St. Gabriel, where 67 bodies had been collected by Thursday, the remains were being photographed and forensic workers hope to use dental X-rays, fingerprints and DNA to identify them.
Dr. Bryan Patucci, coroner of St. Bernard Parish, said it may be impossible to identify all the victims until authorities compile a final list of missing people.
Decaying corpses in the floodwaters could pose problems for engineers who are desperately trying to pump the city dry. While 37 of the 174 pumps in the New Orleans area were working and 17 portable pumps were in place Thursday, officials said the mammoth undertaking could be complicated by corpses getting clogged in the pumps.
"It's got a huge focus of our attention right now," said John Rickey of the Army Corps of Engineers. "Those remains are people's loved ones."
Some 400,000 homes in the city were also still without power, with no immediate prospect of getting it back. And fires continued to be a problem. At least 11 blazes burned across the city Thursday, including at historically black Dillard University where three buildings were destroyed.
Also Thursday, Congress rushed through an additional $51.8 billion for relief and recovery efforts and President Bush pledged to make it "easy and simple as possible" for uprooted storm victims to collect food stamps and other government benefits.
In an attempt to stem the criticism of the slow federal response to the disaster, Vice President Dick Cheney also toured parts of the ravaged Gulf Coast, claiming significant progress but acknowledging immense obstacles remained to a full recovery.
Meanwhile, Democrats threatened to boycott the naming of a panel that Republican leaders are proposing to investigate the administration's readiness and response to the storm. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said it was like a baseball pitcher calling "his own balls and strikes."
Democrats have urged appointment of an independent panel like the Sept. 11 commission.
Confusion continued to be a problem in many areas:
_ Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said that radio equipment and portable generators she requested from the federal government a week ago had yet to arrive. Federal officials said they were tracking down the status of the items.
_ In Houston, hundreds of storm victims waited for hours to pick up debit cards for cash that had been promised by relief agencies. By noon Thursday, so many people had jammed the entrance to the sign-up area that some were overcome by the heat and police were summoned.
___
I agree with what you have said in part. However, pets should not be killed like that. Surely there is enough room in the boats for pets to go along with their owners.
I would have left with my pets BEFORE the storm. If I had not been able to for some reason, I would NEVER abandon my pets.
No wonder! Darned liberals! They think they know everything and want to force it on others.
I say let them stay if they want to... this is a free country, at least in most respects.....
The lucky 800 who went to Lubbock are spending their $2000 already...their bonus for not wanting to clump up in Houston, I suppose.
I'm seeing so much hysteria about the flooding. Some areas probably should be evacuated, common sense says so. But the areas where there's little damage, and no standing water, with houses in near-perfect shape?Exhibiting an inability to grasp this situation is one thing, but considering you're probably reasonably educated and still can't grasp the underlying health concerns is even SCARIER.
Typhoid/typhus - ever heard of it?
Probably not ... and this is WITH my having REFERENCED it several times in previous posts too!
This, my friends, is WHY 'government' exists, because nitwits like this are liable to have sewerage literally flowing from their property onto yours and they think NOTHING of it (I have seen this happen, in a county to my north)!!!!!
Did you even bother to read what Dr. Baden said? If anyone is unable to grasp something, I'd guess it's you.
Seems there are at least several towns doing just fine just outside of New OrleansAttention Wal-Mart shopper, that 'parish' outside New Orleans probably, just more than likely, on the order of a 99 percent probability, have their OWN sanitary sewerage system; what New Orleans DOESN'T need right now are any more people DISCHARGING more SEWARAGE into an inop (literally: INOPEATIVE) New Orleans sewerage system where the uncut, raw, untreated effluent simply BUBBLES out of a sewer manhole somewhere DOWNSTREAM (since the LIFT systems are inop too) into the 'bowl' called New Orleans ...
This REALLY isn't rocket science, but, apparently it is; sewerage, LIKE WATER, runs downhill and seeks the lowest point available.
Haven't run across anything saying they're worried about the mosquitos yet.Drudge JUST posted an article today; they mention mosquitoes as 'disease vectors' in that dispatch as well.
Did you need a link to that story?
I cannot beileve some people actually state that they have "no dog in this fight". Sad, I am afraid we have more of a stake in this fight than we short sightedly see at present.
So, what does that mean? The ...Well, obviously, for you, its NOT a 'no brainer'.
Re: my post #252 and your subsequent response -
So, I am sorry; I can't help you out on that point.
I guess you see no problems with flys acting as disease vectors either, judging from your earlier post where you didn't weigh that aspect or took it as inconsequential; sorry again, that aspect of your analysis does not impress me. You will excuse me if I defer to real experts in that field for an actual, based on past events evaluation of the potential 'for trouble' in that area ...
Maybe one of our medical posters would like to weight in; it seems to me that conditions in New Orleans would be 'ripe' for a severe outbreak of something while the warm, humid, muggy days and nights are still upon us in these southern latitudes.
If you would like, I will research this topic further, and post my findings (SINCE no one else has; all they seem to have is 'unbased opinions' on what they 'think' should be done, based on their own limited experience with port-a-potties at rock concerts or latrines at their Y2K cabins).
Right. WTH is the damn problem? This is not good.'What is the d*mn problem?'
Too many people wh are FAR removed from an area trying to 'micromanage' it from the comfort of their armchairs while parked in front of a computer; THEY, too, are 'victims' of too much TEEVEE on the subject, JUST LIKE the far left was so moved by the continued scenes from New Orleans and the continued howl by newscasters for 'food and water' and FEMA is AWOL at the Superdome ...
I would say Baden based his opinion on as much research as, let's say, YOU. When you can come up with some MD credentials, drop me a line. Otherwise, you're just kibitzing with everyone else. It really galls you that people don't bow to your superior wisdom (in your mind), doesn't it?
THey have the capacity to transfer bacteria and certain viruses. So? I generally ignore that as something that's covered under cleanliness, as I noted.
"seems to me that conditions in New Orleans would be 'ripe' for a severe outbreak of something"
Whatever.
"You will excuse me if I defer to real experts in that field for an actual, based on past events evaluation of the potential 'for trouble' in that area ..."
That's not what you've been doing sofar. If this is above your head that's fine also.
Here's a clue chief. Septic and storm sewer are different. The only way to get a visual of a septic sewer is to dig it up and break the pipes open, or screw caps off at a cleanout. Their are no exposed "manholes" in the septic sewer system.
Excerpt:
State health officials said Friday they will begin a spraying program to curb the hatching and spread of mosquitos and flies in the stagnant flood waters left behind in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.The program's main goal is to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses, which include West Nile virus. Aerial spraying is set to begin Sunday in New Orleans and surrounding areas and will take place in the last two hours of daylight, state health officials said.
Here's a clue ...Bzzzzzt!
NOT if you've got 50,000 (OR EVEN 10,000) residents using storm water to 'flush' their toilets (as some have said they are dong).
Some of you people, like you, have NOT thought this thing through completely.
SEWERAGE plants NOT operating, LIFT stations NOT operating; where does the effluent go if you flush a toilet?
Something is in your 'eye', guy, blinding you; you and and number of others.
Get out whatever it is.
That's not what you've been doing sofar.I think I saw material posted by only ONE other poster; the REST has been opinion, strong opinion, sometimes someone else's opinion, but opinion nonetheless.
Post something FACTUAL spunk, or this is the last time I will ever address you.
The NOPD cannot WAIT to get free run of the mansions in the garden district. They will be like kids in a candy store. Those houses will be stripped down to the light fixtures.
I would say Baden based his opinion on as much research as, let's say, YOU.Sorry, but I posted informative, studied material earlier; you were trumped then and you can't come back now and shout 'trump'.
I'm beginning to think the REAL problem here is one of comprehension, as well as a certain amount of knee-kerk-ism -
- EVERYBODY is up in arms about people being removed from their homes, and they FAIL to see or accept or even entertain an idea past that!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.