Re return estimate: Thanks. Nice screen name. And thanks for setting up these threads.
Updates as they come in on Katrina
01:09 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Tom Planchet
1:08 P.M. - "I'm very hopeful, with the devastation we've had, that the number (of deaths) will be much more reasonable than people think. There are not thousands of people floating around." -- Terry Ebbert, New Orleans' homeland security chief.
1:05 P.M. - (AP) -- With much of the city emptied by Hurricane Katrina, some opportunists took advantage of the situation by looting stores.
At a Walgreen's drug store in the French Quarter, people were running out with grocery baskets and coolers full of soft drinks, chips and diapers. When police finally showed up, a young boy stood in the door screaming, "86! 86!" -- the radio code for police -- and the crowd scattered.
Around the corner on Canal Street, the main thoroughfare in the central business district, people sloshed headlong through hip-deep water as looters ripped open the steel gates on the front of several clothing and jewelry stores. One man, who had about 10 pairs of jeans draped over his left arm, was asked if he was salvaging things from his store. "No," the man shouted, "that's EVERYBODY'S store."
12:55 P.M. - N.O. Mayor Ray Nagin says rescue operations with boats are continuing.
12:50 P.M. - St. John Parish hospital closed at this time. Water working but must be boiled. Parish president Nickie Monica asks residents who have evacuated to stay out. Good News, no major structural damage. Monica says schools and offices closed until further notice. He asks that St. John Parish be made a priority to be used as a staging area for other parishes that suffered worse fates. 911 not working...EMERGENCIES IN ST. JOHN PARISH...1-985-652-6338, 1-985-536-2112...west bank 1-985-497-3321.
12:45 P.M. - Reports of looting in downtown New Orleans of drugstores. Reports people rushing out with grocery carts of food, soft drinks and diapers. Ripped open steel gates at some Canal Street stores taking clothing.
12:44 P.M. - (AP) The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port did NOT suffer major damage as a result of Hurricane Katrina. And a port official says the flow of oil could resume within "a matter of hours" once its power supply is restored.
12:41 P.M. - Rescue efforts a priority. Clearing infrastructure to hospitals. Most streets blocked by pine trees. Slidell - A Hampton Inn on Old Spanish Trail with 20 feet. Fifteen feet of water downtown. One Slidell hospital had to be evacuated, the others are at maximum capacity.