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Rescue in East N.O. and St. Bernard

Twelve boats have been deployed from Jackson Barracks
to search for people stranded on the upper levels of
their homes in eastern New Orleans and St. Bernard
Parish, state officials said at a 3:30 pm briefing.

The teams are responding to people who have made calls
asking for help, while also looking for people who
haven’t been able to reach emergency officials, said
Major General Bennett Landreneau. A few people have
already been reached and taken to the Superdome, while
a couple others were taken to Jackson Barracks, he
said.

Speaking at a press conference at the state Office of
Emergency Preparedness, state and federal officials
said the top priority remains rescuing people who are
still in physical danger. There are reports of
widespread flooding in St. Bernard and Plaquemines
Parishes, as well as in Slidell and the Lower 9th
Ward.

“First and foremost, we need to save lives and protect
property,” said Mike Brown, the director of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency.

As well as looking for the people who need to be
rescued from flooded homes, the state is beginning to
send medical teams into the areas hit by the storm,
said Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

Fred Cerise, head of the state Department of Health
and Hospitals and a medical doctor, is heading to
Charity to help formulate a plan on how to get patients out
of the hospital, which has power problems and five
floors of broken windows, she said. Many patients are
expected to be sent to the Superdome, which has been
serving as an emergency shelter, and then sent by
plane to hospitals in north Louisiana.

Federal medical teams will be helping out. Brown
said personnel from his agency had been trying to help
out with medical assessments at the Superdome, but had
been having trouble getting to the area because of the
continued hurricane-force winds. FEMA will be
sending its own urban search and rescue teams into New
Orleans to help look for people who need assistance.

Brown said he plans to do an aerial search of the area
in the morning.

FEMA has water, ice and military meals-ready-to-eat
that are ready to be shipped into any areas that need
them, Brown said. He said he has “supply lines backed
up” to Fort Worth and Atlanta.

Blanco also has deployed teams from the state
Department of Transportation and Development to clear
access clear critical roads.

The governor re-iterated her request that people from
the areas struck by the storm should not try to
return. The roads leading back to Orleans, St.
Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson and St. Tammany will
be blocked, Blanco said.

"Katrina is by no means over," Blanco said. "Whereever
you live, it is still too dangerous to return home."